KC Royals on the verge of utter catastrophe after another loss at Kauffman Stadium

As the Kansas City Royals dropped their fifth straight game on Thursday afternoon, not only did it see them fall further into their recent slump, it also continued a troubling trend that's become all too familiar this month.

The 4-0 loss to the Rays marked another game in June in which the Royals have failed to win at home, giving them an even 0-10 record at Kauffman Stadium this month.

And with only one remaining series at home this month, against none other than reigning World Series Champion Los Angeles Dodgers, the Royals could be heading down the road of utter catastrophe.

KC Royals on the verge of utter catastrophe after another loss at Kauffman Stadium

First thing's first, a home losing streak like this is certainly abnormal. It's doesn't take a rocket scientist to know that the home team traditionally tends to have the advantage in most games.

At the end of the day though, as bad as losing 10-straight home games may be, this is baseball, and baseball games are not won and lost based on who enters the game with the traditional advantage. They're decided on the field, and losses happen.

But that's just it, they're decided on the field. And what Royals fans have seen on the field from their team of late - especially during their June home losing streak - has been nothing if not worrying, as they stare the very real potential of an 0-13 home record for the month square in the face.

This series they were shutout twice, and when they didn't suffer a shutout they only mustered a single run. For those doing the math at home, that's just one run in three games.

Expanding our focus to this five game losing streak - dating back to Saturday's defeat in San Diego - the Royals tack on just three more runs. That's 45 innings in the books, and just four runs to show for it.

And let's refer back to that 10-game home losing streak, where in that span, the Royals have brought home just 12 baserunners and have been shutout five times in the process. That's an average runs per game total of 1.20. For reference that's over two full runs lower than the league's worst offense in baseball in the Pittsburgh Pirates, who average just 3.26 runs per game.

These streaks however, have simply been the microcosm of the larger issue at hand here of just how inefficient this Royals lineup has been all season.

As Anne Rogers of MLB.com referenced after Wednesday's shutout loss, that defeat marked the Royals ninth shutout loss of the season. Thursday of course made it an even 10 shutouts on the year.

And while it's been mentioned that the Pirates sat dead last in baseball in runs per game entering Thursday's action, the Royals were right there with them, sitting 29th just 0.03 runs per game better than them at 3.29.

Then, The Royals Rundown Podcast pointed out via X (formerly Twitter), after Wednesday's loss, that this Royals offense was "on pace for 533 runs scored" marking a 202-run difference from their middle of the pack 735 total runs a year ago. This would be their worst total in franchise history.

While the Royals have remained in the hunt for an AL Wild Card despite their shortcomings at the plate, June has been a prime example of how this approach can be unsustainable.

Their top-notch rotation and bullpen, which entered June with the third and seventh best ERAs in MLB respectively, have not been as sharp. Their combined ERA for the entire pitching staff in June sits at 4.07, nearly a whole run higher than that of their split in May (3.12).

This isn't to say that the pitching staff has completely lost it's edge and is suddenly in terrible place, but it's hard for any rotation to remain an elite entity like they've been over an entire 162-game season. The offense sometimes needs to take matters into their own hands and not rely on the pitching staff to bail them out on a nightly basis.

Where the Royals go from here remains to be seen. Whether this will motivate them to shake things up internally by calling on hot hands in the Triple-A ranks for a spark, or go even a step further and look externally to make an impact-having move on the trade market with the deadline approaching remains to be seen. Perhaps it could also motivate them to do what many likely thought wouldn't happen this year and lean into their struggles and sell of some expendable assets.

The bottom line though, now is the time for action, because the path that this team has currently been on has yet to really reap any benefits through the official first half of the season.

And the real possibility of going 0-13 at home this month would be nothing short of catastrophic and demoralizing for this team and their contention hopes this season.