Royals' latest losing streak could be setting them up for historically poor season

If you think you've seen a six-game losing streak from the Royals this season, it's not your mind playing tricks on you, it's not some ominous déjà vu situation, you have. In fact, Kansas City hasn't even reached the 60-game threshold this season and they've already accumulated three losing streaks of six or more games this season. What makes matters worse is that you don't even have to look far to find their last one as it only just happened between May 10-16.

Any Royals fan will tell you things are bad right now, but no one truly knows just how bad it will be when all is said and done. However, one historical trend may give the fanbase some answers on what this team's record might end up being - and unfortunately it's not pretty.

As Kurtis Seaboldt of Sports Radio 810 WHB pointed out on X, the 2026 Royals are the 24th team in since the 1961 expansion era began to have three losing streaks of at least six games by the 60-game mark. While the 89-win 2005 Houston Astros are an example that nothing is impossible, the rest of the field would indicate that the likelihood of a bounce-back is improbable with the average record being 59-103.

And any baseball fan will be familair with the most recent trio of teams to accomplish this from 2023-2025, as the '23 Oakland A's, '24 Chicago White Sox and '25 Colorado Rockies are easily some of the biggest laughing stocks of the league in recent history. This is the company the Royals are amongst right now.

The Royals weren't strangers to this list prior to their shambolic 2026 start either. The 2006 Royals suffered the same fate 20 years ago and only mustered 62 wins. While it may be above the average record for teams of this nature, it's certainly not a season worth celebrating considering it came with triple-digit losses.

While the Royals don't boast the glitziest of pasts as a franchise, dropping under the 60-win threshold would be a historic low. Since their inception in 1969, minus the 1981 strike-affected season and COVID-condensed 60-game season in 2020, their win total has fallen in the 50s or lower just five times beforehand. Most recently it was 56-win team of 2023 and the four other times also occurred from 2004 onwards (2004, 2005, 2018 and 2019).

Absolutely nothing has gone the Royals' way during latest losing streak

This losing streak has been particularly painful for Royals fans as everyone seems to blame. The offense has been outscored 48-14 with half of the six losses being games in which they scored one run or less. This puts them last in runs scored and within the bottom five in AVG, OPS and wRC+.

On top of that, their once strong starting pitching staff has suffered mightily, as they collectively hold the third worst ERA in baseball at 6.53 in this span, along with bottom 10 totals in WHIP, BAA and K-rate. And it's not as if it's been the usual culprits holding them down. Even the likes of current rotation leader Michael Wacha wasn't exempt from a blow-up outing, having surrendered all six runs in their 6-3 loss on Sunday.

Then, there's the 'pen, led by Lucas Erceg and his back-to-back blown saves. Like the offense, this area of the Royals has been truly atrocious. Their 9.58 combined ERA only bests the aforementioned lowly Rockies' absurd 12.04 ERA mark in this span. They then sit dead-last in WHIP and BAA, as well as in the bottom 10 in both K-rate and walk rate.

Only time will tell if the Royals will succumb to the historical trend of three losing streaks of six or more. However, it safe to say we might be witnessing one of the truly bad Royals teams the franchise has ever known.

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