{"id":2432049,"date":"2026-05-26T01:56:00","date_gmt":"2026-05-26T01:56:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=2432049"},"modified":"2026-05-26T01:56:00","modified_gmt":"2026-05-26T01:56:00","slug":"royals-losing-streak-vs-yankees-renders-2024-distant-memory","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/royals-losing-streak-vs-yankees-renders-2024-distant-memory\/","title":{"rendered":"Royals\u2019 losing streak vs. Yankees renders 2024 distant memory"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Ages ago as it was, chances are you recall the last time the Royals beat the New York Yankees: Game 2 of the 2024 American League Division Series<\/a> at Yankee Stadium, where the Royals prevailed 4-2 to even the best-of-five series 1-1.<\/p>\n

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Remember what that felt like?<\/p>\n

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Even as the Royals\u2019 season promptly was to be snuffed out with losses in the next two games, everything about them felt fresh and exhilarating and promising<\/a>, didn\u2019t it?<\/p>\n

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It wasn\u2019t just that they\u2019d managed a preposterous 30-game regular-season improvement to 86 wins, earning their first postseason berth since winning the World Series in 2015.<\/p>\n

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And that they\u2019d swept Baltimore 2-0 in the AL Wild-Card series.<\/p>\n

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It was what it all seemed to portend: the start of something big.<\/p>\n

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Or at least bigger.<\/p>\n

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And certainly more.<\/p>\n

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Bobby Witt Jr. was emerging as a superstar, Sal Perez was soaking in the fountain of youth, Vinnie Pasquantino was blossoming into an RBI machine and Maikel Garcia was flashing some of the promise that would make him an All-Star in 2025.<\/p>\n

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Embodying a stellar rotation, Seth Lugo and Cole Ragans finished second and fourth, respectively, in the American League Cy Young Award voting, with Michael Wacha also anchoring the group. And Lucas Erceg was establishing himself at the back end of the bullpen that would only be bolstered by the offseason acquisition of Carlos Estevez.<\/p>\n

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Two seasons later, though, that apparent breakout has morphed into regression.<\/p>\n

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At least at the one-third mark of this season, the once-intriguing turn then appears to have been less a launch point than an outlier: This year\u2019s Royals are sputtering along at 22-32.<\/p>\n

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The trend was aptly underscored Monday at Kauffman Stadium by the Royals\u2019 12th straight loss to the Yankees \u2014 including 10 regular-season games \u2014 since they evened that series in 2024.<\/p>\n

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Perhaps you could find some consolation or encouragement in the fact the final was 4-3<\/a> and delivered with the help of a fluke infield single that spurred a two-run New York ninth.<\/p>\n

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On a happier day, the story would have been all about the Royals finally purging this losing streak and Perez tying George Brett\u2019s record<\/a> with his 136th homer at The K and Witt\u2019s animated celebration as he rounded the bases after sending the ball 432 feet to left in the eighth to give the Royals a fleeting lead.<\/p>\n

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No wonder Witt was so charged up to get a lead against \u201ca team like that,\u201d perhaps just meaning the 32-22 Yankees and their history \u2014 but perhaps also cognizant of how it\u2019s been the last few years.<\/p>\n

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The Royals have lost 20 of their last 21 regular-season series against the Yankees, punctuated by getting blasted 24-6 in three games at Yankee Stadium earlier this season.<\/p>\n

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That\u2019s hardly the only indicator of what\u2019s happened since the 2024 postseason, but it\u2019s an illuminating through-line after the Royals last year at least generated another winning season despite falling short of the postseason.<\/p>\n

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While nothing is irreversible, and I still think this group is plenty better than it\u2019s been, Sunday was a bit of a microcosm of this season: With Wacha recording his MLB-leading ninth quality start (tied with Atlanta\u2019s Chris Sale), the Royals amassed their AL-leading 29th quality start and ninth in 10 games.<\/p>\n

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The sole exception in that span was a bullpen game in the wake of starter Kris Bubic joining Ragans (not to mention Estevez) on the injured list.<\/p>\n

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But they\u2019re 3-7 in those games and just 16-13 overall when starters achieve that standard \u2014 allowing three runs or fewer while pitching six innings or more.<\/p>\n

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The how-can-this-be is remarkably simple in one sense.<\/p>\n

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Entering the game Monday, only four teams across Major League Baseball had scored fewer runs than the Royals. Among their deficiencies is the ability to hit with runners in scoring position.<\/p>\n

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They went 0-for-7 in that area on Monday to fall to .227 this season \u2014 which also is among the worst in baseball. (Although, to be fair, second baseman Michael Massey came through with sac fly in Monday\u2019s second inning.)<\/p>\n

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Add it all up, and here\u2019s how it translates most readily into wins and losses: When the Royals score four runs or more, they are 17-9. When they score three or fewer, as they did yet again on Monday, they are 5-23.<\/p>\n

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So the Royals have such scant margin for error that on a day like Monday they couldn\u2019t overcome a rough outing at the back of the bullpen by Erceg \u2014 who was pitching after scuffling through 32 pitches Sunday.<\/p>\n

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Never mind that it might have gone better if not for Paul Goldschmidt\u2019s odd broken-bat pop-into-a-squib stopping short in front of Witt. That was followed by Jazz Chisholm\u2019s hard double to right past the right side of Perez \u2014 who moved to first after the lefty-fielding Pasquantino was removed for pinch-runner Tyler Tolbert in the eighth.<\/p>\n

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That move might well have paid off if the Royals had been able to get Tolbert home after he stole second with nobody out.<\/p>\n

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But Perez and Carter Jensen struck out and Starling Marte grounded out pinch-hitting for Jac Caglianone. Presto, another man stranded in scoring position.<\/p>\n

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Maybe the Royals will end the streak against the Yankees on Tuesday. Or, heck, win Tuesday and Wednesday to claim a series against them for the first time since 2023.<\/p>\n

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But as of the latest loss to New York on Monday, it\u2019s hard not to think about where things seem to be now vs. where they seemed to be going in October 2024.<\/p>\n

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The whys are multifold, including the well-documented struggles of Perez and Pasquantino to start the season even as each has been thawing out lately.<\/p>\n

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Look at the Royals\u2019 lineup from that Game 2 win in 2024 to now, and you\u2019ll see the same conspicuous void the Royals have suffered from ever since: their inability to acquire a game-changing bat \u2026 or two.<\/p>\n

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While the offseason reasons made sense in real-time, including that it enabled the Royals to maintain crucial depth in their starting rotation, the results are disillusioning nonetheless.<\/p>\n

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And while promising youngsters Jensen and Caglianone are making strides, they\u2019re not filling that gap yet, either.<\/p>\n

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And, well … who\u2019s going to in the near-enough future to keep them from plummeting this season?<\/p>\n

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No wonder we hear a clamor for change, largely directed at manager Matt Quatraro and hitting coach Alec Zumwalt. Fair enough. In a results-based business, it\u2019s hard not to question those in charge, and the systems themselves, when so much seems awry.<\/p>\n

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But the Royals\u2019 issues also seem entwined, including the bigger question that also looms: Has the front office assembled the players this team needs, particularly offensively, to fulfill what was hinted at in 2024?<\/p>\n

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Again, this season isn\u2019t yet defined. But, certainly, the Royals have given ample reason to be skeptical \u2014 if not cynical \u2014 by now.<\/p>\n

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And what seemed like an oasis in 2024 feels more and more like a mirage.<\/p>\n

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Related Stories from Kansas City Star<\/h5>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Vahe Gregorian<\/a><\/p>\n

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The Kansas City Star<\/span><\/p>\n

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Vahe Gregorian has been a sports columnist for The Kansas City Star since 2013 after 25 years at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. He has covered a wide spectrum of sports, including 10 Olympics. Vahe was an English major at the University of Pennsylvania and earned his master\u2019s degree at Mizzou. <\/span>\n <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\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.kansascity.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ages ago as it was, chances are you recall the last time the Royals beat the New York Yankees: Game 2 of the 2024 American League Division Series at Yankee Stadium, where the Royals prevailed 4-2 to even the best-of-five series 1-1. Remember what that felt like? Even as the Royals\u2019 season promptly was to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2432050,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":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-2432049","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\/05\/Royals-losing-streak-vs-Yankees-renders-2024-distant-memory.jpeg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2432049","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=2432049"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2432049\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2432051,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2432049\/revisions\/2432051"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2432050"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2432049"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2432049"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2432049"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}