The 2025 regular season has reached its conclusion, and for the first time since 2013, the Royals have finished over .500 without reaching the postseason. It\u2019s easy to try and pin it all on one or two things, but when a team as talented as the 2025 Royals – and they did have a lot of talent, despite their final record! – misses the playoffs, there\u2019s usually a variety of reasons. Here are six of them<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
No backup plan for MJ Melendez and Hunter Renfroe in March\/April<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\nI argued fiercely<\/a> during the offseason that it made plenty of sense to give MJ Melendez one last shot to show he could be a big league outfielder. But even while making that argument, I was careful to point out that he shouldn\u2019t be the Royals\u2019 primary left fielder in 2025 if they meant to compete for a postseason berth again. Unfortunately, that\u2019s exactly what they did. Even worse, they had no ready options to replace Hunter Renfroe in right field either.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\nTo the Royals\u2019 credit, neither player ended up with much playing time overall, but Melendez still appeared in 16 of the Royals\u2019 first 19 games before he was mercifully demoted. During that span, the Royals went 8-11. Hunter Renfroe played in 22 of the team\u2019s first 31 games through the end of April, during which they went 16-15. Melendez and Renfroe combined to contribute -1.5 fWAR and -2.1 bWAR during their time in Kansas City. Everyone, including the team itself, knew that those two guys weren\u2019t going to be the answer, but once they were stymied on Anthony Santander, Jurickson Profar, and Randall Grichuk, the team failed to develop any kind of backup plan. Drew Waters was recalled on April 10, but came with a net negative career WAR of his own and still had to split time with the other two for a while because KC didn\u2019t have a fourth outfielder they were comfortable playing in the corners. It would be several weeks before they were even willing to try Nick Loftin and John Rave.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\nAs noted above, the Royals finished the month of April with a winning record, but considering how well the team pitched during that time, they should have won more games. Unfortunately, the atrocious offense, anchored by the corner outfielders, proved to be their undoing.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\nPitchers were overloaded in May<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\nBy the time the Royals reached May, it was clear that if the Royals were going to win, it was going to be due to heroic efforts by the pitching staff. But after a month of providing such heroics, the staff became overwhelmed. Kris Bubic was still fantastic, but Cole Ragans, Seth Lugo, and Michael Lorenzen appeared to feel the pressure and each pitched to above a 4.00 ERA for the month. Ragans and Lugo each missed starts with injuries this month, too. Combining ineffectiveness with injury overloaded relievers such as Angel Zerpa and John Schreiber – both of whom can be effective when utilized sparingly but are easily overexposed. They gave up too many runs in middle relief, which cost the Royals more games.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\nThe offense improved somewhat this month, but not enough to account for the pitching faltering. The Royals still won two more games than they lost, but they could have won more if the pitching staff hadn\u2019t been put under so much pressure.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\nDrew Waters, Kyle Isbel, and Jac Caglianone got too many dang at-bats in June<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\nPart of the offensive outburst in May came from the fact that Waters had one of the best months of his entire career. But it all came crashing down in June. From June 1 until he was finally demoted again on July 3, Waters slashed .156\/.229\/.156\/.385, good for a 9 wRC+. Still, he played in 25 of the Royals\u2019 26 games in June, accruing the eighth-most plate appearances on the team.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\nThe Royals also selected Caglianone to make his major league debut this month, and he was almost as bad as Waters in even more plate appearances, though he at least was hitting the ball hard and giving the Royals reasons to think he might snap out of it at any time. Isbel is worth keeping around for his defense most of the time, but the 41 wRC+ meant the team probably could have benefited from playing him less, too.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\nMeanwhile, the Royals had John Rave and Tyler Tolbert languishing on their bench. No one is going to pretend that either of them was or will ever be a superstar. But both were hitting and running better than the three outfielders getting the most playing time, and they were better defensively than Jac and Drew, too. They were the very model of replacement-level players, while the Royals continued to run out multiple below-replacement-level players on a daily basis.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\nBetween Caglianone, Isbel, Waters, Mark Canha, Nick Loftin, and Michael Massey, the Royals got -2.3 fWAR. Again, it would have been one thing if only the first-round draft pick was struggling, but the Royals had half a lineup on the field that was actively harming the team compared to their bench options, and didn\u2019t do anything about it.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\nI\u2019ll always wonder how things might have been different for Jac in 2025 if the Royals had played Rave and Tolbert more instead of Waters and Isbel, perhaps giving him a bit more room to find his way instead of watching the team free-fall while he smashed line drives directly at outfielders until he got frustrated and started bashing weak grounders to second.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\nJonathan India was still leading off in July<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\nBy the time the team made it to July, it was more than obvious that Jonathan India leading off wasn\u2019t going to be their best lineup configuration. Sure, he was better than what they had gotten in 2024, but that\u2019s a bit like saying that drinking mud is superior to raw sewage. Especially when they had a cool glass of water in Maikel Garcia. Through the first three months of the season, India had slashed .247\/.322\/.341\/.663. It was perhaps easy to argue that he wasn\u2019t the real problem with the offense compared to what the outfield had done to them in June, but ensuring he got the most plate appearances every night while batting Maikel Garcia third through fifth in the midst of a breakout campaign (.309\/.367\/.479\/.846 through June) was painful to watch.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\nAnd, of course, it also meant Pasquantino and Salvador Perez were batting lower in the lineup than they could have. While Salvy had struggled early on, he absolutely exploded in July. He slashed a ridiculous .337\/.379\/.719\/1.098 – a 196 wRC+!!! – but he was largely doing it from the five-hole.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\nIndia, who apparently developed a sprained wrist around the beginning of the month, led the team in plate appearances. That helped lead to Salvy only earning 21 RBIs for the month despite his insane batting stats.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\nJuly was the Royals\u2019 best month, so maybe it seems petty to complain, but if they could have won a couple more, it could have changed the entire complexion of the playoff hunt through August and September.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\nSeth Lugo pitched in August<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\nLugo and the Royals will both insist the pitcher wasn\u2019t injured until he was, but he still allowed more than a run per inning in six starts in August. Only one of those outings saw him complete as many as five innings, which additionally put a huge strain on a bullpen that couldn\u2019t take it while missing Ragans, Bubic, and Lorenzen due to their own injuries. Remarkably, the Royals won half of the games Lugo started, but how many more might they have won if they had been using Stephen Kolek, who looked pretty good after taking over for Lugo in September? Even beyond the three they lost in large part due to Lugo\u2019s awful pitching, they might have benefited from a significantly better-rested bullpen because Kolek wasn\u2019t just good; he averaged 6.2 innings a start once he joined the big league team.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\nThey played it too safe in September<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\nThe Royals were still largely in the thick of things at the beginning of September; at one point, they closed to within one game of a playoff spot. Unfortunately, they decided to play things very safe, from their point of view, even after calling up both Jac Caglianone and Carter Jensen to begin the month. Carter Jensen played in only five of the team\u2019s first ten games of the month; two of those were pinch-hit appearances, the rest as the designated hitter. Things got so bad in a Sunday game against Bailey Ober and the Twins that Royals Review saw not one<\/a> but two<\/em> articles<\/a> the following day criticizing the Royals\u2019 unwillingness to put out a lineup worth the paper it was written on.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\nOnce the Royals lost three of four in Cleveland, their playoff hopes were pretty much kaput, and they started letting Carter Jensen catch. He ended up slashing .300\/.391\/.550\/.941 with three home runs for the month of September.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\nPerhaps even more importantly, Salvador Perez slashed .146\/.146\/.341\/.487 while Carter sat on the bench, and once the rookie got more playing time, Perez finished the season slashing .246\/.292\/.526\/.818 with five home runs. And, just to drive home the mistake that was the July batting order, Salvy got 19 RBIs from September 12 – that\u2019s two fewer RBIs in ten fewer games than his crazy July – because his leadoff hitters were giving him much better opportunities to bat with runners on.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\nBefore Jensen started playing regularly, the Royals were 4-6 to start the month, but then finished the year with an 8-7 stretch. We\u2019ll never know for sure how much of a difference it would have made to play Jensen more immediately, but we know that playing Luke Maile benefited no one.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
I argued fiercely<\/a> during the offseason that it made plenty of sense to give MJ Melendez one last shot to show he could be a big league outfielder. But even while making that argument, I was careful to point out that he shouldn\u2019t be the Royals\u2019 primary left fielder in 2025 if they meant to compete for a postseason berth again. Unfortunately, that\u2019s exactly what they did. Even worse, they had no ready options to replace Hunter Renfroe in right field either.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n To the Royals\u2019 credit, neither player ended up with much playing time overall, but Melendez still appeared in 16 of the Royals\u2019 first 19 games before he was mercifully demoted. During that span, the Royals went 8-11. Hunter Renfroe played in 22 of the team\u2019s first 31 games through the end of April, during which they went 16-15. Melendez and Renfroe combined to contribute -1.5 fWAR and -2.1 bWAR during their time in Kansas City. Everyone, including the team itself, knew that those two guys weren\u2019t going to be the answer, but once they were stymied on Anthony Santander, Jurickson Profar, and Randall Grichuk, the team failed to develop any kind of backup plan. Drew Waters was recalled on April 10, but came with a net negative career WAR of his own and still had to split time with the other two for a while because KC didn\u2019t have a fourth outfielder they were comfortable playing in the corners. It would be several weeks before they were even willing to try Nick Loftin and John Rave.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n As noted above, the Royals finished the month of April with a winning record, but considering how well the team pitched during that time, they should have won more games. Unfortunately, the atrocious offense, anchored by the corner outfielders, proved to be their undoing.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n By the time the Royals reached May, it was clear that if the Royals were going to win, it was going to be due to heroic efforts by the pitching staff. But after a month of providing such heroics, the staff became overwhelmed. Kris Bubic was still fantastic, but Cole Ragans, Seth Lugo, and Michael Lorenzen appeared to feel the pressure and each pitched to above a 4.00 ERA for the month. Ragans and Lugo each missed starts with injuries this month, too. Combining ineffectiveness with injury overloaded relievers such as Angel Zerpa and John Schreiber – both of whom can be effective when utilized sparingly but are easily overexposed. They gave up too many runs in middle relief, which cost the Royals more games.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n The offense improved somewhat this month, but not enough to account for the pitching faltering. The Royals still won two more games than they lost, but they could have won more if the pitching staff hadn\u2019t been put under so much pressure.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Part of the offensive outburst in May came from the fact that Waters had one of the best months of his entire career. But it all came crashing down in June. From June 1 until he was finally demoted again on July 3, Waters slashed .156\/.229\/.156\/.385, good for a 9 wRC+. Still, he played in 25 of the Royals\u2019 26 games in June, accruing the eighth-most plate appearances on the team.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n The Royals also selected Caglianone to make his major league debut this month, and he was almost as bad as Waters in even more plate appearances, though he at least was hitting the ball hard and giving the Royals reasons to think he might snap out of it at any time. Isbel is worth keeping around for his defense most of the time, but the 41 wRC+ meant the team probably could have benefited from playing him less, too.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Meanwhile, the Royals had John Rave and Tyler Tolbert languishing on their bench. No one is going to pretend that either of them was or will ever be a superstar. But both were hitting and running better than the three outfielders getting the most playing time, and they were better defensively than Jac and Drew, too. They were the very model of replacement-level players, while the Royals continued to run out multiple below-replacement-level players on a daily basis.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Between Caglianone, Isbel, Waters, Mark Canha, Nick Loftin, and Michael Massey, the Royals got -2.3 fWAR. Again, it would have been one thing if only the first-round draft pick was struggling, but the Royals had half a lineup on the field that was actively harming the team compared to their bench options, and didn\u2019t do anything about it.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n I\u2019ll always wonder how things might have been different for Jac in 2025 if the Royals had played Rave and Tolbert more instead of Waters and Isbel, perhaps giving him a bit more room to find his way instead of watching the team free-fall while he smashed line drives directly at outfielders until he got frustrated and started bashing weak grounders to second.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n By the time the team made it to July, it was more than obvious that Jonathan India leading off wasn\u2019t going to be their best lineup configuration. Sure, he was better than what they had gotten in 2024, but that\u2019s a bit like saying that drinking mud is superior to raw sewage. Especially when they had a cool glass of water in Maikel Garcia. Through the first three months of the season, India had slashed .247\/.322\/.341\/.663. It was perhaps easy to argue that he wasn\u2019t the real problem with the offense compared to what the outfield had done to them in June, but ensuring he got the most plate appearances every night while batting Maikel Garcia third through fifth in the midst of a breakout campaign (.309\/.367\/.479\/.846 through June) was painful to watch.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n And, of course, it also meant Pasquantino and Salvador Perez were batting lower in the lineup than they could have. While Salvy had struggled early on, he absolutely exploded in July. He slashed a ridiculous .337\/.379\/.719\/1.098 – a 196 wRC+!!! – but he was largely doing it from the five-hole.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n India, who apparently developed a sprained wrist around the beginning of the month, led the team in plate appearances. That helped lead to Salvy only earning 21 RBIs for the month despite his insane batting stats.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n July was the Royals\u2019 best month, so maybe it seems petty to complain, but if they could have won a couple more, it could have changed the entire complexion of the playoff hunt through August and September.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Lugo and the Royals will both insist the pitcher wasn\u2019t injured until he was, but he still allowed more than a run per inning in six starts in August. Only one of those outings saw him complete as many as five innings, which additionally put a huge strain on a bullpen that couldn\u2019t take it while missing Ragans, Bubic, and Lorenzen due to their own injuries. Remarkably, the Royals won half of the games Lugo started, but how many more might they have won if they had been using Stephen Kolek, who looked pretty good after taking over for Lugo in September? Even beyond the three they lost in large part due to Lugo\u2019s awful pitching, they might have benefited from a significantly better-rested bullpen because Kolek wasn\u2019t just good; he averaged 6.2 innings a start once he joined the big league team.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n The Royals were still largely in the thick of things at the beginning of September; at one point, they closed to within one game of a playoff spot. Unfortunately, they decided to play things very safe, from their point of view, even after calling up both Jac Caglianone and Carter Jensen to begin the month. Carter Jensen played in only five of the team\u2019s first ten games of the month; two of those were pinch-hit appearances, the rest as the designated hitter. Things got so bad in a Sunday game against Bailey Ober and the Twins that Royals Review saw not one<\/a> but two<\/em> articles<\/a> the following day criticizing the Royals\u2019 unwillingness to put out a lineup worth the paper it was written on.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Once the Royals lost three of four in Cleveland, their playoff hopes were pretty much kaput, and they started letting Carter Jensen catch. He ended up slashing .300\/.391\/.550\/.941 with three home runs for the month of September.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Perhaps even more importantly, Salvador Perez slashed .146\/.146\/.341\/.487 while Carter sat on the bench, and once the rookie got more playing time, Perez finished the season slashing .246\/.292\/.526\/.818 with five home runs. And, just to drive home the mistake that was the July batting order, Salvy got 19 RBIs from September 12 – that\u2019s two fewer RBIs in ten fewer games than his crazy July – because his leadoff hitters were giving him much better opportunities to bat with runners on.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Before Jensen started playing regularly, the Royals were 4-6 to start the month, but then finished the year with an 8-7 stretch. We\u2019ll never know for sure how much of a difference it would have made to play Jensen more immediately, but we know that playing Luke Maile benefited no one.<\/p>\n<\/div>\nPitchers were overloaded in May<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Drew Waters, Kyle Isbel, and Jac Caglianone got too many dang at-bats in June<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Jonathan India was still leading off in July<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Seth Lugo pitched in August<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
They played it too safe in September<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n