KANSAS CITY -- As the White Sox and Guardians spend the final week of the regular season battling for the American League Central title, the Royals have the chance to play equal opportunity spoilers.
Kansas City is playing its final homestand against those top two teams in the division, and general manager J.J. Picollo will be watching the spoiler angle with interest. But for Picollo, the big focus is looking ahead to 2027, when he hopes to get the Royals into a contending position similar to where Chicago and Cleveland are now.
“We certainly would rather be playing in October, rather than having meetings to talk about next season,” Picollo said prior to the Royals’ 14-11 loss to the White Sox on Tuesday night. “But that’s the situation we are in. We have to have a productive October in our preparation.”
The shape of Kansas City’s 2027 roster won’t fully come into focus for quite some time, but Picollo is quick to note that the bullpen is the big issue heading into next season.
“I would say the bullpen is the unknown,” Picollo said. “That’s the one we’re going to spend a lot of time on.
“November is the month where you have to get some work done. I’m anxious to see how fast the industry works. But I know our plan is to push the envelope as much as we can because we would much rather have some potential pieces to the puzzle in place before the potential lockout.”
For now, the Royals will try to finish 2026 as strongly as possible.
Left-hander Daniel Lynch IV, who transitioned from reliever to starter in August, didn’t have his best stuff Tuesday. Lynch worked four innings and allowed seven hits and nine runs, including three homers. His earned run average deteriorated from 3.29 to 4.13.
“Not a great outing,” Lynch said. “They were pretty much all over me. It felt like any time I made a mistake, they were on it. And even when I didn’t make a mistake, they hit it. I still have a lot of confidence in myself. Everybody has bad starts. I just take away from it being able to move forward and flush it.”
The Royals cut a 10-run deficit to three over the final two innings. Vinnie Pasquantino hit his first career grand slam in the ninth and finished with three hits and five RBIs.
“Vinnie has been on a good run since he came back [from the injured list Aug. 17],” Royals manager Matt Quatraro said. “There’s a lot to like about what he has done since he came back.”