The Kansas City Royals are right on the brink of being eliminated from postseason contention. With six games to go on the 2025 regular season schedule, the Royals are six games back of the American League Wild Card race. Wins by the Cleveland Guardians or Houston Astros would seal their fate in the Wild Card race and prevent them from returning for a second straight year.
The Royals made some key additions at the trade deadline to boost their offense. It wasn’t anything sexy, but the moves worked for a time. The most impactful move was the trade to acquire Mike Yastrzemski from the San Francisco Giants.
However, Mike Gillespie of Kings of Kauffman believes the Royals need a better option and should not bring him back for 2026.
“That hope Yastrzemski represented seemed to become reality during August when, after blasting a home run in his first Royal at-bat, he pounded six more and slashed .268/.354/.622 with a .976 OPS for the month,” Gillespie wrote.
“September, though, has been much different. Despite his 2-for-4 performance against the Blue Jays Sunday, Yastrzemski will take a distressing .161/.234/.250 September line into the club’s final road trip of the season, which begins with the opener of a three-game road series with the Angels Tuesday night. Those numbers alone should give the Royals pause, and that they’ve lowered his average to .229 and his SLG to .446 ought to constitute another red flag. Kansas City needs more than that.”
The Royals need power from their outfield if they want to contend in 2026. Yastrzemski has some, but they would be better off going for a more established bat to strengthen their lineup and give the offense more to work with next year.
Yastrzemski’s September struggles are certainly a red flag for the Royals, and they can’t afford to have him repeat his performance next year if they want to be back in the postseason.
While the Royals typically are not big spenders in free agency, they may have to open up their pocketbooks in order to get the power they need for their lineup.
A bigger name needs to be the priority for the team as they try to bounce back from what was a very disappointing 2025 season. We’ll see what they decide to do this winter.
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