The Kansas City Royals were one of the teams with the highest odds at winning the American League and also winning the World Series in 2016. Currently going through a four-game losing streak during the end of April and having a record of 12-10, the Royals have been dethroned in the American League Central during the month of April. Dethroned to a surprising Chicago White Sox club with a 16-8 record which puts the Royals behind the Sox by three games to end April. Here’s what’s been going well for the Royals thus far and here’s what’s going poorly for Kansas City.
One of the key factors in the Kansas City Royals 2015 World Series run was their pitching. While one of their key relief pitchers in Tim Collins missed 2015 and now will miss the 2016 season needing another surgery in his left elbow, the pitching has been one of the best in the American. The Royals have posted the fourth lowest ERA in the AL with 3.38 team ERA, the fourth lowest opponents batting average with a .228, and second in walks allowed with only 87 thus far. But the only issue with pitching has nothing to do with the Royals. In almost every pitching category, the White Sox have posted better numbers to this point. Now it is still early in the season, but this is okay for Kansas City. The Sox are arguably the best pitching staff in baseball right now, but they haven’t haven’t faced off again Chicago yet. And with 19 games still to come for the Royals, it doesn’t matter how well the stats look right now. The Royals need to hit well in those games and have closer Wade Davis and their bullpen to shut the door to make a push back to the top of the division.
But hitting has been one of the problems for the Kansas City Royals thus far. Maybe not in terms of getting on base as they’ve posted a team batting average of .255, the fourth highest team batting average in the AL and the eighth highest OBP with a team average of .311. They’re problem so far in April is driving in those runners on base. Kansas City are 13th in the American League, 26 in all of baseball in runs scored with only 77. When your run differential is +2 after a month of baseball, something probably has to change. And while only giving up 75 runs is the fifth best in the MLB, clearly you’re hitting needs to be adjusted. This could be a different order in the batting order, maybe a lineup change, but again it’s too early to panic. Kansas City and it’s fans shouldn’t be too worried about this at the end of April. But come July, if the team is still in a position to make the playoffs while they’re hitting isn’t clicking, look for them to make a move for a big bat. We’ve seen it in their pitching game by going after pitcher Johnny Cueto, don’t be surprised if they make another big splash when the trade deadline comes around.
To end on a good note though, the Royals have still been great defensively. In both their World Series runs in 2014 and in 2015, their defense was stellar and it continues to be that way in the 2016 campaign so far. Only committing eight errors through 22 games is the second best fielding behind the Washington Nationals. When you have gold glove winners in 2015 still on your team (C Salvador Perez, 1B Eric Hosmer, and SS Alcides Escobar) you’re going to save runs and give yourself a tremendous chance to win ball games. Once the hitting starts to heat up, the Royals will once again be a top contender for the American League come September.