Royals keep up the June fight but stay stuck in the rankings basement

Royals keep up the June fight but stay stuck in the rankings basement originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

The Kansas City Royals have not been playing as well as they would have liked. They have dug themselves an early hole in the division, already eight games out of first place.

They could have put themselves in a better spot if not for the schedule they had last week, starting with a road trip to take on the Washington Nationals, who have one of the best offenses across MLB right now.

And that offense would show up as they outscored Kansas City 15-13, taking two of the three games from the Royals. However, the Royals would respond against another solid team in their next series, the St. Louis Cardinals.

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Royals keep up June fight but stay stuck in the rankings basement

The Cardinals have surprised everyone with how they have come out this season, but the Royals were ready. They put up 14 runs in the game on Thursday, and took the series 2-1.

But the 3-3 record last week was not enough to push the Royals up the power rankings. Bleacher Report’s Joel Reuter still has them ranked No. 28.

“The Royals appear to have dodged a bullet after Bobby Witt Jr. exited Thursday’s game with a knee injury, as he was diagnosed with a grade 1 MCL sprain and might avoid an IL stint. With a 10-9 record in June, they are playing much better baseball than they did over the first two months, but they are digging out of a big hole.”

The Royals may have dodged a huge bullet as Bobby Witt Jr. hasn’t hit the IL yet, and is doing on-field activities with the team despite sitting out the last three games.

They didn’t need him on Monday in their 2-1 win against the Tampa Bay Rays, but that is just the first of a four-game series. After that, they take on the Chicago White Sox in what could be a grueling week.