Live on MLB.com in the minutes immediately following the Royals' incredible extra-inning win was a version of the game story written in the ninth inning. In this version, which you can read below, the A's hung on to win and advance.
Someone screwed up here by putting the wrong story live, but I'm not looking to make fun of anyone here. (It's standard operating procedure for writers put together their gamers before the last out, and then just fill in the details, to get the story live as soon as possible.) Instead, consider this is a historical curio of one of the greatest winner-take-all games in recent memory, baseball's "Dewey Defeats Truman" moment. Athletics fans should enjoy the alternate universe where their team remains alive; Royals fans should appreciate just how close this story came to being accurate.