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Kansas City Royals' Bobby Witt Jr. on Pace to Accomplish Something Not Seen in 88 Years

The Kansas City Royals are battling for their first playoff spot since 2015 and Bobby Witt Jr. is battling for some baseball history.

Brady Farkas

Kansas City Royals shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. (7) throws to first in attempt to get Cincinnati Reds designated hitter Jeimer Candelario (not pictured) out in the second inning at Great American Ball Park on Aug 16.
Kansas City Royals shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. (7) throws to first in attempt to get Cincinnati Reds designated hitter Jeimer Candelario (not pictured) out in the second inning at Great American Ball Park on Aug 16. / Katie Stratman-USA TODAY Sports
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The Kansas City Royals are battling for their first playoff spot since 2015 and shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. is battling for some baseball history not seen in the last 88 years.

Per Jayson Stark of 'The Athletic:'

If the Royals shortstop keeps filling up the Runs and Hits columns in the box scores at this clip for another six weeks, he’s going to finish this season with 141 runs scored and 227 hits. Just so you know how cool that would be, the 140-220 Club hasn’t admitted a new member in 88 years.

The 24-year-old Witt Jr. has proven to be one of the best players in baseball this year. An All-Star and a likely MVP finalist, he's hitting .352, which leads the major leagues. He's also got 25 homers and 92 RBI. In addition to leading the league in hitting, he also leads the league in runs scored (110) and hits (178). He leads the American League in games played with 127.

Though pitching contributions from Seth Lugo and Michael Wacha have helped, Witt Jr. is the driving force behind the turnaround for Kansas City, who won just 56 games a year ago.

They enter play on Friday at 71-56 on the season. They are tied for the second wild card spot with the Minnesota Twins and both teams are just 2.0 games back of the Cleveland Guardians in the American League Central.

The Royals will be back in action on Friday night against the Philadelphia Phillies. First pitch is set for 8:10 p.m. ET.

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Brady Farkas

BRADY FARKAS

Brady Farkas is a baseball writer for Fastball on Sports Illustrated/FanNation and the host of 'The Payoff Pitch' podcast which can be found on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Videos on baseball also posted to YouTube. Brady has spent nearly a decade in sports talk radio and is a graduate of Oswego State University. You can follow him on Twitter @WDEVRadioBrady. 

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