Kansas City Royals

The Milwaukee Brewers might be the most surprising team overall this season after getting off to a fast start and possessing at least a share of the NL Central lead for all but three days. But the most shocking division leader in Major League Baseball at the moment actually resides in the other Central: the Kansas City Royals.

The Royals are on a warpath.

Kansas City won its eighth game in a row on Monday night, overcoming the Oakland A’s to pull into pole position in the AL Central for the first time in 10 years.

Of course, the most important product of the win was the capstone celebration: a ridiculously athletic backflip by Jarrod Dyson.

The Kansas City Royals haven't played October baseball since 1985, when they won the World Series.

The fact that this team pulled into first place all by itself in the American League Central with a dramatic 3-2 win over the Oakland Athletics on Monday night is kind of a big deal. And, frankly, an unexpected one.

Kansas City's stay atop the American League Central standings last month may have been fleeting, but it was a sign that the Royals may finally be ready to break a nearly 30-year absence from postseason baseball.

Here come the Kansas City Royals. After getting off to a troublesome 29-32 start, the AL Central contenders have caught fire by winning eight games in a row. The latest—an 11-8 victory over the Detroit Tigers—has put the defending division champions on notice.

The Kansas City Royals experienced a scary moment over the weekend when Yordano Ventura left Monday's start with elbow discomfort. The organization announced a setback to prospect Kyle Zimmer this morning. It has been a rough few days to be a Kansas City pitcher.

Yordano Ventura will have many great starts in his career, but his outing on Friday night against the Baltimore Orioles is one he’ll never forget.

Here we have the Kansas City Royals' 2014 starting rotation: James Shields, Jason Vargas, Yordano Ventura, Jeremy Guthrie and Bruce Chen. It's not particularly pretty, but I'll go to battle with it. Kansas City has a great chance to end a 29-year playoff drought this year and those five, for better or worse, are a crucial part of that chance.

In the long term, however, much more is in flux.

The Kansas City Royals acquired the services of Omar Infante through free agency this offseason.  It was a clear move to improve a clear weak spot in the team's offense.  It may not have been a solid move toward consistency at the position.