The Royals are winning enough right now to keep the conversation pointed toward October, but their bullpen still keeps flashing the same warning sign. Saturday’s 8-3 win over the Guardians was a good example: Daniel Lynch IV was pulled in the fourth, and Alex Lange ended up being the only reliever who allowed a run, plus the only two hits surrendered by Kansas City’s five-man bullpen effort.
That kind of outing fits the larger picture around Lange’s first season in Kansas City. The hometown native has had his moments, including a short run as the team’s closer, but the overall line has been rough. Through 52.2 innings, he owns a 5.81 ERA and 1.50 WHIP, with an 11.5% walk rate and 1.03 HR/9.
His arrival was always something of a bet. Lange had long been removed from the 26-save season he posted with the Tigers in 2023, and he had logged only 19.2 innings since the start of 2024 because of injury and underperformance. Even so, he was the Royals’ biggest free-agent bullpen pickup last winter, a move that looks even shakier when you stack it beside the trade additions that didn’t stick in Nick Mears and the now released Matt Strahm.
That’s why the bigger issue isn’t just Lange’s struggles - it’s the way Kansas City has kept leaning on bullpen gambles. The Royals are 29th in baseball in relief ERA at 5.10, and that number says plenty about how the unit has performed in 2026.
To be fair, Lange isn’t the whole story. Nate Pearson, signed midseason, has looked like a possible long-term answer for 2027, and Craig Kimbrel has given the club some useful innings and a feel-good finish.
But both came with obvious risk. Pearson had been DFA’d by the Astros before Kansas City got him, and his big arm has always come with shaky control.
Kimbrel, meanwhile, was let go by two major league teams this season and hasn’t looked like the overpowering strikeout machine that helped make him one of the top five all-time saves leaders.
For a small-market club, going big in free agency is never simple. Still, the Royals already showed what a smarter bullpen investment can look like when they signed Carlos Estévez ahead of 2025. He may not be giving them much in 2026, but in the first year of that deal he stabilized the back end and finished with a league-leading 42 saves.
At $10.1 million, Estévez wasn’t a reckless splurge. He was a proven arm with a track record. That’s the model Kansas City needs to follow this offseason if it wants to stop patching together the bullpen and start building one that can actually hold up.
In Other News...
Royals Make A Surprising Bullpen Move That Changes One Relievers Future
The Royals are making an unusual bullpen decision with right-hander John Schreiber, placing him on waivers even though he remains eligible to pitch for Kansas City in the meantime. The move gives the rest of the league 48 hours to decide whether to claim him, and it adds another layer of uncertainty to a bullpen that has already had to account for Schreibers uneven production this season after he came over in a trade from the Red Sox.
If he clears waivers, Schreiber would be expected to stay with the Royals through the 2026 season before potentially reaching free agency in the offseason. For Kansas City, it is a quietly significant roster move because it opens the door to another club while still leaving the option to keep him around, and it suggests the team is at least exploring what his future looks like beyond the immediate bullpen mix. [Read more 🡒]
Royals Lineup Flipped A Shaky Night Fast And The Guardians Cracked
Daniel Lynch IV gave the Royals a short but survivable start, working 3.1 innings while allowing three hits, two walks and striking out three. From there, the bullpen settled things down and kept Cleveland off the bases until the ninth, giving Kansas City enough runway to let its offense take over after a shaky opening.
The lineup answered with a tie in the fifth and then strung together the kind of inning that can flip a game in a hurry in the sixth, with Bobby Witt Jr., Salvador Perez and Nick Loftin all contributing key hits. The Guardians also helped the cause with defensive mistakes, and by the time the dust settled, the Royals had turned an uneasy night into a lead they could protect. [Read more 🡒]
Josh Rojas Gave The Royals A Spark They May Need More Often
Josh Rojas gave the Royals a much-needed lift in their 8-3 win over the Guardians at Progressive Field, putting together one of the more productive nights of his stint with Kansas City. His bat showed up in a game where the Royals were looking for someone to provide an early jolt, and he delivered enough offense to keep the pressure on Cleveland in front of 31,509 fans.
The Royals also got the kind of pitching effort that can make that sort of burst matter, with the staff piecing together the rest after Daniel Lynch IV worked 3 1/3 innings. For a club trying to find more consistent ways to generate runs, Rojas offered a reminder that the lineup can look a lot different when one hitter turns a quiet night into a spark. [Read more 🡒]