The Kansas City Royals and designated hitter Billy Butler are featured on one of this week’s regional covers for Sports Illustrated.

Kansas City is one of the hottest teams in the majors, but also owns baseball’s longest postseason drought, a nearly 30-year wait for a team that has two winning seasons in the past 12 years.

Kansas City is no doubt the surprise of this season, as the team is sitting in first place with less than 40 games to go in the regular season.   According to the report in SI, the Royals can credit their once-dormant offense and steady pitching staff for the turnaround.

The team’s ERA is fourth in the American League, and since August, they have more hits than anyone, have scored more runs and have hit .284 as a team, also tops in the majors.