Bizarre rule violation vs. Mariners officially proved Royals can't catch a break

What's become a painful trend of late for the Kansas City Royals has been their losing ways and last night only fueled their disappointing stretch after dropping their eighth game in their last 11.

While the Royals certainly aren't blameless for their rough 2025 campaign, the element of luck has also played as it has not been on there side on multiple occasions this season.

While injuries have played a dominant role in Kansas City's unluckiness this season, Thursday's affair against the Seattle Mariners revealed some of the smaller elements of misfortune that the Royals have endured, after second baseman Michael Massey was called on late for violating a forgotten rule.

Bizarre rule violation vs. Mariners latest instance of unluckiness for Royals in 2025

It all happened in the eighth inning of what was then a very narrow 1-0 deficit for the Royals. Outfielder Dominic Canzone hit a sharp grounder to Massey at second in which the infielder looked to have fielded it routinely and thrown it on to first for the out.

However, Seattle would end up challenging the play for a shift violation, implying that Massey went beyond the legal shift limits to field the grounder.

And upon replay review, the visitors were deemed correct and the call was overturned, as Massey's heels were found to be on the outfield grass when the ball was hit. As per official league rules, four infielders must be within the infield boundaries when the ball is hit otherwise an error will be charged. And in Massey's case, with his feet partially on the outfield grass, he was no longer deemed solely on the infield surface.

While seemingly frustrated, Massey knew that he'd been in the wrong in this case scenario, as reported by MLB.com's Anne Rogers and Jackson Stone.

"“It’s on me, as far as -- obviously, I know the rule," Massey said. "Can’t be in the grass."

"Whether the replay is conclusive or not, we kind of went through all that stuff last year, and I’ve got my opinions on it," he said.

"Reality is, that’s the rule, and I’ll be better,” Massey said.

While the Royals aren't exactly playing for anything anymore in the grand scheme of things - sitting seven games back of the final AL Wild Card spot with just nine games remaining - it's frustrating nonetheless.

To add salt to the wound, as per Jordan Stone of Mariners PR, this was the first time anyone has been called for a shift violation error in MLB history.

Massey and the Royals will hope, for pride's sake, that luck will be more on their side when they kick off their final home series of the season against the Toronto Blue Jays at 6:40 p.m. CT.