Royals still in playoff hunt, but rival's injury news could complicate KC's task

With their playoff hopes at the time seemingly dimming by the day, and reeling from the morning's news that Kris Bubic was joining fellow rotation members Cole Ragans and Michael Lorenzen on the Injured List, the Royals took care of business Sunday afternoon by beating Cleveland 4-1. The win at Kauffman Stadium gave the Royals a 2-1 series win over the Guardians.

The victory kept Kansas City on the outer edge — but still in — the race for an American League Wild Card spot. Heading into Monday night's opener of a three-game series against Atlanta at The K, the Royals trailed Seattle by four games, with only Tampa Bay and the Guardians standing between themselves and the Mariners. Ending the season with a Wild Card in their pocket isn't impossible, especially considering KC had 56 games left to play after Sunday's win.

Grabbing a Wild Card seems to be the only way the Royals will punch their ticket to a second consecutive playoff berth. But that task, the difficulty of which isn't insurmountable, may be about to get harder. A key member of Cleveland's starting rotation may be on the verge of returning after not throwing a big league pitch all season.

Shane Bieber is pitching again. And that could doom the Royals as they try to battle their way past the Guardians, and others, down the stretch.

Shane Bieber could complicate the Royals' pursuit of postseason play

Bieber, who's pitched well enough in seven seasons and 136 games (62-32, 3.22 ERA, and 21.5 fWAR) to win an American League Cy Young award and a pair of All-Star berths, recently began a minor league rehab assignment after missing most of last season with a UCL tear that ultimately required Tommy John Surgery. Going on such an assignment is always good news for an injured player.

And so far, so good for the right-handed veteran whom last winter we suggested the Royals should pursue in free agency before he re-signed with the Guardians. He started twice for Cleveland's Arizona Complex League team and struck out 10, gave up just two hits, walked only one, and held the opposition scoreless across 4.1 innings. He then moved up to High-A Lake County, where he fanned four, surrendered a run, and didn't walk a batter in a three-inning start against Lansing last Tuesday.

All that gave him a 1.23 ERA, 17.18 K/9, and 1.23 BB/9 going into his scheduled, but rained out, start for Triple-A Columbus Sunday night. Not a large sample size, to be sure, but the good signs are there.

When and where Bieber next takes the mound isn't yet known. But it's all but a certainty that he'll get a couple of Triple-A starts before returning to Cleveland and a Guardians team striving, like the Royals, to make the playoffs.

And whether Kansas City will see Bieber before the regular season ends is anyone's guess. The Royals and Guardians play each other only four more times — all in September — but that doesn't mean Bieber can't, and won't, damage KC's playoff chances. He'll pitch against the Royals once, if at all, but by beating other clubs, and winning for his own, he can increase the distance between Cleveland and Kansas City.

The possibility of Bieber hurting the American League Central Division championship hopes for 2025 is something we warned against during the offseason. Now, with those title hopes certainly dashed but a Wild Card spot in play, so much is at stake for the Royals as they head into the regular season's final two months. And with Bieber's return to the majors seemingly imminent, the Royals may have even more to worry about than their rotation injuries and troubling offense.