{"id":2353684,"date":"2026-04-01T00:04:49","date_gmt":"2026-04-01T00:04:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=2353684"},"modified":"2026-04-01T00:04:49","modified_gmt":"2026-04-01T00:04:49","slug":"hits-misses-and-concern-index-4-games-into-the-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/hits-misses-and-concern-index-4-games-into-the-season\/","title":{"rendered":"Hits, Misses and Concern Index 4 Games Into the Season"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The Kansas City Royals did not make many changes to their pitching staff this offseason, and for good reason.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

In 2025, the Royals\u2019 pitching staff helped keep the team afloat, posting a 3.73 ERA that ranked sixth in Major League Baseball. They accomplished that despite dealing with numerous injuries throughout the season.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Now, Kansas City enters the season healthy, along with a few new faces, looking to replicate the success its pitching staff had in 2025. Through the first four games, both the rotation and bullpen, for the most part, have looked like they are picking up where they left off last season.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Each week, we will take a look at and monitor the pitching staff\u2019s performance, highlighting the hits, misses and any concerns surrounding the group.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Notable pitching performances<\/h2>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

Mar 28, 2026; Cumberland, Georgia, USA; Kansas City Royals starting pitcher Michael Wacha (52) throws against the Atlanta Braves in the first inning at Truist Park. Mandatory Credit: Mady Mertens-Imagn Images | Mady Mertens-Imagn Images<\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n

<\/p>\n

While the majority of the pitching staff has fared well through this small sample size, the most notable performances have come from the rotation. Michael Wacha, Seth Lugo and Kris Bubic have each turned in a quality start in their season debuts, combining to allow just one run.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

That lone run came on a solo home run Bubic allowed in Monday\u2019s home opener against the Minnesota Twins. It was one of just two hits he gave up over six innings. The outing marked his first regular-season appearance since suffering a season-ending injury in late July last year.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Misses from Opening Day<\/h2>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\"Kansas<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

Mar 27, 2026; Atlanta, Georgia, USA; Kansas City Royals pitcher Cole Ragans (55) throws against the Atlanta Braves in the first inning at Truist Park. Mandatory Credit: Brett Davis-Imagn Images | Brett Davis-Imagn Images<\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n

<\/p>\n

Royals ace and Opening Day starter Cole Ragans struggled in his first outing of the season. The left-hander lasted just four innings, allowing four earned runs as he was hurt by the long ball, surrendering three home runs.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

It was simply an off day for Ragans, which is why there is no reason for concern. Everyone knows the type of pitcher he is and what he is capable of on the mound. Some days are just not your day, and for Ragans, the Atlanta Braves had his number.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

This is a real concern<\/h2>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\"<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

Sep 27, 2025; West Sacramento, California, USA; Kansas City Royals pitcher Carlos Estevez (53) throws a pitch against the Athletics during the ninth inning at Sutter Health Park. Mandatory Credit: Dennis Lee-Imagn Images | Dennis Lee-Imagn Images<\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n

<\/p>\n

The biggest concern for the pitching staff is Royals closer Carlos Est\u00e9vez. In Saturday\u2019s game against the Braves, Est\u00e9vez entered the bottom of the ninth with a two-run lead.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

It is worth noting that the news surrounding Est\u00e9vez in spring training was that he was once again off to a slow start, with his velocity not yet at regular-season levels. For him, however, this is nothing new, as the same thing happened last year.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

However, his first outing raised serious concerns<\/a>. Est\u00e9vez not only allowed a walk-off grand slam, but his control was nowhere to be found, and his fastball velocity was noticeably low at 91 mph. The rough debut also puts his role into question moving forward.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

\u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n

\u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.si.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Kansas City Royals did not make many changes to their pitching staff this offseason, and for good reason. In 2025, the Royals\u2019 pitching staff helped keep the team afloat, posting a 3.73 ERA that ranked sixth in Major League Baseball. They accomplished that despite dealing with numerous injuries throughout the season. Now, Kansas City […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2353685,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[43],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2353684","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-royalty"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Hits-Misses-and-Concern-Index-4-Games-Into-the-Season.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2353684","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2353684"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2353684\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2353686,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2353684\/revisions\/2353686"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2353685"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2353684"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2353684"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2353684"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}