ALCS: Someone's misery will end

— -- BALTIMORE -- Over in the National League Championship Series, the San Francisco Giants and St. Louis Cardinals have each played in two of the past four World Series. That means the only thing really on the line for their fans is how much money to spend to further fill their closets with what will eventually be dusty, armpit-sweat-stained souvenir T-shirts.

There is much more at stake for the teams in the American League Championship Series between the Kansas City Royals and Baltimore Orioles, who have gone a combined 60 years since their last World Series appearances. We've already made much of Kansas City's long postseason drought before this October, but Baltimore fans have endured their share of pain, as well. So the question is this: Which team's fans will have paid more for the privilege -- not in cash but in decades of pain -- of finally being able to purchase another commemorative World Series T-shirt?

The tale of the misery

Drought-stricken: Did you know the Royals had gone 29 years without a postseason appearance before this fall? You did? Well, did you also know that Geico ads fill up approximately 14.6 percent of postseason TV time?

OK, it was a long, long stretch between postseasons for Kansas City, and Baltimore played in the postseason just two years ago. The Orioles, however, had gone 14 years between appearances before 2012, and this marks just their fourth postseason since 1983. (This is Kansas City's third in that span.) The Orioles also have gone two years longer since their last World Series (1983) than the Royals (1985).

Still, three postseasons in 30 years is better than none in about three decades.

Edge: Royals fans

Heart-stopping, gut-wrenching anguish: Sure, it's not fun to spend 28 consecutive Octobers watching other teams in the postseason while you wait on hold with the local sports-talk radio show to complain about Ned Yost's managerial decisions. But sometimes, losing painfully in October is even worse than losing routinely in April, May, June, July, August and September.

And for Baltimore fans, their three postseasons since 1983 means they suffered through the Jeffrey Maier "home run" (why isn't instant replay retroactive?) in the 1996 ALCS; Marquis Grissom's eighth-inning home run, Grissom's 12th-inning " steal of home" and Tony Fernandez's 11th-inning home run in the 1997 ALCS; plus Raul Ibanez's 12th-inning home run in the 2012 division series.

Sometimes, it's better to sit alone on the couch and watch other teams play on TV than to lie on your couch surrounded by paramedics trying to restart your heart.

Significant Edge: Orioles fans

Heart-weakening years of misery: Forget about the postseason for a second. What about regular-season pain? Baltimore has had 20 losing seasons since its last World Series, while Kansas City also has had 20 since its last. Baltimore followed up its 1996 and 1997 postseason appearances with 14 consecutive losing seasons. In that same span, Kansas City had 13 losing seasons, including four 100-loss seasons. In the worst of those, a 106-loss 2005 season, the Royals also lost 19 games in a row, the longest in the past quarter century.

The Orioles, however, had an even longer losing streak in 1988 when they set a major league record by losing the first 21 games of the season. Baltimore was 16 games out of first place by the 28th of April!

Edge: Tie

Painful trades: Unfortunately, the games themselves sometimes aren't the worst losses for fans, even when they endure so many. Often, the worst losses are the players dealt away.

Sure, the Orioles traded Curt Schilling, Steve Finley and Pete Harnisch for Glenn Davis; and they pretty much gave away Eddie Murray (although Murray's best years were behind him). And at least Baltimore got Adam Jones and Chris Tillman for Erik Bedard.

Besides, the Schilling and Murray trades pale in comparison to Kanas City's record. The Royals traded away Johnny Damon, David Cone (twice -- and got virtually nothing in return either time), Carlos Beltran, Bret Saberhagen, Jermaine Dye and Jose Bautista. And, although they received Lorenzo Cain and Alcides Escobar in return for him, they also traded away Zack Greinke.

George Brett likes to say that "Once a Royal, always a Royal." But too often in recent decades, it's been "Once a Royal, now a New Yorker."

Big Edge: Royals fans

Bright spots: Granted, it hasn't all been misery. Orioles fans got to see Cal Ripken Jr. break Lou Gehrig's consecutive-games playing streak in one of baseball's greatest moments -- even sports writers were shedding tears in the press box. (And for once, it wasn't because they ran out of free hot dogs.)

Brett joined the 3,000-Hit Club, but Royals fans didn't get to see it because he reached it in a four-hit game at Anaheim during the tail end of a road trip. (And he got picked off first base after his 3,000th hit.) Although Royals fans got to see "Sabes," Cone and Greinke win Cy Young Awards, they also watched each get traded away within two years.

Edge (in pain): Royals fans

Miscellaneous: Even in the losing seasons, Orioles fans have at least been able to watch their team inside one of baseball's renowned gems, Camden Yards, with the magnificent backdrop of the B&O brick warehouse and the aroma of Boog Powell's barbecue pit. Kansas City fans have been able to enjoy one of baseball's overlooked gems, Kauffman Stadium, with its magnificent fountains. And they don't need Boog; they can enjoy perhaps the country's best barbecue pretty much anywhere in the city.

But while the Royals compete in what is often baseball's weakest division, the Orioles have to compete against the insufferable Yankees and Red Sox. Talk about pain and misery.

Slight Edge: Orioles fans.

So, which fans have suffered the most? The edge goes to Kansas City. Although that will change if Royals fans get to replace their 1985 World Series T-shirts with brand new 2014 shirts.