When Royals manager Ned Yost on Wednesday considered the matter of pressure on a team that might be burdened by expectations a year after it splurged on house money, he shrugged and compared the notion to, well, “your imaginary friend you had when you were 4 years old.”
“If you think it’s there, it’s there,” he said. “If you don’t (it isn’t).”
That imaginary friend, such as it is, loomed more tangibly after the Royals were straitjacketed 5-2 by Houston in Game 1 of their American League Divisional Series on Thursday at Kauffman Stadium.
On a night the Royals were mandated to set a tone by injecting some doubt into the surging, upstart Astros — percolating with the same wild-card adrenalin the Royals enjoyed last year — they were reeling from start to finish save for two home runs by Kendrys Morales and the inspired relief pitching of Chris Young.