Royals need the division title in 2027 to unlock Kauffman Stadium's biggest edge

The Kansas City Royals need to do everything in their power this offseason to make it back to the top of the AL Central. Not only was the division weak this season, but the Royals take advantage of home playoff games better than most.

A recent article posted to MLB.com by Cole Jacobson broke down the best home field advantages in the playoffs. Kauffman Stadium made the honorable mentions, but among active stadiums, it's in the top-10.​

Using a 20-game minimum for home playoff games, Jacobson found the best record for each team at their stadium. The Royals are 24-17 (.585) at home in the playoffs. Among active stadiums, that puts them with the eighth-best winning percentage.

The Royals need to do whatever they can to take advantage of Kauffman in the playoffs

J.J. Picollo and the Royals need to put that on the bulletin board this offseason. When the Royals play at home in the playoffs, they are one of the best. While they weren't able to take advantage of Kauffman during the 2024 playoffs (0-2), in 2015, Kauffman was a fortress (7-1). Even in 2014, when they lost in the World Series, they were 6-2 at home in the playoffs.

The best way to get home playoff games under the current playoff format is to win the division. Even the third-best division winner gets two guaranteed home playoff games in the Wild Card round. A bye to the divisional round gets at least two home playoff games as the first two of the series.

The best part about it is the Royals have multiple players on their roster that played well at home this season too. Seven different players had a WRC+ over 100 at home, and four of them had a WRC+ over 130.

What the Royals need to do this offseason is help their pitchers perform at home. Michael Wacha had an ERA below 3.00, but no other starter with more than 30 innings at Kauffman had an ERA below 4.00. On the relief side, only Daniel Lynch and Steven Cruz had an ERA below 4.00 with more than 15 innings at home.

With Kauffman Stadium being such an advantage for the Royals in October, this is an offseason where they need to be aggressive. The Guardians 85 wins this season is the lowest to ever win the division. The door is open for the Royals to make a push and get back on top for the first time since 2015. When they do, they can count on Kauffman giving them a big boost.

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