The Royals have reached the All-Star break at 38-59, tied with the Angels for the worst record in Major League Baseball. The Halos’ league-high playoff drought will climb to a dozen years when their inevitable elimination comes later in the summer. Their ongoing ineptitude isn’t a surprise to anyone, whereas Kansas City looked like a team with a real chance to vie for a playoff berth when the season began.
Although the Royals followed a mediocre 82-win 2025 with a quiet winter, FanGraphs gave them the second-highest preseason odds to win the American League Central and a 44.8% chance to make the playoffs. Now, despite playing in a subpar league that features just five clubs better than .500, the Royals are likely facing insurmountable deficits in the AL Central (13 games back) and the wild card (10 behind).
An MVP-caliber showing from shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. and a massive leap forward from second-year slugger Jac Caglianone have not been enough to override disappointing performances from other key hitters or a slew of injuries throughout the roster. Catcher/DH Salvador Perez, first baseman Vinnie Pasquantino and third baseman Maikel Garcia have all floundered at the plate compared to last year. Garcia has been out for the past few weeks because of a strained left hand, while Pasquantino just returned from a right hamate fracture that cost him almost a month.
On the pitching side, left-hander Cole Ragans underwent season-ending UCL surgery earlier this month. Not only will he miss the rest of this season, but he will be out of commission for some or all of 2027. Fellow southpaw Kris Bubic landed on the IL with his own elbow issues in mid-May. Now battling shoulder soreness, Bubic still hasn’t returned. Those injuries have further taken a toll on a starting staff that lost depth options Ryan Bergert and Ben Kudrna to season-ending surgeries back in April.
The Royals’ bullpen hasn’t gone unscathed either. They currently have four relievers on the IL, including closer Carlos Estévez. The righty racked up a major league-leading 42 saves and posted a 2.45 ERA over 66 innings last year, but his lone appearance so far this season came way back on March 28. After he coughed up six earned runs in one-third of an inning in a loss to the Braves, he went on the shelf with a left foot contusion. While on a rehab assignment in early May, the 33-year-old strained his rotator cuff. He isn’t expected to return until at least August, if at all.
With the injury-laden Royals now buried in the playoff race, they certainly aren’t in position to buy ahead of the Aug. 3 trade deadline. General manager J.J. Picollo could sell off multiple veterans, but as we’ll explore below, it might not be an especially active deadline for his last-place club.
Record: 38-59 (0.2% playoff odds, per FanGraphs)
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