This story was excerpted from Anne Rogers¡¯ Royals Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

BALTIMORE -- When the Royals were last in Baltimore, it was a rainy April week in the early stages of the 2024 season. While they were hopeful about what could happen this season, with so many new faces on the roster after an aggressive offseason, they had no idea how things would turn out.

Then the Royals suffered two walk-off losses, the second of which came after a five-hour rain delay that turned a getaway day game into a crushing night defeat.

Outside the clubhouse and the organization, there was panic about this team, where it was going and if 2024 would just be another season like the eight before it.

Inside the clubhouse?

¡°If we keep showing fights like that, it¡¯ll translate to a lot of wins this year,¡± starter Michael Wacha said that week. ¡°It¡¯s important to stay positive. It¡¯s early in the year. Flush the negative stuff, learn from it and turn the page. And get back out there tomorrow.¡±

Royals players wanted to sit through that rain delay on April 3, all five hours of it, because they wanted to play. They wanted to get the season on a roll, not make up a game later. They wanted to pitch their ace Cole Ragans, who ended up allowing one hit across 6 1/3 scoreless innings. They wanted to face Orioles ace Corbin Burnes, who allowed two runs across 5 2/3 innings.

(And it¡¯s not a coincidence that it will be those two pitchers on the mound for each team on Tuesday.)

Above all, the Royals sensed something different in the clubhouse that day: Belief in each other, and not wanting to give in -- to rain, or to good pitching, or to a good opponent.

They believed in themselves and wanted to get a chance to show it. That mindset is what¡¯s different about the 2024 Royals. It has permeated the clubhouse from the beginning of Spring Training and goes back even further to Royals Rally in February, when most of the team convened in Kansas City and met for the first time. The team dinner that weekend still sticks out in the minds of those in the organization as the start of the team chemistry seen throughout the entire year.

¡°It starts with the culture inside the locker room,¡± second baseman Michael Massey said this weekend. ¡°I¡¯ve never been with a team [as] close as we are. That¡¯s part of this. [Manager Matt Quatraro¡¯s] saying, ¡®Today,¡¯ has resonated. You just go out and control what you can today. There are so many things that are out of your control, and a lot of getting to where you¡¯re at is how you respond to those things. We¡¯ve all embraced it.¡±

? Royals-Orioles position-by-position breakdown

And yeah, they lost that day back in April. In a particularly heartbreaking way, by taking a 3-2 lead into the ninth and blowing it on James McCann¡¯s walk-off single.

But remember how they responded?

With a perfect homestand and seven-game win streak, including a three-game sweep over the Astros, the eventual AL West champions who are hosting a Wild Card Series over the No. 6 seed Tigers this week.

? Postseason FAQ: What's next for Royals?

The Royals did get in a groove in April. They responded to losses by ¡°flushing it,¡± as Wacha said, and focusing on the next game they had. Over five months later, they concluded their 2024 season with 86 wins, one of just six teams in the 162-game schedule era (since 1961) to mark at least a 30-win improvement from one year to the next. One of just three teams ever to make the postseason after a 100-plus-loss season.

¡°It wasn¡¯t the same team,¡± Quatraro said. ¡°It just wasn¡¯t. Even the same guys have grown, and the new guys have added so much ¨C presence and performance. We all know you can talk about wanting to win games all you want, but every night out there is a grind to win a game in the Major Leagues. The understanding of that, and the professionalism of this group, carried throughout the year.¡±

It started early. The Royals hope it carries them through October.