The Royals Need to Improve Their Offense on the Road

The Royals' offense seemed to take a turn in this most recent homestand. 

In the last seven days, Kansas City scored 41 runs, the most among MLB teams over that span. They also ranked first in OPS (.971), batting average (.310), and OBP (.396), and also had 26 walks to 35 strikeouts, good for a BB/K ratio of 0.74.

Even though they went 4-2 against the Orioles and Angels this past week, the Royals looked like the team they were projected to be in the offseason. They also demonstrated a strong ability to come back and hit in the clutch in this homestand, something that had evaded them all season until this most recent series against the Angels.

However, the Royals will hit the road to start a six-game West Coast road trip against the Sacramento Athletics and the Seattle Mariners. While Kansas City is 9-7 this year at Kauffman Stadium, they are 2-10 on the road and, most recently, winless on their road trips to Detroit and the Bronx. 

So what has been the difference for the Royals at home and on the road? The offense has been good at Kauffman and atrocious away from Kansas City. 

Thus, let's take a look at what the Royals have done as a team and individually at home and on the road, and what will be some key things for fans to pay attention to as Kansas City goes up against the Athletics and Mariners this week.

The Royals Have Been Excellent at Home Offensively

Kansas City has gotten a lot of grief for its offensive performance this season. While they haven't been bad, they've struggled to be consistent. That is evidenced by ranking 15th in average, 17th in OBP, 16th in OPS, 20th in home runs, and 23rd in runs scored. That's not as bad as their 11-17 record indicates, but it's certainly not up to the standard that they are capable of.

How do we know that the Royals are capable of more? Well, at home, Kansas City has been a Top-10 offense, at least according to wRC+. 

Below is a list of MLB teams and their performance in some important hitting categories, which include the following:

• BB%
• K%
• ISO
• wOBA
• wRC+

Here's a look at that table of data, as organized by team wRC+.

The Royals rank 8th in home wRC+ with a 118.6 mark. That's ahead of the Pirates and Astros, but behind the Orioles and Yankees, whom they are 1-5 against this season. They also rank second in wOBA (.358) and 10th in BB%, K%, and ISO. Overall, at Kauffman, Kansas City has been a formidable offensive group.

Speaking of their formability offensively, here's a look at how Royals hitters fare individually in many key categories this season so far at the K. 

At home, the Royals have been surprisingly led by the bottom of their lineup.

Kyle Isbel, Kansas City's No. 9 hitter, leads in home wRC+ at 178.8. Isaac Collins, who usually hits between 6 and 8, is second with a 164.1 wRC+. Maikel Garcia leads off for the Royals, but he's been their third-best hitter at home on a wRC+ end with a 157.3 mark. 

At home, the Royals have 12 hitters with a wRC+ over 100. The only regular hitters who do not have such wRC+ marks are Vinnie Pasquantino (54.5) and Salvador Perez (70.4). Tyler Tolbert has a -100 wRC+, but that is a skewed sample (he only has one plate appearance at home). 

Thus, despite all the naysays, Kansas City has been a good offensive team, and the numbers back it up. It's just that it's only been at Kauffman Stadium so far this year. 

The Road Numbers Have Been Bleak (Though Competition Has Been Tougher)

So, we know that the Royals' offense has been awesome at the K. Unfortunately, it's been the polar opposite for this hitting group on the road through 12 games.

Here's a look at MLB team metrics, as organized by wRC+, utilizing the same metrics as the table in the section above. Notice where the Royals rank in this one.

As fans can see, the Royals rank dead last in road wRC+. And not just last, but last by a considerable margin. Their 57.5 wRC+ is not only 61.1 points worse than their home wRC+ but also 17.6 points worse than the second-worst team's road wRC+ (the Mariners, whom they play this weekend). 

Let's take a look at how the Royals hitters have fared so far this year away from Kauffman on an individual basis.

While the Royals had 12 hitters who had wRC+ marks of 100 or better at home, they only have four hitters in that range. That includes Caglianone (107.3), Bobby Witt Jr. (124.3), Jensen (131.1), and Elias Diaz (370.9). That said, Diaz's numbers should be taken with a grain of salt, as he only has three plate appearances.

Conversely, some Royals who have performed well at home have been brutal on the road.

Collins, who has the second-best home wRC+, has the worst road wRC+ with a -75 mark (he hasn't gotten a single hit this year away from the K). Perez joins Collins in the negative wRC+ club with a -2.2 mark. Furthermore, Jonathan India (38.2), Starling Marte (35.7), Garcia (31.9), Isbel (19.8), and Michael Massey (14.1) all have wRC+ marks under 40. That's a sizeable number, and a big reason why they have performed so poorly on the road so far this year.

Some have held their own on the road, much to the Royals' surprise. Cags has been just as good on the road as he is at home, based on wRC+. Loftin has a wRC+ under 100, but not by much. Vinnie's 61 wRC+ on the road isn't good, but it's better than what he's been doing at Kauffman this year.

A big difference is that the road schedule has been harder for the Royals than their home slate in April. On the road this year, they've played the Braves, Guardians, Tigers, and Yankees. All four teams are at or near the top of their respective divisions. Conversely, at home this year, they've played the Twins, Brewers, White Sox, Orioles, and Angels. Of that group, only the Brewers have a winning record, and it's just 14-13. 

Hence, some of that context has to be taken into account given the Royals' road woes. Still, even with the boost in competition, the gap between their home and road hitting performance has been stark and needs to be addressed on this upcoming road trip.

What Should We Be Looking For in This Road Trip?

The Royals will face an Athletics team that is first in the AL West with a 15-13 record but a -8 run differential. The Mariners have a 14-16 record and a -1 run differential. Thus, these road opponents will be much easier than those they faced in the previous four series away from Kauffman.

Still, it will be important for Kansas City to demonstrate that they can hit away from the K, especially with the pitching, especially the bullpen, regressing a bit this season. Collins, Isbel, and Massey will be key secondary hitters who need to show that they can hit well, not just at the K, but in other ballparks as well. In terms of primary hitters, Salvy and Maikel need to show that they can be much better on the road, as their struggles have weighed down the Royals at the top of the batting order. 

My hope is that the confidence from this past homestand will carry over to this road trip, especially in their first series at Sutter Health Park, which is the second-most hitter-friendly ballpark in baseball over the past two seasons, according to Statcast Park Factors. Thus, this is the kind of ballpark, as well as the opposing pitching staff (the Athletics rotation ranks 26th in ERA), that can help the Royals get out of their offensive funk on the road.

Of course, the Royals need to actually hit and produce runs on the road in this upcoming trip, especially in Sacramento. A solid series against the Athletics could help build some much-needed momentum for a Mariners series against a Seattle team that's 6-4 in their last 10 games.

A poor hitting series in the State Capital of California? Well, the Royals will have a tougher time scoring runs at T-Mobile Park in Seattle, which has the second-lowest scoring Park Factor in baseball over the past two years (only Texas' Globe Life Field is worse). 

Seeing Collins, Garcia, Isbel, Massey, and Salvy turning it around on the road in this upcoming series against the Athletics would not just be a good start for the Royals on this trip, but also for future trips on the road for the remainder of the 2026 season.