The 2026 Kansas City Royals are an indisputably bad baseball team. On pace for an eye-watering 102 losses, they have one of the worst bullpens and one of the worst offenses in baseball. They run into a bunch of outs on the bases. They have lost 16 out of their last 19 games one month after losing 11 of 13. This isn\u2019t just a good team playing poorly. We crossed that Rubicon a long time ago.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
The big question: why? Why is the team bad, especially when lots of people thought that the Royals would be competitive – maybe even a playoff team – this year? Well, after such a protracted string of losing, general manager J.J. Picollo finally talked to MLB.com about all the losing<\/a>. And wouldn\u2019t you know it, but no one\u2019s at fault here. Everyone\u2019s doing great. According to Picollo, the front office accomplished their goals in the offseason.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cWe felt like there\u2019s a core here that we could rely on for offense,\u201d Picollo said. \u201cSurrounding them with a deeper, better group and more balanced group was the goal. I think we did that.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n Oh, and it\u2019s not the coaching staff at fault either, either. They\u2019re doing a great job, and besides, changing staff in the middle of the year doesn\u2019t do anything, silly.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cI have a lot of confidence in our staff,\u201d Picollo said. \u201cYou can go back and look at all the historical research on changing coaching staffs. There\u2019s not a lot of strong data on changing coaching staffs mid-season leading to what you need to do. It appeases the fanbase because you\u2019ve made a change, but we have to be logical in our thinking.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n We\u2019ve already established that the front office did a great job assembling the team, so player quality isn\u2019t the issue here. What about player attitude and teamwork and camaraderie? The good news is that\u2019s not a problem, either.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cIs the work getting done?\u201d Picollo said. \u201cAre the [coaches\u2019] conversations productive with the players? Are they still eager to get to the ballpark and learn and work and play? Are they motivated? Right now, all of my observations are: Yes, they are. If anything, they\u2019re saying, \u2018I\u2019ve got to be more accountable, I\u2019ve got to be better. I\u2019m the one not executing.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n At this point, we\u2019re getting pretty thin on reasons why the Royals are on a 102-loss pace in June. According to Picollo, it\u2019s not the front office, it\u2019s not the coaches, and it\u2019s not the players. No one is responsible for the state of Royals baseball right now. So if no one is responsible, something else must be at fault. And I fear we are going to hear more and more excuses about this being an injury-bit season, especially after Maikel Garcia\u2019s hamstring injury from Saturday\u2019s game.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n It is true that the Royals have had their fair share of injuries this season. Closer Carlos Est\u00e9vez pitched one game this year and has been sidelined with injuries<\/a> since. Second baseman Jonathan India had season-ending shoulder surgery<\/a> at the end of April. Starting pitcher Cole Ragans first went on the injured list in early May and had a setback during rehab<\/a>. Fellow starting pitcher Kris Bubic went on the injured list<\/a> in mid-May, too. Newly acquired reliever Matt Strahm hit the injured list in mid-May<\/a>, as did Nick Mears a few days ago<\/a>. And though we don\u2019t know how long Garcia could be out, hamstring injuries are fickle and he could be out anywhere from a couple of weeks to a couple of months.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n But I don\u2019t buy this excuse and you shouldn\u2019t either, even though I\u2019m sure the team will use it for why they\u2019re selling at the trade deadline and at the end of the year when the Royals finalize a 90-something loss season.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n
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