The latest victims of a World Series hangover, the Kansas City Royals are 55-59 — third place in the American League Central. The distance between themselves and the division-leading Cleveland Indians is 9.5 games, while four teams and 6.5 games separate K.C. from a Wild Card spot.
To put it in a much clearer perspective, there won’t be a second straight championship.
Even more, you can forget about a third consecutive appearance to the postseason and the Fall Classic. Impale a fork into the Royals — they’re done for 2016.
Just 10 wins in their last 26 games since the All-Star break (including two straight heading into Friday), Ned Yost’s club has been beset by a variety of injuries.
The most significant of those is the torn ACL suffered by Mike Moustakas in late May, which put him out for the remainder of 2016. Reliever Wade Davis has spent two stints on the disabled list, while Lorenzo Cain, Alex Gordon and Luke Hochevar each went down for long stretches.
@BigCat1986 Right. Not saying Royals were hurt less by injuries. They’ve been devastated by them.
— Danny Knobler (@DannyKnobler) July 31, 2016
But the performance on the field is just as much to blame — if not more — than the players who have spent time off it.
The most glaring flaw is the offense. Kansas City ranks 22nd in on-base percentage, 27th in slugging percentage and 27th in runs scored. No regular in the lineup is batting better than .280 and their best RBI producer has less than 70.
Gordon, in 82 games, is hitting .203 with eight home runs and 18 RBIs in 82 games — having struck out 95 times in 281 at-bats. Alcides Escobar has only a .248 batting average and an OBP of .278.
The pitching hasn’t been much better – featuring a team ERA at 4.24 (18th in MLB). Yordano Ventura, expected to claim the ace role after the departure of Johnny Cueto, sports a record of 7-9 with a strikeout-to-walk ratio of only 6.57 and an ERA at 4.64. Instead of maturing into a rotation ace, his immature actions are getting him into hot water with opponents. Even greater are the struggles for Edinson Volquez, 8-10 and a 5.03 ERA.
The bullpen has been solid (despite losing Davis), but many other elements that were essential to the Royals’ brand of winning baseball aren’t as effective as they were during the previous two World Series runs.
Any person who witness the previous postseason couldn’t help but hear about Kansas City’s splendid ability to put the ball in play. In 2016, however, the lineup’s strikeout rate has increased from 15.9 percent to 20.2. Their contact rate, according to FanGraphs, is 78.6 percent (15th in baseball). The stolen base count is currently at 71. That’s still 10th-best, but like all these other numbers, not where it was compared to the recent past.
It’s quite possible the rest of the league has caught up with the Royals. No unique strategy for winning in today’s baseball remains a novelty for long.
But the core group of Gordon, Cain, Moustakas, Eric Hosmer, Salvador Perez didn’t rise to the top of the AL by accident. Along with a bullpen and a defense that other teams envy, it’s a likely bet that this year is more an aberration than a regression.
