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Watch Live: Royals take on Marlins in Free Game of the Day

Not even the red-hot Kansas City Royals could beat strikeout machine Jose Fernandez on Wednesday night, and thus Kansas City’s nine-game winning streak ended with a 3-0 loss to the Miami Marlins.

While there are surely some people in K.C. bummed that the win streak didn’t reach double digits, the bigger picture is far more favorable: The Royals are back in it.

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The Royals are now 65-61, a solid third place in the AL Central, within reasonable reach of a wild-card spot (five games) and maybe even the division lead (7.5 games) if they get right back to their winning ways. Before the winning streak, the Royals were 56-60, tied with the White Sox, 11 back in the division and 7.5 back for the wild card.

We’ll see how the Royals respond Thursday in their series finale with the Marlins. You can watch with your own eyes, as it’s the Yahoo Sports Free MLB Game of the Day. You can stream the game on the Yahoo Sports app, Yahoo’s Sports Home, MLB index, video home and this very post. Local blackouts apply, per MLB rules. First pitch is at 7:10 p.m. ET.

The Royals are alive in the AL after their nine-game winning streak. (AP)
The Royals are alive in the AL after their nine-game winning streak. (AP)

We don’t need to tell you about how resilient the Royals have been over the past two years, going from a wild-card underdog to World Series champs. Proving wrong the people who didn’t believe in them has become the Royals’ modus operandi. That chip on their shoulder carried them to World Series glory last November.

This year was something altogether different, though. The Royals looked like goners after a dreadful July in which they went 7-19. That along with the Indians’ stellar season, a strong month from the Tigers and competitive AL wild-card field meant the Royals weren’t likely to return to the postseason.

Now though? The Royals still have a long way to go, but at least there’s some hope. Nine straight wins will do that.

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Mike Oz is the editor of Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at mikeozstew@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!