One telling stat puts Royals among baseball's biggest disappointments

Baseball is a tough game. A lot of things have to go right in order for a team to come out on top. Throughout the 2026 season, the Kansas City Royals have not had a lot of things go right.

In fact, you could just look at the team’s run differential to tell you the story. With one of the league’s worst run differentials, the Royals couldn’t help but be a disappointment this season. But a turnaround in 2027 might not be out of question. 

You don’t have to be a mathematician to know that the more runs you give up and the less you score will put your team in a bad position to win any games. If you took a peek at the MLB standings, you would see that most of the playoff-bound teams this season understood that equation. Maybe just don’t look at the top of the AL West. That’s a whole other story. 

As noted by ESPN’s Buster Olney, the Royals currently sport one of the five worst run differentials in all of baseball. Before play on September 25, the Royals had scored 668 runs on the season while coughing up 781. That’s a difference of 113 runs. Regardless of the team, it’s hard to consistently win ball games like that. 

A horrible run differential isn’t the only way to determine how awful the Royals have been in 2026, but it is certainly telling. If the team wishes to right the ship and win more ball games, they will need to return to the formula that made them one of the league’s hottest ball clubs. 

The Royals have seen a steady regression since their magical 2024 season 

There is plenty to be optimistic about for the Royals moving forward. Not only does the team already boast an impressive young core of talented offensive players, but there are a number of eager prospects in their minor league system ready to make an impact. However, if the Royals can’t figure out their pitching situation, they will need their young lineup to deliver more offense if they want to win any games. 

The Royals had been a team on the rise over the past few seasons. After hitting rock bottom in 2023, they quickly made an impressive turnaround a year later. It appeared that things were actually quite bright in Kansas City. Thanks to a +91 run differential in 2024, the Royals notched an 86-win season and even secured a Wild Card Series victory over the Baltimore Orioles. 

This meteoric rise was largely due to their strong pitching staff. While the offense in 2024 was about an average-hitting ball club, it was the impressive work done on the mound that carried them into October. At 3.98 runs allowed per game, the Royals staff was the sixth best in all of baseball. Thanks to great years from starters Seth Lugo and Cole Ragans, there was a lot to like about the Royals.   

However, with a +14 run differential in 2025, the Royals regressed a bit, finishing the season with a 82-80 record. While not enough of a nosedive to sound the alarms, it wasn’t the best of seasons for a team with moderately high expectations. While the pitching once again finished at the top of the league in runs allowed per game, it was the offense that let the team down, scoring the fifth fewest in the league.  

Despite that lackluster offensive production, Royals GM J.J. Picollo and the rest of the front office saw the potential of the team’s core and imagined that 2026 would be an opportunity to bounce back in a relatively open AL Central division. But with a below-average offense and an injury-riddled pitching staff that has surrendered the sixth most runs, it’s been another tough season to watch.  

For a team that appeared to be on the rise, the 2026 season can’t be seen as anything but an overall disappointment. The Royals will have an opportunity to right the ship next season though, but it will have to start by finding more balance throughout their roster. With offensive reinforcements ready to go in the minors, the team will have to be willing to spend on top-flight pitching in free agency if they want to reach those 2024 heights again.   

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