Royals fans’ hopes are spiraling after Yankees polish off embarrassing road trip sweep

It's not an overstatement to say the Kansas City Royals are in a vey grim spot right now. It might still only be the first month of the season, but after their loss on Sunday, the Royals come back home after being swept on their six-game road trip and are now riding a seven-game losing streak. Their 7-15 record puts them tied with the New York Mets for the worst team in baseball.

And during this road trip, it's been an all-round dreadful effort. Their offense looked largely incapable of scoring runs, their bullpen has costed them games and their starting staff has suffered blowups they haven't all season. Because of such shortcomings, fans, and even members of the Royals media, have been in a tailspin of outrage, struggling to find any hope to hold onto.

For context, it's hard to see how things could possibly get worse for the Royals. Their offense sits dead last in the majors in runs per game at 3.23, while also sitting among the bottom five in AVG, OPS and wRC+. They also have just two hitters with wRC+ totals at 110 or higher (Carter Jensen at 122 and Kyle Isbel at 110) with their core four now now not exceeding a rate of 102.

Even when this offense managed to breakout on Thursday against the Tigers and plate nine runs, their pitching staff let them down. The Royals' bullpen is by far the worst unit in baseball, with a 6.18 ERA that sits comfortably in last place in baseball, along with a 30th ranked WHIP, 27th ranked BAA and 27th ranked FIP.

And their once untouchable looking starting rotation is starting to show holes, as the trio of blow ups in their last four games from Cole Ragans, Noah Cameron and Kris Bubic has sent this team closer to the middle of the pack among MLB starting staffs.

Are coaching changes in order for the Royals amidst their early season slump?

A popular opinion among fans is that some change to the brain trust is in order, primarily hitting coach Alec Zumwalt, but now, especially after the weekend lineup saga with Salvador Perez, manager Matt Quatraro.

And by no means are they unjustified in thinking this way. Their starting staff may have more good days and bad days and bullpens are notoriously tough to truly predict no matter the team, but it's the offense that's been the most worrying and the root of why many fans feel hope is gone. We've touched upon how bad it looks in 2026, but it's this seasons underperformance paired with last season's let down that's caused the outrage. In 2025 they ranked 26th in runs scored, homers and RBI and tied for 23rd in wRC+.

Given the fact they just signed Matt Quatraro to a brand new multi-year extension this winter, it's seems unlikely they part ways with him in the immediate future after such a show of trust. After all, he has brought this teams to heights that only the likes of Ned Yost or Dick Howser can top.

However, if they continue to spiral like this, it doesn't seem egregious whatsoever to think that the Royals may have no other choice than to bring a fresh voice in to lead the clubhouse.

Zumwalt on the other hand is a much easier change to make given the fact that he's had one sole responsibility and that is to get this offense performing. And since his promotion to hitting coach back on May 16, 2022, the Royals' offense sits within the bottom 10 in baseball in runs scored, home runs, RBI, and wRC+ and only just outside the lower third in OPS at 20th. And it's the fact that his poor performing offense has bled into the usually reliable core group atop the order, that makes things more concerning.

Zumwalt has had plenty of runway to succeed and has come up short time and time again, making a decision to part ways with him seemingly justified at any point in time moving forward.

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