The Royals are in first place at the end of August, a position no one expected them to be in before the season. Even after a good start, they were ten games behind on June 25. But since that day, the Royals have posted a 32-20 record, the best in the American League, and they have narrowed the gap on the Guardians, who are now in first place.

Finishing in first place this late in the season is a special moment for the Royals. Here are the other times they were in first place after the All-Star break.

31 July – 16 August 1973

The young Royals were only in their fifth year, but their first championship race came with the core of a club that would win a number of division titles, including a rookie named George Brett. The team started 42-40 but really took off in July and by the end of the month had knocked the defending world champion Oakland Athletics out of first place. But the Royals lost 8 of 11 games toward the end of the month and the A’s proved why they were a dynasty by going 20-7 in August to win the division by six games over the Royals.

May 18 – End of season 1976

By 1976, the Royals had built a fast, talented team with excellent pitching while the A’s dynasty began to fade. The Royals took the lead in mid-May and never looked back. Their lead grew to ten games in early August, but the A’s caught up late, getting within 2.5 games, but they ran out of time as the Royals won their first division title.

20 August 1977 – End of season 1977

After their first taste of the postseason, the Royals had a bit of a hangover, stumbling through a poor May that dropped them to sixth place, 7.5 games behind Minnesota. But that summer, they were as hot as the turf at Royals Stadium. After May 27, they posted an 83-38 record, a .686 winning percentage, and took first place from the White Sox on August 20. They never looked back, eventually winning the division by eight games with a club-record 102 wins.

July 17 – August 23; August 27 – end of season 1978

The Royals got off to another bad start, sitting at .500 on July 3. But no one could win the division by a wide margin, and the Royals were one of four teams to get within 2.5 games of the first-place Angels. The Royals reeled off eight straight games, including sweeps of two of the league’s best teams – the Yankees and the Red Sox (who had a playoff game for the Eastern Division that fall) – to take first place on July 17, eventually building a five-game lead. The Angels caught up with them in August, but the Royals slowly pulled away by the end of the month. The Angels won three of four games against the Royals in Anaheim in September, getting within a half-game, but the Royals won two of three in Kansas City, pulling away, and eventually winning the division by five games.

30 August 1979

The Royals were in fourth place at the All-Star break, under .500 and ten games behind the Angels. In August, they reached a 19-11 record while the Angels reached an 11-17 record, and the Royals began to close the gap. After a win over the Yankees on August 30, the Royals moved past the Angels by a half game. But the Angels won 8 of 9 games to start September, pulling away and extending their lead. The Royals traveled three games back to Anaheim in the final week of the season, but lost two of three games, giving the Angels the division title.

May 23 – End of season 1980

The Royals didn’t have to fight for the division title in 1980. In late May, they swept the Angels in Anaheim, took first place, and never looked back. By August, the Royals were 23-7 and had a 20-game lead at one point. The Royals clinched the division with about two and a half weeks to go (which was a good thing, because they had lost eight straight games while waiting for the postseason).

Second half of 1981

The 1981 season was a strange one. The Royals were miserable in the first half, but the players went on strike and suspended the season. Baseball decided to split the season in half to generate interest, so the Royals were able to hit the reset button and hire a new manager – Dick Howser. The team achieved a 30-23 record in the second half and made it to the postseason, where they were quickly defeated by the first half champions, the Oakland Athletics.

2nd–6th August; 10-11 August; August 15; 20-21 August; August 26th – 19th September 1982

Now there’s a division battle! The Royals battled with the Angels and White Sox for first place all summer, but the White Sox fell behind in August, creating a two-team battle. The Royals held on to a two-game lead before heading out on a road trip in mid-September, but were swept by the weak Twins and fell out of first place. They were swept in Anaheim and could only win one game in Oakland, resulting in a horrific 1-8 road trip. They battled back with a five-game winning streak at home, but it was too late and they were two games behind the Angels in the division.

5 to 10 September; 12 September – end of season 1984

The Royals began 1984 with young players, but when they were 40-50 in mid-July, it looked like a year of rebuilding was in store. But the Western Division was very mediocre that season, and when the Royals finally reached a .500 record in late August, they were just three games out of first place. In early September, they hosted the first-place Twins and were just one game behind them. The Royals took two of three wins to take over first place, but the Twins took two of three wins the next week in Minnesota to temporarily reclaim the division. The two teams were tied entering the final week of the season, but the Twins lose their final six straight games, giving the Royals an unexpected division title.

6–21 September; 26–28 September; 30 September, 2 October – end of season 1985

The Royals were just over .500 and 7.5 games behind first place at the All-Star break, but they came back in the regular season, just as they did later in the postseason. They won 19 of their first 27 games after the break, and an eight-game winning streak in September put them in first place. They won two of three games against second-place California to take the lead, but a four-game home sweep of the Mariners tied them again. The Royals hosted the Angels in the final week of the season with a one-game lead and won three of four games, clinching the division with a walk-off win over the A’s over the weekend.

July 1st – August 7th; August 9th – 20th; August 28-29, 2003

The 2003 Royals were coming off a 100-loss season but won their first nine games and played surprisingly well for most of the first half. They lost first place in mid-May, but a solid June and July put them back in first place and they had a seven-game lead at the All-Star break. But the pitching staff was knackered and the Twins reached an 18-11 record in August. The Royals won two of three games in Minnesota in late August and did not manage a tie until August 29. But the Royals lost 17 of their final 30 games, putting them seven games behind Minnesota.

August 11th – September 8th; September 10th – 11th, 2014

The Royals fired their hitting coach in May and were still below .500 as of July 22, hardly the start you’d expect from a championship-winning team. But they won 24 of 30 games and took first place from the Tigers. The Royals lost four of six head-to-head matches against the Tigers in September, but the Royals held on as a wild card and missed first place by just one game.

June 8 – End of season 2015

After coming so close to winning the game in 2014, the Royals carried a huge amount of pressure to perform for most of the year in 2015. They were never more than one game out of first place all season, and finally took over first place in mid-June. They won the division easily, despite a slump in September, and finished the season with the best record in the American League with 95 wins en route to the second division title in club history.