And that was 30 years ago, irrelevant to the modern era.
Ahh... the modern era...
If people had thought this way how would some other teams have fared in years past?
Indians: 41 years between 1954 and 1995
White Sox: 40 years without a post-season appearance (1919: infamous Black Sox Scandal to 1959 World Series loss), then nothing for another 24 years
Cubs: longest drought 39 years without a post-season appearance
Brewers: 26 years between 2nd and 3rd post-season appearance
Maybe you would prefer something along these lines:
Senators (original): 27 years and a move (with renaming) to Minnesota (where it would be 4 more years) without a post-season
Senators (second): 11 years without a post-season and move (with renaming) to Texas
Expos: 23 years without a post-season and move (with renaming) to Washington D.C.
If we went by World Series, things would even look bleaker for many teams.
Why I'm defending the Royals, is beyond me.
What I do know is this, no team is ever futile to it's fans, or to the kids in the area they play at. The Brewers may have been hopeless in the late 80s to early 2000s, and a far cry from the much missed Milwaukee Braves (who moved to Atlanta and had started out many years earlier in Boston). But, they were the first team I got to see live at the old County Stadium and I'm thankful for those opportunities back in the day of having a great time out with the Old Man, and who really cared back then if they won or lost as long as we got to see a good Major League game, and often one of the visiting teams we saw would end up winning the World Series (Oakland A's, Minnesota Twins, Toronto Blue Jays, Yankees).
So perhaps to you, the Royals are the epitome of futility. And maybe that's statistically so.
But, probably to some kid and his Dad the Royals are a great thing, it's their chance to be taken out to the ballgame with the crowd. Have a good time and enjoy themselves. Maybe they won't be able to root for their team in the post-season or in the World Series for a long time (or ever as to this day there are 2 teams who have
never even played in the World Series), but at least they got to see a game live in the stadium and mayhaps against that years Champions.