Idiotic Royals baserunning mistake costs them Opening Day win over Guardians

Opening Day at Kauffman Stadium had all the makings of a classic. The Kansas City Royals, decked out in their iconic powder blue uniforms, took the field ready to kick off the 2025 season with a bang. Unfortunately they managed to take a strong start against the Cleveland Guardians and turn it into a head-scratching disaster.

Trailing 4-3 in the bottom of the eighth, the Royals had the perfect chance to take back control over the game. With runners on first and third and no outs, Jonathan India scorched a grounder to the hot corner. On paper, it should have been a routine a double play. Instead, the Royals made it far worse.

KC Royals fall to Guardians on Opening Day thanks to blunders

Dairon Blanco, standing on third, took off immediately on contact, ignoring the golden rule of baserunning: make sure the ball gets through. José Ramírez opted not to allow an easy score. Instead of going for the double play, he made the heads-up decision to fire home, trapping Blanco in no man’s land. A rundown ensued, and after a brief game of cat-and-mouse, Blanco was tagged out.

But wait, there’s more.

While Blanco was stuck in a pickle, Kyle Isbel made an even more baffling mistake — getting himself caught in his own no man's land between second and third. Maybe he thought he could capture third since Blanco wasn't going to make it out his situation. Either way, Cleveland’s defense wasn’t about to let him off the hook. They pivoted and gunned him down on his way back to second.

Instead of a prime scoring opportunity with two runners on and one out (or at least a runner on third with two outs of the Guardians turned the traditional double play), the Royals were left with only India standing on second and two outs, draining the energy out of the home crowd.

Fortunately, Kansas City still had a pulse. Michael Massey came through in the clutch with a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the ninth bringing home Freddy Fermin and forcing extra innings.

The Royals thought they may have dodged disaster, but the Guardians put the writing on the wall in the top of tenth piling on three runs and having their new offseason acquisition Paul Sewald close the game, capping off a 7-4 win for the Guardians.

Opening Day could've been a celebration for the Royals, but instead the game was taken away from them by their own little league baserunning. For now, the Royals need to shake this off before they resume play on Saturday.