\"A dim view of humanity\" -Lee Judge
Don’t look now—but the Kansas City Royals officially have themselves a win streak. The Royals secured their third consecutive win (and fifth of their last six games) with a gutsy, impressive come-from-behind 5-3 win over the Texas Rangers. The first few innings of the game were not particularly kind to the Royals. Texas starter and […]
A few pieces of good news, y’all. First, Bobby Witt Jr. and Maikel Garcia and Jac Caglianone are back in the lineup for the first time in a hot minute. That’s good! Those are the three best hitters in the lineup. The other good news? Salvador Perez is down hitting fifth. It could be better; […]
The Rangers were slumping when the Royals came to town two weeks ago. They embarrassed Kansas City with a sweep that included a blowout 9-1 win and a walkoff victory. It helped jumpstart their season and they have won seven of their last nine. A winning series could put them at .500 for the first […]
Major League Baseball is different every year. Some years there are multiple juggernaut teams. Some years there are multiple 100-loss teams. Some years, there are neither. Some years one or the other. It’s impossible to predict or time it out, so all MLB teams can do is try to put their best team forward and […]
This Week in the Minors is our weekly look at notable performances from all over the system, from big-name prospects and less-heralded guys alike. The mission is to answer this simple question: “Who had a good week?” Triple-A Omaha Storm Chasers (28-34, 1o games back) The Storm Chasers lost 4 of their 6 games against […]
Yesterday was a *very* light news day. It was an off day, so I guess it makes sense. The Star had nothing as of the time of this writing. MLB dot com has a listicle detailing 1 trade chip for each team. Anne Rogers contributed the Royals bit. Royals: RHP Michael WachaThe Royals won’t tear it […]
The summer is here, and that means trade season will soon be upon us. The Royals are still deciding whether or not they will be buyers or sellers, but like most years, they will likely be sellers. Sometimes the team makes a good trade that sets the team up for the future. It hurt to […]
In baseball, there is the game that’s played on the field, and then there are the games within the game. One of those games has to do with handedness. While only about 10% of the general public is left-handed, about 25% of big league innings are tossed by lefties. This presents an interesting reality: batters […]
The Kansas City Royals finished a 5-5 road trip and hold a 6-6-1 record over their last thirteen series, numbers that tell the story of a team hovering right at the edge of relevance. Jacob Milham and Jeremy Greco are joined by guest Matthew LaMar to work through what that record actually means and whether […]
The Royals have spent much of the season looking like a team destined to sell at the trade deadline. At 27-39, they own one of the American League’s worst records and remain on pace for nearly 100 losses. The starting pitching staff is likely to be targeted by several contenders. USA Today reporter Bob Nightengale […]
Jaylon Thompson won Sunday to have a .500 road trip. “I’m really proud of the way these guys battled,” Royals manager Matt Quatraro said. “I mean, the week started off kind of poorly. … Sometimes it goes the other way when you’re on these three-city trips. And for these guys to really dig down deep, […]
Last time out, Noah Cameron pitched a one-hitter and allowed only a single run in seven innings, but his team lost because Lucas Erceg blew a one-run lead in the ninth inning. Today, Cameron pitched six innings and allowed no earned runs. He struck out seven and walked no one. Thanks to an offense that […]
Something I wrote in Friday night’s recap keeps parading through my mind. This team was constructed to be a team with a high floor and enough talent to play consistently above-average, but without top-end potential outside Bobby Witt Jr. and Cole Ragans. The flaw with this build shows in road trips like the one they’re […]
It was a pitcher’s duel all day in the Twin Cities. The offense’s got going late, but it was the Royals getting the last laugh, beating the Twins 3-2 after a 2-run top of the 9th inning. Carter Jensen hit a leadoff homer to the right field seats off Joe Ryan. The first career leadoff […]
The Royals dropped last night’s contest 5-3 to the Twins after a disastrous, 4-run bottom of the 6th inning. It evens the four-game series at a game apiece, with the Royals taking Thursday’s contest 8-6. On the season, the Royals are 3-2 against the Twins. They are 3-5 on the current 10-game road trip. Luinder […]
Anne Rogers writes about a whirlwind day for Josh Rojas on Thursday, with a hit at Triple-A in the afternoon, and the game-winning hit in the big leagues that evening. “I can’t imagine having a travel day like that,” said Michael Massey, who homered in the fourth inning. “And then having to come in and […]
Despite a rain delay of over an hour, the game started off so well for the Royals. Bobby Witt Jr. took a one-out walk, Vinnie Pasquantino hit an RBI double, then Jac Caglianone drove him in with his own double. The Royals wouldn’t score again until a weak groundout in the ninth brought home Caglianone […]
For the second game in a row, the Royals won with ninth-inning runs. Tonight, perhaps they can make things a little bit easier on those of us who already suffer from various heart, blood pressure, or anxiety diseases. Michael Wacha will take the mound for KC. His last start, against Texas, didn’t go so great. […]
Last night I went to a trivia night contest at a local bar and one of the questions was – what number are the three uniform numbers retired by the Royals all divisible by? (answer below*) Retired numbers are reserved for the greatest in club history. But we all have our favorites that weren’t necessarily […]
If there’s one mantra about hitting that’s become very popular lately, it’s got to be some variation of “hit the ball hard.” Statcast has made exit velocities very visible and a very big deal, and the sabermetric revolution has broadly valued power hitting in favor of contact hitting. So you might think that the Kansas […]
Maikel Garcia is close to returning, writes Jaylon Thompson. “A lot better,” Garcia said before the game in Minneapolis. “(I was) running yesterday at like 65% and today was like 80-something. Just ready to come off the bench and try to help the team.” Garcia did defensive work in Cincinnati. He admitted that the injury […]
In a game that featured a rain delay in the middle of it, the Royals prevailed in their series opener against the Minnesota Twins, 8-6. After losing their first three games of their current road trip, the Royals have won three out of their last four, including their last two. Josh Rojas, called up earlier […]
Welcome back to Thursday baseball. I had a couple of weeks off to recharge the ol’ game thread and recap batteries. The Royals played every other day of the week, so let’s see how they di— Oh. Oh, no. Well, on the bright side, they took the series from the Reds in Cincinnati. Going into […]
The Royals announce they have called up utility player Josh Rojas, and that pitcher Stephen Kolek has gone on family emergency leave. To make room on the 40-man roster, Jonathan India was officially placed on the 60-day Injured List. India is out for the year, following shoulder surgery. Rojas is a six-year MLB veteran who […]
The Twins were big-time sellers at last year’s trade deadline, making many feel they were going for a rebuild. But they retained big stars like Byron Buxton and Joe Ryan, and have been a fairly middling team this year hovering near .500 most of the year. They have lost six of their last eight games, […]