Salvador Perez Hits Walk-Off Single, Allowing Kansas City Royals To Win In 12 Innings After 29-Year Postseason Drought

Twenty-nine years and 12 innings later, the Kansas City Royals are off to the playoffs.

Salvador Perez hit a walk-off single with two outs in the bottom of the 12th inning against the Oakland Athletics Tuesday night to seal the American League wild card win and send his team to the AL Division Series for the first time in nearly three decades.

"It was unbelievable," Perez told ESPN.

His teammates did not disagree.

"This will go down as the craziest game I've ever played," said Royals first baseman Eric Hosmer, who tied the game with a one-out triple in the 12th. "This team showed a lot of character. No one believed in us before the game. No one believed in us before the season."

Even the A's could appreciate the effort, despite their loss.

"They finally got ahead there in the 30th inning or whatever it was," said Oakland first baseman Brandon Moss. "That was definitely the best baseball game I've ever been a part of."

As with any worthy sporting event, Twitter nation was just as invested in the game as the players — for some, maybe too invested.

Take, for example, the Kansas City Police Department:

We really need everyone to not commit crimes and drive safely right now. We'd like to hear the @Royals clinch this.

— Kansas City Police (@kcpolice) October 1, 2014

Die-hard Royals fan Mike Ferraro, meanwhile, summed it up pretty well:

I can't process all of this. Wow! #BeRoyalKC #TakeTheCrown #HuntForBlueOctober — Mike Ferraro (@Mikey_F_) October 1, 2014

Prior to Tuesday night's game, the Royals hadn't played a postseason game since they won the World Series in 1985. They hope to get back there this year, but first, they'll face the AL West Champions Los Angeles Angels in the ALDS.

The best-three-out-of-five slate begins Thursday night in L.A.