Kansas City Royals should not be in playoff contention
The Kansas City Royals are somehow still in the thick of things when it comes to the postseason. How is that even possible? This team is not a playoff team whatsoever.
At 72-72, the Kansas City Royals sit three games out of the second Wild Card spot. They trail the Twins and Angels for that spot and are also fighting off the Rangers, Orioles, and Mariners. It is incredibly baffling to me that the Royals are still in this thing, but here we are.
Despite being in postseason contention, the Kansas City Royals don’t deserve to make it into the playoffs this year. People might be angry at me for saying that, but it’s true. This is not a good baseball team and if they do make it into the playoffs, they’re going to get embarrassed by whoever they face.
For one, the Royals are only sitting at .500. The second Wild Card spot was created to help GOOD teams get a shot at making a deep October run. It wasn’t invented for .500 teams to limp their way to the finish line. The American League is making that second spot look like a complete joke.
The chances of the Royals winning a Wild Card “winner take all” game are slim.
Second, the Royals pitching staff as a whole is horrendous. Don’t believe me? Their best pitcher right now is Jakob Junis, who is a rookie and has an ERA of 4.34. That’s the Royals best pitcher right now. Yikes.
Over half of Kansas City’s starting rotation are rookies (Junis, Eric Skoglund, Sam Gaviglio) and that’s not a good game plan for making it to the postseason. The Royals are barely fielding a team at this point with guys being hurt, forcing them to rely on rookies to get the job done. That’s not ideal.
Oh, did I mention that the bullpen was awful too? Because it is. The Royals had a 4-0 lead on Tuesday and still nearly lost the game (and to the WHITE SOX, at that). The three pitchers acquired from San Diego have been absolute trash and any time they come out of the bullpen, runs are going to come easy off of them.
It’s one thing for a team to have a bad rotation or a bad bullpen, but they can’t have both. At least not if they want to make an impact in October they can’t.
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Lastly, the Royals have one of the streakiest offenses ever. They’ll look unstoppable in some games and in others, will look like a team of rookies at the plate. Playoff teams have to be able to put the ball in play, and the Royals aren’t consistent at doing that.
Say the Royals did make it into the playoffs. Yes, baseball is a crap shoot and the Wild Card is a huge indicator of that, but the chances of the Royals winning a Wild Card “winner take all” game are slim. They’d probably have to throw Jason Hammel onto the mound as their starter and nobody knows what to expect out of him, or anyone in this rotation for that matter.
Look, I love the Kansas City Royals as much as all of you do, but let’s face it. This 2017 team isn’t good enough to be a postseason participant. They’re only in the running because the other American League teams are just as mediocre as they are. If the Royals did make it there, they’d be humiliated in a whole new kind of fashion.
I know getting to the playoffs is always the goal, but for the Royals, we need to just accept the fact that the ride is over. Time to enjoy these final few weeks of watching Lorenzo Cain, Alcides Escobar, Eric Hosmer, and Mike Moustakas all play together at Kauffman Stadium and then bid adieu to the most fun era of Kansas City Royals baseball.
Let the rebuild begin!