Kansas City Royals: Ranking The Bullpen

Kansas City Royals mascot Slugger – Mandatory Credit: Denny Medley-USA TODAY Sports

With the All-Star Game just a few weeks away, the Kansas City Royals are sitting with a four and a half game lead in the American League Central, and are 13 games over .500 at 44-31 (as of July 4th). A big part of the reason for the Royals’ success this season is largely due to their dominant bullpen, which also helped them make it to Game 7 of the World Series last year.

The halfway point of the 2015 season is approaching, and now is the perfect time to look at this Royals bullpen and rank everyone’s performance. This will consist of relievers CURRENTLY in the bullpen so you won’t be seeing  Yohan Pino on this list and Joe Blanton and Chris Young will be excluded as well since they’re part of the starting rotation right now.

It’s been exciting watching this Royals bullpen go to work so far this season. You know when the Royals have a lead in the seventh (even in the sixth inning now) that they more than likely will win the game.

I heard during a game with the Oakland Athletics last weekend, Ryan Lefebvre mentioned a ridiculous stat about how the Royals were undefeated when leading in the ninth inning. That’s what happens when your bullpen is as dominant as Kansas City’s has been this year.

Last year the team was known for their deadly H-D-H combo, which went in the seventh-eighth-ninth innings of a game. It was always fun to watch because you pretty much knew the game was over and that the Royals were going to win yet again.

Anyway, let’s start off the countdown with the most disappointing reliever so far.

*ALL STATS ARE AS OF BEFORE JULY 4’S EVENING GAME AGAINST THE TWINS*

Next: Not What We Were Expecting