Royals' uphill battle for AL Central got even harder after latest Tarik Skubal injury update

It seems silly amidst a stretch of losing 11 of their last 14 games and falling to 20-30 to be talking about the Kansas City Royals competing for an AL Central title. But in the grand scheme of things there's plenty of baseball to be played still and their division isn't the strongest in MLB by any stretch of imagination.

The Cleveland Guardians sit at an impressive 29-22 at the top. However, this is still a Guardians team on paper that bears a lot of similarity to the squad that needed an other-worldly push paired with a Detroit Tigers late-season freefall to win the division last year. Then, the rebuilding White Sox are performing above expectations with a 25-24 record so far, but are still hovering around .500. After that the Minnesota Twins and aforementioned Tigers are both struggling at 23-27 and 20-30, respectively.

That being said, while the Tigers may hold the same lowly record as the Royals right now, they could be on the verge of receiving a major boost. After undergoing surgery to remove loose bodies in his elbow two weeks ago, Tarik Skubal continues to defy recovery odds and threw another bullpen session at Comerica Park on Thursday.

"His velocity was as high as it's been since his throwing started," Tigers manager A.J. Hinch said. "He sat down and came back and did like a simulated second inning. That's encouraging, and it's full stuff."

And according to Skubal, he was pleased with his latest session and seems to be approaching some key game-ready targets.

"There's a velocity number I was trying to hit. And I hit it, so it was a good day," Skubal said. "It comes out a little bit slower than a game. But it's relatively close."

While there will certainly need to be some sort of formal rehab process before the reigning back-to-back AL Cy Young award winner takes to the mound again for the Tigers, the fact he's looking so natural again so soon after going under the knife is a remarkable feat, but certainly one that Royals fans won't be pleased with from a competitive standpoint.

Skubal might be nearing return, but Royals have their own issues to worry about

Now, considering the Royals have seven games remaining against their division rivals in Detroit - four of which will take place away from home in Comerica Park and all of which come when Skubal should be healthy again - the thought of potentially have to face an arm like Skubal multiple times isn't ideal. And even if he does end up being traded like many thought he might've been poised to be at the trade deadline when the year began, the trade return for an arm like him could potentially set the Tigers up nicely for the future - even if he is just a rental for a prospective buyer.

However, the Royals can't get too caught up in other team's business, even if they're a rival. They have plenty of issues to sort out themselves. After all, they are the ones that have dug themselves into the hole they're currently stuck in.

With every facet of this Royals roster providing some reason for blame, or at the very least in terms of their starting staff some room for improvement, many fans have already started pointing to clubhouse leadership, particularly Matt Quatraro, and that it might be time for a change. After all, just look at Boston Red Sox who just came into town and swept the Royals to start the week. They fired their World Series winning manager, Alex Cora, and his entire coaching staff for far less reasons.

Then, there's the underperformers like Salvador Perez and Vinnie Pasquantino and their sub-70 wRC+ totals in the lineup, Noah Cameron and his 5.40 ERA in the rotation and Steven Cruz, Eli Morgan and Alex Lange with their ERAs north of 5.00 out of the bullpen. Perhaps now could be time to make some bold and potentially uncomfortable decisions to shake things up internally.

And it's never to early to look externally at potential options to breathe new life into this roster. There's several places that could do with some bolstering, such as their lackluster second base situation, currently occupied by the tandem of Michael Massey and Nick Loftin, or their injury-depleted rotation after the recent losses of ace Cole Ragans and 2025 All-Star Kris Bubic.

However, you slice and dice it, there are ways for the Royals to be proactive about things with 112 games left to be played across over four full remaining months of the season. Concerning yourself with the return an opposing arm seems useless at this point, as it's entirely out of their control. What is in their control though is the countless potential solutions there are sitting right in front of them.

At the end of the day, as it stands entering gameplay on Thursday, a 24-25 record is good enough to hold an AL Wild Card spot. With the right changes, that doesn't seem like an out-of-reach goal for the Royals with June not even upon us yet - so long as those moves are made sooner rather than later.

A potential Skubal return doesn't do them any favors by any means, but neither does sitting on their hands and trusting the process that's already proving to fail this season.

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