Bobby Witt Jr. #7 of the Kansas City Royals hits an RBI double in the seventh inning against the Pittsburgh Pirates during inter-league play at PNC Park on September 14, 2024 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. | Photo by Justin K. Aller/Getty Images Featuring: The return of Two-Hit Witt! It’s a well-known fact that Bobby Witt Jr. has been slumping lately. Well, slumping for Bobby anyway. In the month of September, he had 10 hits in 11 games. Had gone hitless only twice, and came into today on a six-game hitting streak. But, still, he clearly wasn’t playing up to his standards. Bobby goes deep for ..read more

Michael Wacha #52 of the Kansas City Royals throws in the first inning against the Minnesota Twins at Kauffman Stadium on September 08, 2024 in Kansas City, Missouri. | Photo by Ed Zurga/Getty Images The Royals enjoyed their first beatdown in a while, last night. Can they do it again? It’s a Saturday day game in Pittsburgh, and the Royals have a chance to keep the good times rolling quickly today after beating down their first sub-.500 foe in weeks last night. Things will not be as easy today as the Pirates will send Mitch Keller to the mound. Keller has been a steady presence on the Pirates ..read more

Malcolm Emmons-Imagn Images Remembering the Plaza flood On September 11th, 1977, the Royals played game number 141 in Minnesota. They won that game by a score of 4 to 1 with lefty Andy Hassler spreading ten Minnesota hits, nine which were singles, over nine innings, while allowing just one run. The game had been a pitchers’ duel between Hassler and Geoff Zahn. Going into the top of the 9th, the score was knotted up at one apiece and Kansas City’s eleven game winning streak was at risk. In the top of the 9th, John Wathan led off with a walk. There’s an old baseball saw that says walked runners ..read more

Photo by Joe Sargent/Getty Images The Royals won’t have a losing record this year! The Royals clinched a non-losing season last night. “We need to keep winning,” Royals manager Matt Quatraro said. “This is a hotly contested race for the playoffs and we know that every day is important. All we can do today is win one game. “It doesn’t matter if it’s our 81st or 82nd (victory) whatever it is. We can just keep putting our best foot forward every day.” Alec Marsh was on his game, writes Anne Rogers. In order for his curveball to be effective, Marsh has to “rip it in front,” he said, making him ..read more

Photo by Joe Sargent/Getty Images Alec Marsh tied a career-high with 11 strikeouts. Royals hitters put up six runs early on against the Pirates, and Alec Marsh tied a career-high with 11 strikeouts in a 8-3 win over the Pirates in the series opener on Friday night. The Royals jumped on Pirates starter Luis Ortiz in the second inning. Robbie Grossman drew a one-out walk, then Adam Frazier tapped a grounder back to the mound, but Ortiz threw it wild of first base, allowing the runners to reach second and third. Yuli Gurriel singled home a run, Kyle Isbel doubled home a run, then Tommy Pham singl ..read more

Photo by Jared Wickerham/Getty Images The Royals look to win their first series in Pittsburgh since 2000. The Royals have been the second-best team in the American League since the All-Star Game (behind only the red-hot Tigers) despite a seven-game losing streak and a tough three week “gauntlet” against some of the best teams in baseball. They’ll get a bit of a reprieve this weekend against the Pirates. But don’t totally overlook these Bucs, they’re a young, feisty team that was over .500 for much of the year. Alec Marsh takes to the mound tonight - he hasn’t gone more than five innings in a s ..read more

Photo by David Dermer/Diamond Images/Getty Images The Royals look to plunder Pittsburgh. The Pirates haven’t had a winning season since 2018, but their rebuild seems have brought them to the cusp of being a .500 team, with hopes they can get over the hump next year. They have the third-youngest pitching staff in baseball with two of the more electric young arms in baseball. The team flirted with .500 and actually had a winning record at the trade deadline - where they were buyers with an eye for the long-term. But an 8-19 August sunk any hopes of making the post-season. Kansas City Royals (80 ..read more

Bobby Witt Jr. #7 of the Kansas City Royals rounds third base before scoring a run during the third inning of the game against the New York Yankees at Yankee Stadium on September 10, 2024 in New York City. | Photo by Dustin Satloff/Getty Images If you’re a Yankees fan, you’re probably pretty nervous about facing the Royals in the playoffs. There are 15 games left in the season and the Royals, along with half of MLB, are in an all-out sprint to see who gets to keep playing into October. The Royals finished “The Gauntlet Part Two” with a record of 9-11, weighed down by the seven-game losing stre ..read more

Bubble! | Photo by Jim McIsaac/Getty Images With The Gauntlet over, just 15 games to go Let’s check in on those playoff odds, shall we? Baseball Prospectus: 92.7% to make playoffs, 3.2% to win division, 1.9% to win World Series Fangraphs: 94.3% to make playoffs, 6.8% to win division, 2.6% to win World Series Baseball-Reference: 94.1% to make playoffs, 3.4% to win division, 6.0% to win World Series The The Star, Jaylon Thompson looks at how the Royals have done against the other playoff contenders. The Royals are firmly in second place in the American League Wild Card race; three will make t ..read more

Photo by Jim McIsaac/Getty Images Who will battle for the pennant? With a little over two weeks left in the regular season, the Royals seem poised to make their first playoff appearance in nine seasons. They currently sit in the second Wild Card spot, with a magic number of 11 to clinch a playoff spot, and a 92 percent chance of making the post-season, according to Fangraphs. For the post-season, each division winner will make up the top three seeds. The three Wild Card teams will be the next three seeds, even if they have a better record than the division winners. The top two teams in the lea ..read more