ATLANTA -- Nine years ago, the Royals won it all, bringing Kansas City its second World Series championship in the history of the franchise.

And then came a lot of losses -- 695 to be exact. The Royals sustained three 100-loss seasons in the years after their title, including last year’s 106-loss beatdown.

But in 2024, the Royals are back.

Kansas City clinched its first postseason berth since 2015 on Friday night in Atlanta following the Twins’ loss to the Orioles, sending the Royals to a Wild Card Series when the playoffs kick off next week. (The when and where is still to be determined over the final two days of the regular season.)

Despite the Royals’ 3-0 loss to the Braves at Truist Park, celebration ensued in the visiting clubhouse after watching the end of the Twins’ game, a reward for a long season that just had more games added to the schedule, something the Royals have talked about since they organized for their first Spring Training workout in Surprise, Ariz., and aimed to turn things around in the organization.

To bring October baseball back to Kansas City.

All the result of an aggressive offseason planned and executed by a front office hell-bent on avoiding another 106-loss disaster like 2023, bringing in veteran players to help the Royals take a step forward while the young core set the foundation for a winner.

The Royals reinvented themselves in more ways than one in 2024. First with ownership’s commitment to invest in the talent on the field like never before and the front office’s execution of a roster remake that included $110 million in free agency and a mega-extension for Bobby Witt Jr., keeping a generational talent in small-market Kansas City long-term.

And then on the field with one of the best rotations in baseball, headlined by Cole Ragans’ emergence as a young ace and Seth Lugo proving he – and his nine-plus pitches – are sticking as a veteran starter.

With the establishment of Witt as one of the game’s all-around superstars and his MVP-caliber season.

With the continued, remarkable production and leadership from Salvador Perez, who finally got his team back to the postseason nine years after being named the 2015 World Series MVP.

And the production of Vinnie Pasquantino sandwiched in between them, the Royals’ most important run producer until he broke his right thumb on a defensive play in Houston on Aug. 29. In what was the biggest blow to the season, given what Pasquantino means to the lineup and the clubhouse, the Royals encountered two separate seven-game losing streaks in the last month. They lost a six-game lead in the standings but still held on, buoyed by a sweep of the Nationals this week – and helped some by the Twins’ collapse.

All of that only one year after they won just 56 games as the second-worst team in baseball. The Royals surpassed their entire win total from 2023 with win No. 57 on July 26 at Kauffman Stadium. With it, a plea followed from manager Matt Quatraro and some players:

Can we stop talking about last year?

“Respectfully, all of you guys can shut up now,” Pasquantino said then, looking around the media scrum. “Which is exciting. I’m sure it’s exciting for you guys, too. The book, it’s closed.”

On Friday, a new story was written.