Kansas City Royals news: Another series, another possible sweep

The Kansas City Royals lost their 15th series this season, in a 6-4 loss against the Washington Nationals. The NL East club triumphed when it mattered most against Kansas City’s best reliever for much of 2026.

Kansas City Royals left-hander Daniel Lynch IV has been a breakout star this season. Prior to Tuesday’s game against the Washington Nationals, Lynch owned a 1.80 ERA in 30 relief appearances. He limited opponents to a .167 batting average and had issued one hit in his last five outings. In the seventh inning on Tuesday night against the Washington Nationals, Lynch got the call out of the bullpen. With the game tied 3-3, Lynch was tasked with recording a scoreless inning. However, he didn’t get the job done. The Nationals scored three go-ahead runs and regained the lead behind their offense. Lynch didn’t have his best command. He walked two batters before Nationals infielder Curtis Mead belted a three-run homer. Mead hit an 88 mph slider left over the plate for his 11th home run of the year.

Royals Opening Day starter Cole Ragans is getting a second opinion after a setback in his rehab.

After missed a few more days, Ragans had recovered well enough that he was able to return to the mound in a limited capacity. He threw a 23-pitch bullpen session on June 10. The next morning, however, he awoke with discomfort in the arm. He couldn’t make it through playing catch on the field. Now, the Royals want to understand more about the pitcher’s case of VEO. “Ragans met with Dr. (Vincent) Key yesterday,” Royals manager Matt Quatraro said Tuesday. “He’s still having symptoms, so he’ll continue to be shut down. And we’re going to have him see another doctor in the next couple of days.

Seth Lugo is expected to come off the concussion list this Friday.

The Royals’ promotion of Kendry Chourio is not just a good thing for the organization, but challenges one of the game’s hottest pitching prospects.

“The better pitchers have always let you know when they’re ready to move and ready for the major leagues,” Royals senior director of pitching performance Paul Gibson said. It became clear that Chourio was ready for a new challenge. In his last three starts, Chourio allowed four runs in 16 ⅓ innings. He won each outing and held opponents to a .193 batting average. Chourio will face developed hitters with High-A Quad Cities. The Royals rave about his elite command that features a plus-fastball and two distinct off-speed pitches. “His changeup and his curveball were both good pitches with higher ceiling,” Gibson said. “So like any young pitcher that has the velocity that Chourio has, running through lineups with that fastball-heavy attack is going to be a natural thing.”

Craig Brown talked about Monday’s 7-3 loss in his latest, but sums up the 2026 Royals experience.

I don’t know…You want to point a finger somewhere but damned if I know where to aim. Spence did a credible job getting through the first four innings. The fifth was just a bridge—or and inning—too far. Maybe Matt Quatraro should’ve been quicker with the hook, but…waves hands at the bullpen what would you expect from that move? Quatraro said postgame that they hoped Spence could give the team five. Reasonable. And smart. When you’re talking about needing the Royals bullpen in 2026, four innings of work sounds a helluva lot better than five. More innings, more problems. There was the shoddy defense in left where Collins deflected a bases-loaded single from Luis García Jr. in that fateful fifth. Had he played it cleanly maybe a solitary run scores instead of two. Collins has left me largely unimpressed this season, but tough to get worked up over a gift run when some guy up a few batters later clears the bases.
You want to get ticked off, but it’s kind of tough to give a damn. That’s kind of the whole vibe around this bunch in 2026. It’s tough to give a damn. The thing is, I don’t think I can say anything worse about a baseball team. They’re just wholly uninteresting, uninspiring and uncompetitive.

Royals Keep looks at the team’s struggles against left-handed pitching, dating back to the start of last season.

At first glance, the Royals appear competitive in both batting average and strikeout rate. Yet once again, the same pattern emerges: a lack of impact. Their slugging percentage sits well below the league average, while their home-run rate ranks as the fourth-lowest in baseball during the period examined.
Production with runners in scoring position has not been distributed evenly either. Witt, Garcia, and a handful of timely contributions from Loftin have generated positive results, but much of the rest of the lineup has struggled to convert opportunities into meaningful damage.
That is why Kansas City’s struggles against left-handed pitching cannot be explained by a single statistic or one underperforming player. The organization has two hitters who have consistently demonstrated the ability to thrive in these matchups. It has also received occasional contributions from other members of the roster. What it has not found is a sufficiently broad offensive foundation capable of supporting those strengths.

The Royals rank second to last in The Athletic’s latest power rankings, with a focus on the team’s lone consensus positive.

With 3.0 fWAR in 72 games, Witt found himself ranked No. 9 on FanGraphs’ WAR charts, behind the likes of Aaron Judge, Cal Raleigh and Shohei Ohtani.
Today?
First place at 3.9 fWAR in 71 games.
With Judge on the IL, it’s a two-man race to MVP between Witt and Houston’s Yordan Alvarez. If Witt has his way, he’ll be Kansas City’s second player ever to win the year-end award.
For now, he’s pacing toward a third-straight All-Star appearance for a Royals team that has not had much go right for it over the past two seasons.

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