By Adam Gardner | May 21, 2026
Kansas City sits at the bottom of the mediocre American League Central, one of the worst teams in the pathetic American League, and Royals fans are sick of this.
What is this? “This” is, well, everything. Pitchers are hurt. Pitchers aren’t performing. Hitters can’t hit. Hitters that might be hitting aren’t playing. Runners are doing only God knows what on the base paths, looking like a little league team in a hurry to get to their post-game ice cream.
The poor play is showing up on the field, and it’s showing up in the stadium. The Royals barely cleared 14,000 in attendance on Tuesday and Wednesday nights in games against the Boston Red Sox. Boston isn’t playing great this year so their normal amount of bandwagon fans didn’t come like usual, but that’s still pathetic for a game against the Red Sox.
And it’s all because the Royals are doing everything they can to not just lose, but be a frustrating team to watch.
Let’s talk baserunning
Anne Rogers dove into this with a story after Tuesday’s 7-1 loss to the Red Sox, but it’s been an issue all season.
Carter Jensen doubled in the fifth inning of Tuesday’s game and Maikel Garcia singled to right field. Best case scenario: Jensen scores from second and Garcia advances to second on the throw.
But it’s 2026 and we are not getting best case scenarios with the Royals.
Royals third base coach Vance Wilson held Jensen at third. The Red Sox threw home and Garcia tried to advance to second, but was thrown out. Instead of a run, or at least two runners on base, the Royals didn’t score and recorded an out.
My biggest gripe on this play is that Garcia gave little effort running from home to first base. Had he ran just a little harder, he would have been in better position to break for second base. But look at this:
Garcia was trotting to first and then finally decided to kick it into gear when he saw the throw. It’s hard to see in the picture, but I circled the ball in red – the throw from the outfield is already in the infield heading to the catcher and Garcia is just now getting past first base.
Eric Hosmer properly called out Garcia on the broadcast. “As a runner, as a hitter, once you get out of that box you want to keep your feet moving and read that throw,” Hosmer said over the replay.
Hosmer knows what it takes to win in the Major Leagues. Those 2014-2015 teams that went to back-to-back World Series and won it all in 2015 were built on guys that worked for everything they wanted. Those teams weren’t the 25 most-talented guys in the MLB, they were good players that fought for wins.
And Hosmer’s most iconic moment as a Royal is probably when he busted his ass on the base paths, running home to score the tying run in the 9th inning against the Mets in Game 5, 2015.
Oh, there’s more
The bad baserunning doesn’t end there. The Royals gave us another WTF moment the very next inning. Lane Thomas and Starling Marte singled. With runners on first and second and one out, Thomas took off from second before a pitch was thrown. The Red Sox pitcher threw to third and Thomas was out.
Look at how far out he was. For context, the Red Sox were shifted over for Vinnie Pasquantino, but it was an easy throw-and-catch for the caught stealing. “Royals fans are getting frustrated,” Hosmer said on the broadcast. “Night in, night out, just too many mistakes on the bases, too many mental errors.”
You know what makes this even funnier? The Boston catcher allowed a passed ball on the very next pitch. We don’t know for certain because a runner thrown out changes things and maybe the sequence would have been different if Thomas had never run, but it’s entirely possible both runners advance on the passed ball and the Royals have two runners in scoring position with one out.
That wasn’t the case, though, because serendipity does not wear Royal blue.
Add these fun events on top of poor baserunning in Monday’s 3-1 loss to Boston. Michael Massey *doubled* – it should have been an error on left fielder Masataka Yoshida – in the bottom of the fifth inning of a scoreless game. Kyle Isbel stepped to the plate and the threat of Isbel laying down a bunt pulled the Red Sox third baseman in on the grass.
Isbel didn’t bunt and instead laced a single to left field. Vance Wilson decided to test Yoshida, who had just struggled in left field, and sent Massey home only to see him thrown out.
In a vacuum, it’s a justifiable send. Yoshida isn’t Alex Gordon out in left field and he had literally just made a gaff and sometimes those things snowball.
But the decision wasn’t in a vacuum. Massey got a terrible jump from second base and wasn’t to third base by the time Yoshida gloves the ball.
Wilson, located at the bottom of the pic, sees all this but still sends Massey. The result is an out at home.
You can argue that Wilson has a tough job there and has to make a split-second decision – whatever, that’s his job and I don’t think he did it well in that situation.
My biggest gripe is with Massey. He froze on the hit by Isbel even though it wasn’t in the air and it wasn’t at a defender. Remember, the third baseman was pulled in for a possible bunt. Massey should know where he was and should know on that hit that nobody in the infield is getting a glove on it. But he freezes before going and that hesitation cost the Royals a run.
There’s so much more
It’s not just baserunning that has been sickening. The Royals rank No. 27 (out of 30) in runs scored. They are somehow No. 19 in home runs and are No. 20 in OPS.
In a shocking twist, KC is only tied for No. 19 in strikeouts even though it seems like every pitcher they face records a new season high.
Break it down into a high-leverage situation and the Royals numbers get worse. KC has a .649 OPS with runners in scoring position – second-worst across MLB. And despite a good start to the month of May, the Royals OPS this month is just .671 – No. 22 in MLB.
Just imagine this team without Bobby Witt Jr. He is the only thing holding the team together. According to baseball-reference.com, Witt has a MLB-leading 3.3 WAR. It’s only May 21 and Witt has been worth over 3 wins compared to a low-level replacement.
The rest of the team? Garcia is at 1.2, Jac Caglianone is at 0.8, Isbel at 0.5, Carter Jensen is 0.3 and Isaac Collins is at a flat 0.0.
Salvador Perez and Vinnie Pasquantino have combined to be worth -0.4 WAR. That means the Royals everyday No. 3 and No. 4 hitters have actually cost them half a win.
We can’t blame it on a cold start anymore; we’re 30% of the way through the season. The team just isn’t performing the way they need to perform. It’s a pitiful 20-30 start for a team that had postseason aspirations.
Players, coaches need to be held accountable. There isn’t any reason Salvy and Vinnie should be in the top half of the lineup. Pasquantino has been moved down and even out of the lineup the past two nights against left-handed starters. Salvy’s still in the top half and homered on Wednesday, but his occasional pop isn’t making up for the rest of his awful numbers.
Move Cags up and play him every day. Get Jensen more at bats. It’s great that Vinnie holds himself accountable after games, but at some point it’s manager Matt Quatraro’s responsibility to the team to optimize who is getting the most at bats.
It’s the hitting coaches’ responsibility – Alec Zumwalt, Marcus Thames and Connor Dawson – to fix the players underperforming.
The Royals have scored 2 runs or fewer in 20 games this season. They’ve only played 50 games! I don’t know what else to say other than DO BETTER.
Quatraro said the players are still fighting, still making adjustments during games – maybe they should change their process. What they are doing right now is not working.
Reality
I get it, it’s so easy for me to sit at a keyboard and demand the team stop chasing breaking balls out of the zone in the same plate appearance they watch a fastball right down the pipe. I know it’s harder than that – but why are other teams able to do it so much better?
Why can’t the Royals prepare better, adjust better, or hit better? How is a team with Bobby Witt Jr. this bad at scoring runs? I know I’m not alone in saying I’m sick of this.
Add in the fact that Cole Ragans, Kris Bubic and Matt Strahm are all now on the Injured List and the pitching depth is going to get tested even more, all while the offense is putrid, and it’s starting to get scary.
This season might be over before June, realistically. Another season with one of the top-three players in the game down the drain if shit doesn’t get corrected immediately. How sick of this is Witt?
At what point will Witt – if he hasn’t already – look around and see guys not hustling, or running into outs, or watching strike three down the middle, or chasing strike three 2 feet out of the zone, and decide he’s over it all?
I don’t expect him to demand a trade this year or next because he just doesn’t seem like that type of guy. But he’s going to keep track of the organization not building around him and not holding people accountable.
I’m sick of this and I know you all are, too.
