Kansas City Royals Season Has Reached Do Not Resuscitate Level

The season is over for the Kansas City Royals. Fine, so it’s not technically over. But after losing a series to Chicago and one coming up against Cleveland, it might as well be.

The Kansas City Royals dropped the rubber match on Wednesday afternoon to the Chicago White Sox Triple-A team (no, not really). With Minnesota beating the San Diego Padres, the Twins expanded their lead over the Royals in the American League Wild Card race to four games with only 17 games left to play.

It breaks my heart to write this article. Maybe even a piece of my heart hopes that I can jinx myself by writing this article and single-handedly turn the Kansas City Royals season around.

I won’t hold my breath.

The Kansas City Royals still have a mathematical chance to make the playoffs. The season has long been on life support. But after the embarrassing loss they suffered at The K on Wednesday, you can begin to see a flatline coming for 2017.

In the event that the Kansas City Royals don’t go into Cleveland this weekend and miraculously win a series against a team who has won 21 games in a row, I am here to officially sign a do not resuscitate on the Kansas City Royals.

The season has all come down to these matchups in Cleveland:

• 6:10 p.m. Thursday — Jake Junis vs. Josh Tomlin
• 6:10 p.m. Friday — Jason Vargas vs. Trevor Bauer
• 3:10 p.m. Saturday — Jason Hammel vs. Carlos Carrasco
• 12:10 p.m. Sunday — TBD (Sam Gaviglio? Danny Duffy?) vs. Corey Kluber

Anything less than a series victory in Cleveland this weekend and the Royals season will be all but over. If they go into Cleveland and can’t manage to win some games, they need to pull the plug on this season and begin to prepare for 2018.

What I mean by this is that they need to start letting Raul Mondesi, Jorge Bonifacio and Jorge Soler get some playing time. The only way that the Kansas City Royals have a prayer of competing in 2018 is if Mondesi and Soler reach their potential and help carry the offense with Salvador Perez, Whit Merrifield, and whomever else the Royals decide to bring back in free agency.

Let the young guys get some at-bats.

Give Alex Gordon a head start on the offseason. It also means that Mike Moustakas needs to get some rest. Moose’s knee has clearly been bugging him lately, and the Kansas City Royals don’t need to risk any further injury to that knee for a lost season.

Kansas City Royals

I know he still hasn’t broken that ever-looming record, but Moose’s health needs to come first. Even if the Kansas City Royals don’t re-sign Moose, they owe it to him to allow him to go into free agency as healthy as humanly possible.

It would also be nice to get Cheslor Cuthbert some at-bats heading into the offseason.

An official DNR means that Duffy and Joakim Soria need to remain on the disabled list for the rest of 2017. There’s no reason to rush them back to pitch in pain for a team that won’t be making the playoffs. The Kansas City Royals need both of those guys healthy next year.

They could use a head start.

It also means that Perez doesn’t need to catch more than three games a week. You can’t completely bench Salvy, but you can DH him and let him rest his legs. Cam Gallagher could use some experience.

Drew Butera has also earned some playing time for his services over the last couple of years. He probably won’t be back with Kansas City next year. It would be nice to reward him on his way out the door.

The Kansas City Royals are still alive in 2017—for the time being. But it doesn’t look promising.

Next: Royals Barely In Playoff Hunt

Anything other than a convincing series win in Cleveland this weekend will probably put this season to rest for the Boys in Blue. As much as it pains me to say this, maybe it’s time to look forward to the future.