Royals Review

Denny Medley-USA TODAY Sports That inning is cursed! A four-run sixth inning cost the Royals the lead in a 4-2 loss to the Nationals on Saturday. Brady Singer was pulled a few batters into that inning, and ended up with five innings pitched, two runs allowed on four hits, with three walks and six strikeouts. The series loss to the Nationals is the 14th series the Royals have lost this year in 17 tries. The Royals got on the board first when leadoff hitter Nick Pratto walked. A Salvy single send him to third, and he was able to score on a wild pitch from Nationals...

Photo by Ed Zurga/ Can Bobby have another big game? The Royals bats got going last night but the pitching staff could not throw strikes with nine walks. Brady Singer will look to get his season on track this afternoon. Brady Singer heads to the mound this afternoon as we look to even the series.#WelcomeToTheCity pic.twitter.com/cUGFvy1RDa— Kansas City Royals (@Royals) May 27, 2023 The Nationals start right-handed Josiah Gray, promising right-handed with a 2.65 ERA this year. Royals-killer Luis Garcia is in the lineup again after a six-hit performance last...

Photo by Randy Shropshire/Deadline via Do not sleep on this! When it was first announced that Apple TV+ was going to be getting exclusive rights to broadcast some baseball games on Friday nights throughout the regular season I was furious. I already pay a large sum of money to stream those games through MLB.tv. Many of you do likewise or have cable, satellite, or other internet TV packages you use for the same reason. Adding another streaming service fee to watch our team or else having to miss out on them a couple of times a year seemed like a ridiculous cash...

Photo by Ed Zurga/ Bobby Witt Jr. had quite a night! Bobby Witt Jr. has been on a roll lately, writes Anne Rogers. But perhaps there is something to taking away the pressure of being the first hitter to the plate and setting the tone. “I’ll do whatever, hit wherever, to be in the lineup,” Witt said. “But how I am, I do put pressure on myself to see pitches, not see pitches, try to get on. I do put a lot of pressure on myself. And I swing a lot.” Or perhaps Witt is just in a groove right now. He’s upped his workload in the batting cages and feels better...

Jay Biggerstaff-USA TODAY Sports Bad pitching and bad defense doom the Royals again. The Kansas City Royals still haven’t won a game started by Jordan Lyles, although it looked like they might finally do it on Friday. Lyles started his night giving up a leadoff home run to Lane Thomas. It was an MLB-leading 15th home run allowed this season by the Kansas City starter. After that though, he settled in, pitching four consecutive scoreless innings. The Royals tried to get their scoring started early. MJ Melendez walked to load the bases in the first inning. Then, on a...

Photo by Keith Gillett/Icon Sportswire via Jordan Lyles is hungry for some innings. The Royals resume their homestand with a three-game set with the Washington Nationals, the first time they have hosted them since 2016. Here’s the box score of that game - Clint Robinson and Christian Colon! Back in action tonight to open a weekend series vs. the Nationals.#WelcomeToTheCity pic.twitter.com/jdyaCE5BlP— Kansas City Royals (@Royals) May 26, 2023 Nationals hitters have the third-worst walk rate in baseball while Royals pitchers have the second-worst walk rate in...

Photo by Carmen Mandato/ The outfielder missed the first eight weeks with an oblique injury. The Royals have activated outfielder Drew Waters after he missed the first eight weeks with an oblique injury. Yesterday, the Royals optioned outfielder Nate Eaton to Triple-A Omaha to make room on the roster. Waters is in the starting lineup tonight, hitting ninth in cetnerfield. The 24-year old went into this season hoping to compete for a starting outfield job, but suffered a setback when he was injured early in spring training. The switch-hitter was once a top prospect with...

Photo by Jess Rapfogel/ These teams have won championships in the last decade! No, really! The Kansas City Royals and Washington Nationals have each won a title in the last decade - more recently than the New York Yankees! But those titles are a fading memory as each club has been among the worst teams in baseball the last few years. For the Royals, the title was in 2015, but the ride was over by 2018 and the club has struggled to get back to relevancy since. For the Nationals, the title came in 2019 with the core disbanded by 2021. They have lost 107 games and 97 games...

MJ Melendez #1 of the Kansas City Royals bats against the Chicago White Sox at Guaranteed Rate Field on May 21, 2023 in Chicago, Illinois. | Photo by Jamie Sabau/ Lady Luck is not a Royals fan Any way you slice it, the 2023 Kansas City Royals are a bad baseball team. Ultimately, it comes down to a lack of both depth and top-end talent, and there’s not any amount of luck that can fix it. This year’s Royals are on pace for more than 110 losses, which would easily be the worst team in franchise history. But it doesn’t feel like this team should be the worst team in...

Hey, I lucked out. Getty has a Millennium Force image in the archives | Photo by Tricia Spaulding/Lexington Herald-Leader/Tribune News Service via Not a lot of baseball today, but lots of OT No game last night and, generally, well, not a lot going for a team that’s barrelling towards Memorial Day with a sub .300 winning percentage. Fortunately, OT will be a bit long. A little transaction news and a little Rany response: INF/OF Nate Eaton was optioned to Omaha (AAA) following last night's game.We’ll announce a corresponding roster move tomorrow.— Kansas City...

Photo by Norm Hall/ The first-year skipper hasn’t produced many wins, but is that how he should be judged? After three losing seasons and a .430 winning percentage, the Royals dismissed manager Mike Matheny last season. There were whispers of a tense clubhouse vibe, and it was clear that owner John Sherman was frustrated with a failure of data analytics being absorbed by on-field staff. In his search for a new skipper, J.J. Picollo made it clear the next Royals manager would be a good communicator. “It’s communication,” Picollo said. “It’s really knowing the...

Come for the Royals, stay for the random thoughts. Jacob Milham, Jeremy Greco, and Greg Walker team up for today’s episode with a litany of topics! Stay through the rice babies conundrum of 2023 to hear the crew’s thoughts on the Kansas City Royals DFA’ing Hunter Dozier. Plus, Jeremy sparks an interesting debate centered around Ryan O’Hearn and Brent Rooker. What do the two say about last year’s team? Tune in for a great episode from your favorite Royals pundits! You can follow the team on Twitter with Jeremy Greco at @hokius, Jacob Milham at @JacobMilhamKC, and Greg...

Photo by Jay Biggerstaff/ Perez very well could be worth every penny the Royals pay him even at the end of this contract. I have heard/read at least three different commentators say that trading Salvador Perez would be difficult because of his contract. To be clear before I move on, I think there is almost no scenario where the Royals trade Perez immediately after making him team captain, but I also think his contract is much more movable than many others are assuming. The changes in the economics of the game and Salvy’s bat since that contract was signed really make...

Peter Aiken-USA TODAY Sports Imagine not scoring multiple runs against Matthew Boyd Mike Mayers came through in his spot start on Tuesday: “I would have liked to have gone a little deeper, but I was able to throw strikes with all of my pitches,” Mayers said. “When you do that, it keeps hitters off-balance. I definitely relied a little more heavily on my slider, but it was working and the command was good tonight.” Mayers got ample support, primarily from second baseman Michael Massey and the Kansas City bullpen, which continues to be an overall bright...

Photo by Ed Zurga/ One of the many forgettable losses of 2023 Detroit hit a couple big homers and Kansas City could not sustain a rally as the Tigers won the rubber match of this three game set 6-4. The start of the game got pushed back a bit by rain, but it ended up starting at about the same time as these games started last year. Both teams got baserunners in their first inning, but after Vinnie Pasquantino singled with one out, 15 consecutive batters were retired between the two teams. Unfortunately, Riley Greene interrupted that by absolutely obliterating a high...