\"A dim view of humanity\" -Lee Judge
On May 5, the Kansas City Royals were flying high. Winners of five straight games and nine of their last 11, the Royals had clawed their way out of a 7-16 start of the season all the way to a 17-19 record. The Hawaiian Bros promotion went like this: if the Royals scored six or […]
Just about a month ago, I sat here and told you the Royals offense was still bad, after being bad for most of last season, and that hitting coach Alec Zumwalt needed to go. A month later, the Royals are in no better position, and they are bad at EVERYTHING. They are 20-29, tied for […]
There’s been more than a few songs written about baseball. I wrote a more expansive piece several years ago, but for this essay, I’ll just concentrate on a few selections. There are classics like “Take Me Out to the Ballgame,” which has been a seventh-inning staple for decades. Some ballparks have taken to playing “God […]
The Kansas City Royals’ plan for playing slugger Jac Caglianone has been a point of frustration for Royals fans. The Kansas City Star provided insights into the team’s methodology. But Quatraro and general manager J.J. Picollo see his playing time as part of a broader and more intricate matrix. And you can’t say their thinking […]
With Kris Bubic out with some elbow discomfort, the Kansas City Royals turned to ye olde “bullpen game” against the Boston Red Sox. While the bullpen held for most of the game, the Royals offense stayed sleepy and the Red Sox eventually did their damage, beating the Royals in a 7-1 slog. Kansas City turned […]
The Royals are facing one of their biggest adversaries in tonight’s game: a left-hander. Gasp! The lefties are deadly. If you know one, keep an extra eye on them, because you never know when they’ll kick the teeth into a Royals lineup. To be fair to the Royals, they are trying something different. Vinnie Pasquantino, […]
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 (21-23, 5.5 games back) It was a good week for the Storm Chasers; they […]
Kris Bubic heads to the IL. “It’s frustrating,” Bubic said. “I want to be available. A big goal of mine, I don’t set many numericals, but in terms of just being available, I wanted to make a full season of starts this year. And the goal is to keep this at a couple weeks, which […]
In a matchup of kitchen sink junkballers, only one team was able to make anything happen in a low-scoring 3-1 Royals loss. Seth Lugo gave up a two-run home run to Willson Contreras in the sixth inning, his 10th homer of the season, and that was 50% of the runs scored from either team the […]
The 20-27 Royals have fallen back into a tie with the Detroit Tigers for last place in the AL Central. The Royals managed to blank the Cardinals in a 2-0 victory yesterday, but that was after six straight losses. This team seems to ping-pong from elation to despair a lot. Right now, there’s a little […]
The Royals are already missing one member of their starting rotation, and now they’ll try to overcome the loss of another. With Cole Ragans already on the shelf, the Royals announced that Kris Bubic has been placed on the 15-day Injured List with left-elbow soreness. Eli Morgan was called up to replace him on the […]
The Red Sox and The Boston Red Sox and Kansas City Royals each entered the season with postseason aspirations. But while the Royals have merely stumbled out of the gate, the Red Sox have barreled into May as a full-blown dumpster fire. President of baseball operations Craig Breslow fired manager Alex Cora and most of […]
The Kansas City Royals snapped a losing streak with a win against the Cardinals, but one win does not erase the questions that have been building, and Jacob Milham and Jeremy Greco are not shying away from any of them. The episode opens with an honest assessment of where this team stands relative to expectations, […]
Stephen Kolek tossed a gem to salvage the series. “Salvy and I had a little bit of experience together last year, but it was pretty brief,” Kolek said. “I think when we had that outing in Chicago, it was still kind of like, you know, let’s learn each other a little bit. Going into today, […]
Sunday’s game started out with an encouraging first inning. Maikel Garcia singled up the middle and then two batters later Vinnie Pasquantino also singled to center where Victor Scott II fumbled the ball and allowed Garcia to advance to third. Salvador Perez then picked up his first RBI of the night by hitting a sac […]
The sixth and final game of the road trip and the Royals are still looking to get a win. Kansas City has become a mercurial team swinging from long losing streaks to looking great and back again. We will see if they can salvage one in St. Louis this afternoon before heading back to the […]
We could go through this game play by play and try to deeply analyze it, but they’ve lost six in a row. For the third straight game, the offense looked completely outmatched by a pitcher who has never shown the ability to dominate a lineup. So let’s just hit some highlights and then try to […]
The Royals are now in the midst of their second losing streak of at least five games. They only have a single five-game winning streak to counter them. They could start another one of those today, but it’s hard to believe it while they’re losing. Noah Cameron was surprisingly good for the Royals last year. […]
The Royals have made a roster move this morning, sending Matt Strahm to the Injured List. In his place, Bailey Falter will return from the Injured List. Jaylon Thompson with a few more details: During the game last night, I remember Strahm threw a couple of odd pitches and Matt Quatraro and the training staff […]
Not every week goes according to plan, and this episode of the Royals Rundown Podcast tackles a tough stretch head-on with the honest, analytical conversation Royals fans have come to expect. Jacob Milham and Jeremy Greco open with a full breakdown of the series loss against the Chicago White Sox, examining the starting pitching struggles […]
The Royals’ bats continued the vanishing act they have taken on the road so often this year, and the Royals dropped the series opener to the Cardinals. Michael Wacha, for the first time since his last start, did his job. He pitched six innings, allowing three runs. Would you like more innings and fewer runs? […]
The last time we gathered here for one of my recaps, the Royals had just won the second of two straight against the Detroit Tigers. It was the third straight weekend the Royals had won the first games of a weekend series, and the first two weekends had ended in a sweep. Things were looking […]
No one wants to watch a legend fade, and yet that’s often what happens when it comes to larger-than-life figures in the world of entertainment. Marlon Brando stars in The Island of Dr. Moreau. Willie Mays stumbles in a Mets uniform. Michael Jordan lags for the Wizards. Johnny Unitas lumbers for the Chargers. Gordie Howe […]
The Cardinals have missed the playoffs in each of the last three seasons, suffering losing seasons in two of those years. After losing 84 games last year, they traded away veterans Willson Contreras, Brendan Donovan, Nolan Arenado, and Sonny Gray. They now have the second-youngest lineup and fourth-youngest pitching staff, and have gotten off to […]
Anne Rogers writes about the Royals’ road frustrations, particularly from Salvador Perez. Need to figure [it] out myself,” Perez said. “Left a couple of guys with runners in scoring position the last three games, so I need to figure out how to get better and help my team to win. “… Everything changed after that, […]