<\/p>\n
A year after a 30-game turnaround that will endure as one of the most remarkable one-season transformations in MLB history,<\/a> it was easy to anticipate an encore of something more for the Royals: an American League Central title, for starters, and a deeper postseason run.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n No wonder 2025 was a deflating season for fans. And no doubt it was frustrating for general manager J.J. Picollo and manager Matt Quatraro on Tuesday to be conducting a season wrap-up news conference at Kauffman Stadium as the playoffs were getting underway.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Handled properly, though, this season still can serve as a bridge to the future and better days ahead because of a further-emerging nucleus and baseline it still appears to establish.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Because there\u2019s still something happening here \u2026 even if it was obscured by a step back.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Yes, a barely winning record (82-80) might seem like a hollow token.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Except for it\u2019s in the recent wake of averaging 99.6 losses over the previous five full seasons (not including the pandemic-shortened slate) before 2024.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n And that it\u2019s just the franchise\u2019s sixth winning season this century.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n And it represents only the second sequence since 1994 (2013-2015 was the other) in which the club has mustered multiple winning seasons in a row.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Look, there\u2019s no champagne to pop open for this. And it wouldn\u2019t have any fizz, anyway.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n It\u2019s just that there\u2019s plenty more reason to think this year will become a link in a chain of stability and upward mobility than that it represents the abrupt end of a reset.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n At least as long as the Royals indeed shore up the maddening things they can control but too often failed to this season.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n First, some context:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n You simply can\u2019t appraise their season without pointing to receiving 26 fewer starts combined from their two 2024 AL Cy Young finalists (Seth Lugo and Cole Ragans) and that their best 2025 starter, All-Star Kris Bubic, was sidelined the last couple months.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Ragans returned with a flourish, and all three are expected to be back at full capacity in the spring.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Yes, injuries are part of the game, and there\u2019s a thin line between reasons and excuses. But that was brutal.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Meanwhile, the Royals this season further extended their core group, with All-Star selection Maikel Garcia now joining Bobby Witt Jr., Sal Perez (expected to return)<\/a> and Vinnie Pasquantino as the essentials. Carlos Est\u00e9vez led MLB in saves<\/a> and rookie Noah Cameron<\/a> highlighted the development of enticing depth in the rotation.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Add it all up, and this season was more of an exasperating shortfall than a stumble \u2014 even if some stunning scoring droughts and recklessness on the basepaths conjured that feeling at times.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Yes, they needed more nimble fixes for those issues in real time \u2014 and their ability to adapt faster to such matters should be part of the self-audit they\u2019re about to undertake.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Within his first words Tuesday, Picollo said, \u201cWe\u2019ve got to learn from it, build on it and move on from here.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Asked what in particular stood out to him in that way, he began by saying \u201cthere\u2019s a lot of different ways to answer that.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n That starts with the humility and self-awareness of Picollo and Quatraro to speak to it all and what each of them can do better.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Not merely with the media but going forward in the offseason \u2014 during which the Royals have some pivotal work to do if this season is going to prove a springboard instead of a fallback.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n While the Royals are sticking with hitting coach Alec Zumwalt<\/a> despite finishing 26th in runs scored and managing fewer than four runs 85 times (tied for third-worst in MLB), Picollo signaled that there might be some tweaking of staff as they ask themselves: \u201cWhat don\u2019t we have? What can we do from an analyst standpoint, from a holistic standpoint, to try to help our offense improve?\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n And answer why they scored 84 fewer runs this season than 2024. Despite some otherwise similar metrics between seasons, Picollo put it best when he said, \u201cWhy didn\u2019t the offense function as a whole?\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n On the surface, anyway, that\u2019s linked to the difference in batting with runners in scoring position from 2024 to 2025: The Royals were fifth in MLB with a .282 average a year ago but 21st with a .255 average this season even after some improvement in the second half.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n But their real trouble was ultimately about what goes into any hitting, particularly pitch selection,<\/a> and lack of offensive production from the outfield much of the season.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n And in perhaps the most vexing part of what went awry: the sheer fundamentals of advancing runners and smart baserunning vital to a small-market team hard-pressed to pay for the biggest sluggers and playing in a cavernous stadium.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The \u201ccertain type of game that we need to play,\u201d as Picollo put it, hinges on that stuff that the Royals regressed on this season.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n