The Kansas City Royals' Offense Looks All Too Familiar

[Mike Gillespie]

Image courtesy of © Peter Aiken-Imagn Images

Sixteen games into the new season, the 2026 Kansas City Royals found themselves sharing too many things in common with the 2025 club that so disappointingly fell short of a second straight trip to baseball’s postseason.

Sunday’s homestand-ending loss to the White Sox kept the Royals stranded in third place in the American League Central, the same spot they occupied at this point a year ago, and their 7-9 record was a game worse than where they stood after 16 outings in 2025.

Unfortunately, though, the similarities to last year don’t end there. With roughly 10% of this new campaign in the books, and despite some new blood on the roster, Kansas City’s struggle to score continues, its outfielders’ bats remain too soft, and who to play where is still a question. Without solutions, Kansas City may well be headed for another "Wait 'til next year" season.

The Royals’ Offense Looks Too Much Like the 2025 Version

As was the case last season, when they averaged barely four runs per game, the 2026 Royals simply don’t push enough runs across the plate. The nine runs they managed in four games against the cellar-dwelling White Sox to close out last week's play gave them 54 for the young season, a sad 27th among the majors’ 30 teams heading into Monday’s action, and not good enough for anything better than a measly 3.37 per contest average. Take away the April Fool’s Day game in which they plated 13 runs against Minnesota, and the Royals would be averaging 2.73 per game. Ugh.

Kansas City’s inability to score enough has many causes, not the least of which is the club’s performance with runners in scoring position, a critical area in which they finished a concerning 21st in 2025 (.255 average), but were dead last heading into Monday (.202). The club needed to be better last season, and get better this year.

The Royals Are Still Fighting Their Bats

Despite getting highly productive seasons from Vinnie Pasquantino (32 homers, 113 RBI) and Salvador Perez (30 homers, 100 RBI) and quite decent plate performances from All-Stars Bobby Witt Jr. and Maikel Garcia last year, the Royals were no better than a middle-of-the-road (or worse) offensive team in 2025. And things really aren’t any better this year.

Take, for example, the Royals’ .221 team average, which, entering Monday, ranked 24th in the majors. Their .344 SLG, like their total runs scored, ranked 27th. Their .655 OPS was 24th-best. And while KC’s .311 OBP came in at 12th, their sub-average 89 wRC+ topped only five teams.

How do those numbers compare to 2025? The Royals finished last year with a .247 average (15th), a .397 SLG (18th), .706 OPS (19th), .309 OBP (22nd), and a 93 wRC+ (22nd). The comparative bodies of work aren’t remarkably different … and that’s not good for this club.

The fault lies with no one player. Going into Monday, Perez and Pasquantino had only nine RBI between them, and Pasquantino hadn’t homered yet. Jonathan India and Michael Massey, either or neither of whom could end up with the full-time second base job before the season ends, were hitting a combined .183. (To his credit, India’s eight RBI tied him with Garcia and rookie Carter Jensen for the team lead). Jac Caglianone and Starling Marte hadn’t driven in a run or belted a homer. 

On the other hand, Jensen led KC with four home runs and Garcia’s .306/.380/.484 line complemented his 105wRC+. Witt was still looking for his first home run but had seven RBI to go with his improving .271/.371/.322 line.

And Kyle Isbel was hitting .316 with a .395 OBP, and his two homers were already only six shy of the career-best eight he hit in 2024. But his outfield colleagues’ lackluster performances should keep general manager J.J. Picollo on the prowl for a big outfield bat — newcomer Isaac Collins' bat has plenty of room for improvement, fellow new Royal Lane Thomas was batting .130, and Caglianone’s painful search for sustained success continues unabated.

Bottom line? The Royals'  offense looks too much like the one that played such a big role in their disappointing 2025 campaign. Without improvement, this could be a long season. 

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