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Well that was ghastly. I’m not sure “embarrassing” is a strong enough word for what happened to the Royals in their series with the New York Yankees at the K this week.
Emasculating might be more accurate.
A few weeks ago the Yankees brutalized KC in the Big Apple, sweeping a three game series by a combined score of 24-6. You might have thought coming in to the rematch at home the Royals would be a little salty and eager to get a little revenge on the Yanks.
If you thought that, it didn’t take long to realize how wrong you were. New York came to town, slapped the boys in blue around for three days and left with another sweep by a combined score of 26-4 this time. Included were 15-1 and 7-0 beatdowns.
Look I’ve hated the Yankees for 50 years, I’m not going to stop now. I’m not sure how you lose 15-0 one night and no opposing hitter gets plunked the next night. The Royals are very polite losers.
Kansas City went 2-7 on the homestand (BOS-SEA-NY), and now have lost 14 consecutive games to the Yankees.
Emasculating.
The club was off yesterday, and the calls for heads to roll were nearly unanimous among Royals commenters on X. It was the perfect day to make a move with the coaching staff. Fire someone, anyone. Do something to make the fans think the front office cares about the product, or is even paying attention. Instead we heard nothing from JJ Picollo. The club left KC last night for Texas, and hitting coach Alec Zumwalt, third base coach Vance Wilson, and first base coach Damon Hollins all made the trip.
All three should have been fired yesterday.
UP NEXT
All we can do as fans is look forward. Maybe we should be looking all the way to 2027 and beyond, but I’m not quite ready to give up on 2026 yet. Jared Koller laid out a path back to relevance for the 2026 Royals on X this morning…
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If the Royals are going to get anything done this year, it has to start now and it’s going to have to start on the road. Tonight the club plays the first of 3 against the Texas Rangers in Arlington, followed by 3 in Cincinnati and 4 in Minnesota. Come back home with a 2-8 or 3-7 road trip and it’s over.
Let’s look at the matchup with the Rangers.
Texas is 25-31 and in 4th place in the AL West. Their offense ranks 20th with team WRC+ of 96. Their rotation ranks 17th in ERA at 4.19 but 8th in WHIP at 1.20. The Ranger bullpen has been solid with a 3.10 (3rd) ERA and 1.22 WHIP (7th).
Here are the pitching matchups for the series…
Tonight - RHP Stephen Kolek (3-0, 2.77) vs LHP MacKenzie Gore (3-4, 4.42)
This will be the Royals first look at Gore in a Ranger uniform. He made one start against KC for the Nationals in 2023, throwing 7 innings and only allowing 3 hits and 1 run. OF Starling Marte has seen him the most among Royals hitters. You can count on the veteran being in the lineup tonight as he is 5-13 (.385) with a HR against Gore.
Saturday - RHP Seth Lugo (2-4, 3.74) vs RHP Kumar Rocker (2-5, 3.96)
The Royals will be getting their first crack at the 26 year old Rocker as he has not faced KC previously. Rocker is a sinker-slider guy who gets a lot of ground balls when he is on.
Sunday - RHP Michael Wacha (4-2, 2.69) vs RHP Jack Leiter (2-4, 4.75)
Leiter made two starts against the Royals in 2025 and got absolutely rocked. He threw a combined 9 1/3 innings in those games, yielding 14 hits, 5 walks, and 9 earned runs. Five of the hits were home runs! Salvador Perez is 3-3 with 2 bombs in his career against Leiter.
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