The 2026 Royals have reached the kind of low that doesn’t leave much room for sugarcoating. They’re 35-52, on pace for 65 wins, and sitting with the worst record in the American League. Their run differential is the worst in the league too, and only the Colorado Rockies keep Kansas City from owning the bottom spot across all of Major League Baseball.
What makes it worse is that this wasn’t supposed to be the script. The Royals came into the year expecting to contend.
The organization believed it had a playoff-caliber club after winning 82 games last season, and two years after an 86-win run that got them into the postseason. The computers liked them as well: PECOTA projected 84 wins, while ZiPS landed on 82.
Instead, the season has been a steady slide, and the response has been stubbornly familiar. A little more than a month ago, the Royals were already being called out for doing nothing while a range of moves sat available to them. Since then, they’ve gone 13-18 and kept drifting deeper into the mess.
Other clubs have shown a willingness to act when expectations collapse. The New York Mets fired manager Carlos Mendoza after a 34-48 start.
The Los Angeles Angels fired general manager Perry Minasian after a 34-49 start. Around the league, teams have paid a price for falling short.
Kansas City, so far, has not.
That reality came into sharper focus during the first game of the homestand, when JJ Picollo’s comments offered a window into how the Royals are framing the situation. He said:
“I know what this group is about,” Picollo said. “I know how they work.
They’re very curious. They want answers.
They want to try to find solutions to the questions we have. I know they’re prepared every day.
And that’s all we can ask. At the end of the year, you take a look and say, ‘Is this really moving in the direction we want to go?’
“But right now, just keep having conversations with them, share what we’re seeing as a front office. Let them share concerns they have with us, so together we can be part of the answers with each other.”
There are a couple of important limits to that quote. Picollo was speaking about the coaching staff, not the front office or the players.
And, as with any public interview like this, there’s a layer of PR to it. He was never going to start throwing people overboard in front of a microphone.
Still, the message lands hard.
Because at some point, the issue stops being about effort and starts being about results. Losing is supposed to trigger change.
That’s the feedback loop. If a team keeps coming up short, the response is supposed to be different, not more of the same.
But the Royals have kept losing, and the action has been minimal.
Picollo’s emphasis is on preparation, curiosity and trying hard. His line - “that’s all we can ask” - says plenty about where the organization’s standards are right now.
And that’s exactly the problem. Fans aren’t buying tickets, watching games and investing their nights because a team is working hard behind the scenes.
They want competent baseball on the field. Right now, the Royals are not delivering it, and they are not doing much to change it.
The product is bad. The response has been nothing. And Kansas City is asking supporters to accept togetherness and solidarity when what they want is a team that plays like it expects more from itself.
In Other News...
Royals May Be Cornered Into A Risky No. 6 Draft Choice
With the 2026 MLB Draft still ahead, the Royals are already being pulled into a familiar kind of debate at No. 6 overall: take the best talent available, or lean toward a college bat that could move quickly enough to help a big-league club with obvious needs. That tension has made the scouting process especially important, because Kansas City is trying to balance long-term upside with the temptation to draft for a faster timeline.
Georgia Tech outfielder Drew Burress is among the names in that mix, and the appeal is obvious for a team looking for impact. The concern, as always with a pick this high, is whether forcing the board toward immediate help creates more risk than reward, especially with other college options still in play. The Royals will have to settle that question when the draft unfolds July 11 in Philadelphia. [Read more 🡒]
One Royals Raffle Win Could Lead To Something Much Bigger
A Royals 50-50 charity raffle has already done more than hand out a prize. The winning ticket, tied to the American Red Cross earthquake relief efforts in Venezuela, brought in $13,679, and the money now carries a chance to reach far beyond one ballpark drawing as its winner looks to direct it toward aid work in a country still in need of help.
Working with a law firm to keep the donations transparent, the Sedalia businessman behind the ticket wants the proceeds aimed at medical relief for hospitals in Venezuela. What makes the story worth watching is how a one-night raffle windfall could become the start of something larger if other major league teams and players decide to get involved. [Read more 🡒]