The window to win almost always closes quicker than you think it will, and it will close on the Kansas City Royals soon enough.
Just not yet.
The Royals pushed into win-now mode when they made their much-debated (at the time) trade for James Shields and Wade Davis three winters ago. They pushed all-in when they traded prospects for a pair of rental players this past July.
They pushed and they pushed because they knew the day was approaching when the great group of kids they developed would grow up and want to get paid. They knew the tough choices that would lie ahead. They knew no matter how much these guys love being together and being Royals, eventually many or all of them would command and want more money than the Royals could pay them.
So they didn't wait around. They went for it, and they have two straight World Series appearances and one glorious World Series title—and parade—to show for it.
They went for it knowing the window would close soon, and it will.
Just not yet.
The Royals will lose Johnny Cueto, the rental ace who won two huge postseason games and more than justified the trade price they paid. They'll likely lose Ben Zobrist, who loved it there—did you see he and his wife put "Royal" in their newborn daughter's name?—but is going to get multiple big offers now that he's a free agent.
Alex Gordon loves the Royals, too, and there are those in the organization who still dream he'll take a discounted deal to stay. Don't count on it.
The Royals will have some work to do filling out their rotation, bullpen and lineup. But this isn't the winter it all falls apart.
This isn't the time the window closes.
It can't be.
Not when seven of the 10 players who started Game 1 of the World Series remain under Kansas City control for 2016. Not when those include all five who hit 15 or more home runs. Not when the Royals are also keeping all three guys who had double-digit steals, the two starters who tied for the team lead in wins and the three relievers most responsible for making their postseason bullpen into the shutdown group it was.
Besides, the free-agent market is deepest in the two areas the Royals should be shopping in.
Don't look for them to make offers for David Price or Zack Greinke. But with so many starting pitchers available, don't be surprised if they go out and find the next Edinson Volquez (signed last winter for two years, $20 million). Don't expect Jason Heyward or Justin Upton, but with free-agent corner outfielders everywhere, they can do better than last winter's Alex Rios signing (for one year, $11 million).
The Royals don't need to search for stars. They have their stars.
They have Eric Hosmer, Mike Moustakas and Lorenzo Cain for two more years before free agency. They can keep Davis, Alcides Escobar and Kendrys Morales for two more years under current contracts, too.
There's no way they'll keep all those guys beyond 2017. They may not even be able to keep most of them, and that may well be when this Royals window slams shut.
The hope is it won't shut even then. Kids like Raul Mondesi, Ashe Russell and Kyle Zimmer can be the next wave to keep all this going. Also, the Royals know they found something special with the current Hosmer-Moustakas-Salvador Perez group. The immediate task is to try to win as much as they can before they really have to break it up.
So they'll work on a rotation that will still include Volquez and Yordano Ventura but won't have Cueto or Chris Young. Danny Duffy could come back from the bullpen to start. Perhaps Kris Medlen could, too, but the Royals will need to add at least one starting pitcher.
They'll work to add depth to the Davis-Luke Hochevar-Kelvin Herrera group that can dominate the back of the bullpen.
They'll keep hoping Gordon and/or Zobrist will take less money to return and that one of the two could play left field (with Omar Infante expected back at second base). They'll still need a right fielder.
And they'll hope the rapidly improving Minnesota Twins and the still-talented Cleveland Indians and Detroit Tigers don't get so much better this winter that the American League Central becomes too big of a challenge.
There's work to be done, more than just sizing the rings and scheduling the awards dinners. If things go well, there will be work to do again in July when, perhaps, the Royals can go all-in for a second (or would that be the third?) straight year.
The pressure of ending the 30-year title drought is gone. But the pressure of trying to win again before the window closes remains. The Royals can see that window closing.
Just not yet.
Danny Knobler covers Major League Baseball as a national columnist for Bleacher Report.
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