Kansas City Royals on pace for historic season
The Kansas City Royals are on pace for a historic sesaon, the likes of which has not been seen since the early days of Major League Baseball.
Amongst the plethora of problems facing the Kansas City Royals, there are two that truly stand out. First, the Royals do not hit for really any power at all. They have hit 70 homers on the season, last in the majors. Only Mike Moustakas (17) and Salvador Perez (11) have reached the double digit threshold this season. If Jorge Soler and his nine homers are added to those two, more than half of the Royals home runs this season have come from three players.
Meanwhile, the Royals have allowed 126 homers, the most in the majors. Jakob Junis has given up a league leading 24 homers himself before landing on the disabled list. With Junis, Danny Duffy, and the injured Ian Kennedy, the Royals have three of the top ten pitchers in home runs allowed. That combination of being unable to keep the ball in the yard, and being unable to hit for power, has been one of a myriad of factors in the Royals miserable 25-64 record this season.
Should this combination continue, the Royals would be on pace for a truly historical season. They would become the third team in the history of Major League Baseball to not only finish last in homers, but to allow the most homers as well. They would join the Chicago White Stockings of 1877 and the Boston Red Caps of 1878 as they only teams to have that ignoble performance.
More from Call to the Pen
- Philadelphia Phillies, ready for a stretch run, bomb St. Louis Cardinals
- Philadelphia Phillies: The 4 players on the franchise’s Mount Rushmore
- Boston Red Sox fans should be upset over Mookie Betts’ comment
- Analyzing the Boston Red Sox trade for Dave Henderson and Spike Owen
- 2023 MLB postseason likely to have a strange look without Yankees, Red Sox, Cardinals
Interestingly, that performance led to mixed results. The White Stockings, now the Cubs, were fifth in the National League, finishing 15.5 games out of first with a 26-33-1 record. Meanwhile, the Red Caps, who are now the Atlanta Braves, were 41-19, winning the NL pennant by four games. Pitcher Tommy Bond was a force that year, winning 40 games for the second consecutive season, and pitching in all but one game. Of his 59 starts that year, he completed 57 of them.
Both teams will likely finish much better than the Royals. The league title is out of the question, and even finishing fourth in their division appears to be a pipe dream. That combination of a lack of power, and having a rotation of batting practice pitchers, has left them in a race to the bottom.
That performance may only get worse. With Junis and Kennedy on the disabled list, the Royals are hoping to find something productive for the rotation. Moustakas is on the trade block, and is likely to be dealt by the end of the month. History could be in the making in Kansas City.
Next: Royals place Junis on DL
The Kansas City Royals are on pace for the type of season not seen since the 1870s. In this case, that is not a positive.