Royals Cold Streak Continues After Being Swept by the Rangers
The Kansas City Royals woes pile on with a winless series against the Texas Rangers. Amid a massive slump, the Royals barely put up a fight, totaling two runs in all three games. To make matters worse, in the third game to avoid the sweep, Kansas City put up only one hit against Max Scherzer in his first outing of the year and ended the game with just two hits. This makes it four straight series losses for the Royals, and a series record of 1-6-1 dating back to May 27th.
Early in the year, it seemed as though the Royals may have flipped the page and had a roster to compete deep in the playoffs. Before the losing streak, they stood at third in the AL standings, just one and a half games behind Cleveland for the division lead. Now, the Royals are out of the playoff picture, sitting one spot out of the wildcard. During this stretch, it’s hard to point fingers at just one flaw, as Kansas City has dropped to the bottom 10 in most major stats on offense and defense.
Pitching-wise, they are second to last in ERA of the last 30 days, only behind the Colorado Rockies, who have majorly skewed numbers because of Coors Field’s elevation. To pair with that, the Royals are 25th in WHIP and batting average against, all while being 24th in strikeouts and 23rd in home runs allowed. To make matters worse, they are in the bottom 10 in every offensive category in the last 30 days, which include home runs, RBIs, batting average, on-base percentage, and slugging percentage. The two brightest spots of the team, Seth Lugo on the mound and MVP-caliber shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. have been consistent but will need to lead the team out of this hole. Witt continued his .322 batting average over the last month, however, was just 3/24 in the last week, contributing to a 1-5 record. In their last three series, they have only produced wins when Lugo has pitched, losing all seven other games.
If there was ever a time to get hot again, it comes now. With a home series against the Marlins up next, the Royals look to finally put the slump in the rear-view mirror and put themselves back in the wildcard. They line up their three best pitchers for the series, with Cole Ragans in game one, followed by Seth Lugo and Brady Singer to close out the series. Kansas City needs this series against one of the worst teams in the MLB to get started, before having a four-game home stand against the division-leading Cleveland Guardians.
