Around 60 games into the new MLB season we are just over a third of the way through the regular season and are into the full swing of baseball. We are moving from the “it’s too early to make a judgement talk” into the part of the season where you do not necessarily win anything, but you can certainly lose it. Falling too far behind now can leave teams out of contention even before the All-Star break.
Although there is a long way still to go, you can see teams that have made dramatic improvement (Yankees), teams that are still consistently good (Phillies), teams a little off the pace so far (Astros) and those who are already writing off the season, I’m talking about you White Sox.
Despite the 100 (ish) games still to go there are several teams this year you can put in the bracket of “much improved” compared to in 2023. One of those teams being the Kansas City Royals.
Yes, I know it’s still fairly early and Royals fans will be thinking the worst and just waiting for the team to slump, but there is good reason to believe that they are really contenders, at least divisionally.
From a team that went 56-106, finishing seven games behind the 4th placed White Sox in the American League Central and 31 games behind the division winning Twins in 2023, their 35-22 start to 2024 at the time of writing should at least give fans hope that the worst is behind them.
The Royals are sitting pretty in second in the AL Central in the budding 2024 season, just 4.0 games back from the division leading Cleveland Guardians and the Royals currently hold the second AL wildcard spot.
Although there is a long way to go, here’s five reasons why the Royals can carry on their great start to the season and be contenders this season, not pretenders.
Salvador Perez and Bobby Witt Jr are playing like MVP’s Many thought that Bobby Witt Jr would be one of the best players in the league this season, but few probably thought that Salvador Perez, the only survivor from the 2015 World Series team and captain would put up the numbers he is. Perez has been a revelation, leading the team with a .343 batting average, .404 OPS and .560 slugging percentage. In addition to this, he leads the team in home runs (nine), hits (60) and RBI’s (39). If these two can carry on their current form, the Royals are in for a great season.
Young (ish) core Bobby Witt Jr is the sort of player you build a franchise around and it looks as though the Royals are doing that after signing the 23 year-old to a huge new contract this off season.Position players Vinnie Pasquantino (26) is returning from injury this season, Kyle Isbel (27), Maikel Garcia (24), Nelson Velazquez (24) and pitchers Cole Ragans (26), Angel Zerpa (24), James McArthur (27) all appear to have years ahead in their career and if the Royals can keep a lot of them together this team could bloom into a World Series contender.
Two Elite starting pitchers Seth Lugo and Brady Singer have been superb so far. Lugo boasts a 1.72 ERA, 1.01 WHIP (walks plus hits per inning pitched) and a .211 opponent batting average, alongside a 9-1 record in 12 games so far. While Singer has a 2.63 ERA, 1.12 WHIP and a .216 opponent batting average.While Lugo and Singer have led the team, Cole Ragans and Alec Marsh have both also been solid. Ragans ERA is 3.49 with a 1.21 WHIP, 4-4 record and .232 opponent batting average. Marsh ranks with an ERA of 3.24, a 1.06 WHIP, 4-2 record and .210 opponent batting average. Michael Wacha has struggled the most for the Royals but has not been absolutely awful and with the other pitchers around him, the Royals can afford one pitcher not playing at his best.
Run differential Run differential is also often a very telling sign of just how good a team is. This refers to a team's total runs allowed subtracted from the total number of runs they have scored. The Royals are currently one of the leading teams for this statistic in tied-5th with the Orioles on 74 behind only the Yankees, Phillies, Dodgers and Guardians.In contrast, last season, Kansas City ranked 28th for run differential with -183, only ahead of the Oakland Athletics and Chicago White Sox. This vastly improved stat is one of the main reasons the Royals have improved so much and gives reason to believe that they can keep their current pace up.
Bullpen While some of the Royals bullpen has struggled so far, they have two elite relievers in John Schreiber and Angel Zerpa. Schreiber through 27 games holds a 2.88 ERA, 3-1 record .271 opponent batting average and 1.32 WHIP. Meanwhile, Zerpa through 26 games boasts an ERA of 2.31, .270 opponent batting average and 1.29 WHIP.Also, despite James McArthur’s inflated ERA of 5.11, in his closer role he has 11 saves from 15 opportunities, 1.42 WHIP and 2-2 record.Although it remains to be seen whether the Royals will be able to keep their dramatic improvement up, there is certainly a lot of optimism for fans with the regular season already over a third done.For now at least the Royals find themselves in a wildcard position and only 4.0 games back from the division leading Guardians.
You’d have to say that based on form they are here to stay and are contenders, opposed to pretenders in 2024.
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