4 former Royals who could end up winning the World Series in 2025

The baseball world just witnessed a slate of divisional series that didn’t disappoint. From ridiculous displays of power, to bizarre endings, to historic extra inning affairs, the 2025 postseason has had it all.

And now we’ve come to the all important championship series matchups with a pair of pennants on the line.

Obviously everyone is well aware that Kansas City has been on the outside looking on the playoff festivities. However, that hasn’t meant there’s been no Royals ties this postseason, as plenty of old friends have made a major impact already.

Even though there may only be four teams left, there’s still multiple former Royals names that could find themselves with a World Series ring when all is said and done at the end of the year.

2 former Royals who could still have major impacts during 2025 MLB Playoffs

LHP Gabe Speier – Seattle Mariners

Speier may have spent his first four seasons in the majors with the Royals, but he was hardly a household name. He never usurped 10.0 innings pitched until his fourth season with the team in 2022 when he threw to 19.1 impressive innings of 2.33 ERA ball.

Since he was claimed off waivers by the Mariners ahead of the 2023 season, Speier has found a home within their bullpen.

He’s coming off a 2025 season where he was a key piece for the M’s in relief, tossing to a 2.61 ERA, 2.31 FIP, 0.87 WHIP and .189 BAA in 62.0 innings across 76 appearances.

And so far during the 2025 playoffs, Speier has been featured plenty, throwing in four of the team’s five ALDS games versus the Detroit Tigers. It’s been a mixed bag of results, as he opened the postseason with a pair of 1.1 inning scoreless outings before surrendering two earned runs in Game 4 and then one earned run in Game 5. This has elevated his playoff ERA to unusually high 6.75 mark.

Still, he’s all but likely to remain as one of skipper Dan Wilson’s more trusted middle relief arms heading into the team’s ALCS series against the Toronto Blue Jays.

OF Blake Perkins – Milwaukee Brewers

Then there’s Perkins, who was technically never a major leaguer with the Royals, but spent time within Kansas City’s minor league system in his developing years.

Perkins played in High-A and Double-A with the Royals between 2018 and 2021. During his time in the upper minors in Northwest Arkansas in both 2019 and 2021 (2020 was missed due the COVID year), Perkins was never anything to write home about, posting a 71 wRC+ in ’19 and a 79 wRC+ in ’21.

He’d end up making his MLB debut with the Brewers back in 2023, and in 2025 he’s found himself right in the thick of the Brewers’ postseason lineup. He may’ve been just an 83 wRC+ hitter during the regular season, but has started in center field in four of Milwaukee’s five NLDS games against the Chicago Cubs, featuring in all five of them in some capacity.

He may only be hitting .214 with a .599 OPS this October, however, he’s had some big moments during this playoff run, including a 2-for-4 performance with an RBI and a run scored in the opening game of the Cubs series.

2 former Royals who made notable regular season impacts on playoff teams

Of course, there’s also names that have fallen casualty to injury or roster construction that have played fairly notable roles with their new respective clubs throughout the regular season and could still find themselves with some new bling when all is said and done – even if they’re not one of the active names on their team’s roster.

RHP Will Klein – Los Angeles Dodgers

Klein, one of names KC sent in return to the Athletics for Lucas Erceg at the 2024 trade deadline, has bounced around since leaving the Royals organization but has found a home amongst the Dodgers’ pitching depth this season.

The fireballer has bounced between the majors and the minors with Los Angeles this season, but has managed to appear in 15.1 big league innings across 14 appearances. In that span, he and his blistering high-90s fastball have posted an impressive 2.35 ERA.

Apart from four seasons within the Royals’ farm system, Klein did make his debut with the team in 2024 before his trade out west, appearing in 5.2 innings across five outings where he posted a 6.35 ERA.

Fast forwarding back to 2025, Klein was up with the Dodgers towards the end of the season, and as stacked as the Dodgers’ bullpen is at the moment, even if it’s unlikely, it wouldn’t be an absolute shock if the 25-year-old right-hander somehow cracked manager Dave Roberts’ NLCS or World Series bullpens as a potential wild card arm.

RHP Jackson Kowar – Seattle Mariners

Then there’s the former highly touted Florida product Jackson Kowar, who never managed to find his footing during his time in Kansas City. In parts of three seasons in the majors with the Royals, the 29-year-old failed starter posted a 9.12 ERA in 74.0 innings across 39 games.

Kowar found his way back to the majors for the first time since 2023 this past year with the Mariners though, and in limited run, put up some serviceable numbers.

In 17.0 innings acorss 15 outings out of Seattle’s ‘pen, Kowar posted a 4.24 ERA, 1.24 WHIP and .222 BAA.

He’s been on the injured list since early September with a right shoulder impingement and likely won’t play a factor in Seattle’s remaining postseason plans. That being said, 17.0 innings of work isn’t nothing, so perhaps even with his injury and a year spent up-and-down between the Mariners and Triple-A Tacoma, he’ll manage to snag a ring for his regular season efforts.