Beyond hoping for the best, I don't have much to suggest. Enjoying meaningful baseball (rly tho, I'm trying), which isn't something we often have. A rarity for all the reasons we've mentioned: poor drafting, poor development, subsequent lack of assets to flip for fine tuning of the roster for a legit push.
As soon as I was praising Maikel Garcia for having a solid, under-appreciated April & May, he decided to channel his inner
Rubén Gotay and play like it was 2005 in June. Even Salvy followed suit to a large degree. I get it though. Long season. Peaks and valleys. Run differential and pythagorean record still provide some light amidst the June/early-July darkness.
True enough, 10th overall in winning percentage, and 8th in both pythag & run differential is more than could have been expected (although, 25th in strength of schedule worth noting).
The pessimist/realist/jilted Royals loyalist in me will probably always have doubts. Decades of lousiness does that. But oh how sweet the playoff runs are when they happen.