WEST SACRAMENTO -- In the past 25 years of Royals baseball, there have been just six seasons in which the club has finished above .500, and 2025 is one of them.
A 9-2 win over the A’s on Sunday at Sutter Health Park let the Royals end the season with an 82-80 record behind 4 1/3 scoreless innings from Cole Ragans and a powerful Kansas City offense that included Carter Jensen’s 456-foot home run.
(Editor's note: The projected distance on Jensen's home run was initially measured by Statcast as 482 feet, which would have made it the longest home run by a Royals hitter tracked by Statcast. This story has been updated to reflect the revised distance of 456 feet.)
Yet the Royals begin the offseason unsatisfied with simply a winning record. Perhaps that says everything about the strides this organization has made just two years removed from a 106-loss season in 2023.
Coming off their first postseason appearance in nine years in 2024, the Royals wanted to build on it, with their eyes on the American League Central. Instead, they missed out on October and finished third in the division behind the Guardians (88-74) and Tigers (87-75).
“For us not to be in it, obviously, is disappointing,” Michael Lorenzen said. “But for that to be disappointing, two years removed from a 100-loss season, and from being in the playoffs last year, it’s pretty impressive. There are a lot of teams that wish they could turn their organization around the way this organization has done.”
The Royals plan on competing again in 2026. They have too talented of a roster not to:
- Bobby Witt Jr. was MLB’s hits leader (184) for the second consecutive year. He finished with a .295/.351/.501 slash line and 8.0 fWAR, third best among MLB position players.
- Vinnie Pasquantino (32 homers and 113 RBIs) and Salvador Perez (30 homers and 100 RBIs) became the first set of Royals teammates to have 30-100 seasons.
- Maikel Garcia broke out, slashing .286/.351/.449 across 160 games with a 5.7 fWAR, second best among MLB third basemen.
- Carlos Estévez was the MLB saves leader in 2025 with 42.
- Noah Cameron emerged as a top rookie with a 2.99 ERA in 24 starts. Jensen, too, impressed in September. There’s excitement around their futures in Kansas City.
This list could go on, which begs the question: Why weren’t the Royals better in 2025?
A rotation ravaged by injuries didn’t help. Ragans missed three months with a left rotator cuff strain. Seth Lugo made seven fewer starts than in 2024. All-Star Kris Bubic’s season ended in July with a left rotator cuff strain.
The offense scored 651 runs this year, fifth worst in the Majors and 84 fewer runs than last year. The Royals posted a .723 OPS with runners in scoring position, 21st in MLB.
More confounding was the team’s baserunning. Kansas City made 39 outs on the bases this year, which was better than league average (45) entering Sunday, but the team also led the league with 21 pickoffs.
Digging into the reasons why is what the Royals will be doing all offseason.
“Coming up short of the playoffs is going to be a reflection on my part and on the staff’s part of, ‘How do we bring those pieces together more cohesively?’” manager Matt Quatraro said. “I’m not sure what the answer to that is, but that’s what our focus is going to be. Because there’s plenty of talent, plenty of statistical things that went well, but [we have to] understand how to make this team a better cohesive unit to get over the hump.”
Expectations were high for this club for the first time in years, and the Royals must answer why they didn’t meet them.
“Maybe this is a blessing in disguise,” Witt said. “We went to the playoffs last year. We can’t roll out of bed and expect to be there again. We have to do the little things. What if we won two more games [each] in April, May and June? Those are six games to flip around, and [then] we’re competing for the division. You look back at those what ifs. You try to learn from them.”
End-of-year evaluation meetings ramped up over the past week, with offseason plans being formulated. There might be tweaks to the staff, but wholesale changes don’t seem inevitable at this point.
“We just have to really do an honest evaluation,” general manager J.J. Picollo said. “Why did this team, which is very similar to last year’s team, not achieve the same? There’s a lot for us to look at, and it’s more of the smaller things that we have to improve on. That identification process has been ongoing and has ramped up now at the end of the year.”
The core pieces of the roster are returning; the Royals are expected to pick up Salvador Perez’s club option (or restructure a new deal), meaning the top hitters will all be back. The rotation will stay largely intact, with hopefully better health than in 2025. Kansas City will likely try to use its pitching depth to find a way to boost the offense. That will be the No. 1 priority this winter.
But there is belief in the clubhouse.
The Royals just have to see it play out on the field.
“We have our team,” Witt said. “We have our pitchers back. We have our core. Now we’ve got to ask, ‘How motivated can we get because of this year?’ We can’t be satisfied with playing .500. We can’t be satisfied with making the postseason one year. Hopefully it lights a fire under the guys. I’m ready to get to work.”