A Dive Into The Numbers Of The Royals' Baffling Road Woes

The quote “distance makes the heart grow fonder” is about how separation from a loved one can make the love for them greater. With how the Royals are playing on the road, that quote could not be more true. 

To put it bluntly, the Royals are the worst team in baseball when it comes to playing on the road. They’ve gone a measly 7-17 while away from the K, which is the worst road record in all of MLB. They’re also on the longest losing streak of any team in the majors, losing all six of their road games so far. But the question is, why are the Royals losing so much on the road, and is there any way to fix it? 

Bad Against Righties, But Inexplicably Only On The Road

Let’s start off with the offense, which has been the main problem for the Royals away from home. Looking at the stats while at the K, the Royals are hitting .265/.349/.436, which are not bad numbers, especially at home. But those numbers take an absolute nosedive when the Royals play anywhere else. The Royals have a league-worst batting average of .213 to go along with a .286 OBP and .336 slugging. Those numbers are abysmal, especially for a team with one of MLB’s biggest stars in Bobby Witt Jr. in the lineup.

It gets even worse when you dive deeper. Against right-handed pitchers, the Royals are hitting a league-worst .211, which is the exact opposite of what the team is hitting at home, as they are hitting .279 at home against righties, which is a league-best. The Royals' offense has struggled with scoring runs throughout the season, and that struggle could not be more apparent in their recent road games. On the road so far, the Royals have a league-worst batting average of .174 with runners in scoring position and are hitting .100 with the bases loaded. Those numbers are ridiculously low, and it shows that the Royals’ hitters are anti-clutch in moments like this. 

The Pitching Fares Better, But Just Barely

Pitching, on the other hand, is not as bad as the hitting, but it is certainly not helping the Royals win ballgames. The team has an ERA of 4.63 on the road, which isn’t terrible, but compared to their home ERA of 3.84, it certainly could be better. The pitching staff is also allowing a triple slash of .263/.347/.448, which is not enough to help a struggling offense.

What makes this situation worse is that the Royals have relied on their pitching to get them through rough patches like this, but now that the pitching is struggling, the Royals don’t really have that to lean on. With Cole Ragans and Ryan Bergert both out, the Royals' pitching depth certainly hasn’t panned out the way that they had hoped. The only starting pitchers who have had success this season are Michael Wacha and Stephen Kolek, but that success won’t last. The bullpen has seen success from Daniel Lynch IV, Lucas Erceg, and Eli Morgan, but everyone else hasn’t really stepped up like they did last season. 

So where do the Royals go from here? There are a few options that the Royals could go with. The first, and the one that seems the most likely, is to keep things where they are and just trust that the players you have now will improve over the course of the season. This plan has a better chance of not working than working, but the roster is what it is, and the fans will have to put up with it for the foreseeable future.

Another option is to make some moves at the deadline. JJ Piccolo can use some of the pitching depth he has at his disposal and trade it for a reliable bat who excels in driving in runs or more bullpen arms. The third, and most drastic option, is to blow it all up and trade players who could give you the most value (Wacha, Ragans, Witt, Kyle Isbel, etc.) This option would make more sense if the woes for the Royals were to continue, but we’re still in May, so the chances of this happening are slim to none. However, there is a lot of value you could get by making big trades like this. Hopefully, the Royals won’t get to that point and that this team will improve as the season goes on, but only time will tell.