For now, the Kansas City Royals and the New York Yankees can only hear about their past playoff battles, which only their respective managers were alive to witness.

Bobby Witt Jr. sounded like a postseason vet as he fielded questions from reporters in the press conference room at Yankee Stadium on Friday. The 24-year-old was one sleep away from the biggest test of his young career — a showdown with the Yankees in his American League Division Series debut — and he was saying all the right things.