It’s been a tough last year for fans of Kansas City sports. When the Chiefs had their worst season in the past decade, I was eager for some Royals baseball. After watching five months of Royals baseball, my eagerness seems quite foolish in retrospect.

I wasn’t a complete idiot to think the Royals could compete for something this year. They had a strong rotation on paper, led by Cole Ragans and Kris Bubic. Their lineup, while not adding a huge impact bat over the offseason, still had promise. Led by Bobby Witt Jr. and Maikel Garcia, Kansas City was also banking on their two youngest players in Jac Caglianone and Carter Jensen to develop and take the team to the next level. In my mind, the biggest problem was going to be the potential lack of offense from a lineup with so many unknowns.

5 months later, the lineup has had its issues, but it’s far from the largest issue the team has had. Whether it’s because of injuries or ineffectiveness, the Royals are going to have a lot of players to replace over the coming offseason.

What should those moves look like, and what is the route for this team (if there even is one) to get back into contention in 2027* and beyond?

*Before I say anything about the future of this team, I must address the comically large elephant in the room. This entire post is being written with the assumption that there will be MLB games played next year. I unfortunately don’t know if that will be the case— the way things are trending right now, it’s looking more and more likely that there will be at least some games missed next year. I sincerely hope that the owners and players are able to come to an agreement before that happens. It would be a huge blow to the sport for not only the fans, but the players who would lose a year of their careers because of the greed of some MLB owners.

So what went wrong with the 2026 Royals?

To understand what needs to be done to get the Royals back to contention next year, it’s important that we understand why this year’s team failed. A lot of things went wrong this season and it’s hard to point to just one to explain why the Royals are as bad as they are. When you’re 20+ games under .500, it’s rarely because of just one issue. There are three main reasons for the dreadfulness of the team: the injury-laden roster, a bullpen that is unable to protect any lead, and a below-average offense.

Injuries

The injuries that this team has sustained over the course of the year are the largest reason in my eyes that they’ve been so poor. If everyone on the team had stayed healthy, I’m not sure you could pencil the Royals in to a playoff spot— but I don’t think they’d be completely out of the race. The Royals have had 16 different players this year on the injured list at some point. They’ve lost 6 starting pitchers (4 on the MLB team, 2 who were in Omaha) for the year with injuries that have ended their season:

Ryan Bergert and Ben Kudrna— Both pitchers started the year in Omaha, and both had elbow surgery on April 29 (wow, fun coincidence!). Bergert, acquired in the Freddy Fermin trade last year, was viewed entering the year as a potential replacement starter if a pitcher in the Royals rotation were to go down with injury. Kudrna, a 2021 third round pick, only made one start with Omaha before getting put on the IL for the rest of the year.

Cole Ragans— Ragans left his start May 8 after only 3 innings due to what the medical staff diagnosed as valgus extension overload— or to put it in simpler terms, his arm was hurting because he was throwing too much. The Royals placed him on the 15-day IL with the hope that he wouldn’t miss much more than the minimum time required. Ragans had a setback after a rehab start on May 23, and after a couple more setbacks was shut down for the year on June 12. He had the third Tommy John surgery of his career on July 4, and has a recovery timetable of around 10-12 months, making him unavailable for at least half of the 2027 season.

Kris Bubic— Bubic was placed on the 15-day IL on May 18 with what was initially called by the Royals as “very mild” left elbow soreness. Bubic and the Royals said that it was merely out of an abundance of caution given his previous injury history, and expected a minimal IL stint. He experienced shoulder soreness after a rehab stint on June 9, then was transferred to the 60-day IL on July 1 after suffering another setback. He began a throwing program in late July, but was traded to the Dodgers at the trade deadline. It remains to be seen whether he’ll throw for them at some point this year, but I don’t know if I’d bank on it with his history.

Stephen Kolek— Kolek began the year in Omaha but was eventually called up to fill a spot in the rotation. Kolek was placed on the paternity list on June 26 before returning to start a game against Tampa Bay on July 2. Following the game, he was placed back on the paternity list. Kolek was injured in a July 19 rehab start while trying to ramp back up after his time away, and underwent Tommy John surgery on August 5th. He’ll likely miss the entire 2027 season.

Luinder Avila— Avila had the most straightforward injury out of the starters. He felt forearm tightness during his start on August 1 and was put on the 15-day IL before it was announced that he would undergo Tommy John surgery along with Kolek on August 5th.

The problem isn’t just that the Royals have had a lot of injuries. The problem is who the players have been. In addition to the starters on the injured list, they’ve had position players and bullpen arms who they were heavily relying on miss time. Bobby Witt Jr. had his first stint on the injured list with back spasms. Maikel Garcia has been hurt the majority of the year and has been on the injured list since June 23. Vinnie Pasquantino has been on the injured list multiple times, first with a hamate fracture and now with wrist soreness. Carlos Estevéz pitched in a single game before landing on the IL, and hasn’t been seen since. I haven’t even mentioned Kyle Isbel, Nick Mears, and Jonathan India, all of whom were seen as important pieces for the team.

The injuries have been a factor in the other two reasons why the Royals have struggled so much and have exposed the lack of depth in the organization (this won’t be the last time I mention this). The truth is, while the Royals have a lot of exciting young players in the lower levels of their farm system, the upper levels are devoid of just about any major league talent. When Bobby Witt Jr. was placed on the injured list, the Royals had to call up shortstop Andrew Velazquez to fill a spot on the roster (Velazquez is a career .186 hitter over 581 at-bats). The lack of depth from Kansas City is truly a problem, and it’s something that they will need to address moving forward if they want to have a chance to compete next year.

The bullpen

The 2026 Royals bullpen has been nothing short of a disaster.

It’s almost impossible to describe just how bad the Royals bullpen is. So instead of trying to do that, I’ll show you.

Let’s set the stage: it’s the afternoon of July 30. Kansas City is playing against the Minnesota Twins in the rubber match of a three-game series at Target Field. The Royals enter the 9th inning leading the Twins 3-0. Noah Cameron has dominated the Twins, throwing 8 scoreless innings and striking out 7 batters while only allowing 1 hit. The Royals took the lead in the 3rd courtesy of a 2-run Jac Caglianone bomb, and later added another run on a double by John Rave.

With Cameron at 97 pitches, Matt Quatraro opts to send in Lucas Erceg to try and earn the save. Erceg leads the team with six blown saves, but with Daniel Lynch and Steven Cruz unavailable to pitch the 9th, Quatraro chooses the pitcher who at one point had been a lights-out closer.

The decision seems fine at first. Erceg strikes out Trevor Larnach and Victor Caratini lines out. He needs one more out. The bases are empty. Victory is practically in hand.

Erceg hits Ryan Jeffers with a pitch, and everything completely unravels. Erceg gets up 0-2 on Royce Lewis— he can’t put him away. Lewis hits a soft grounder up the middle. Now Josh Bell stands at home plate representing the tying run. Erceg gets up 0-2 against him before throwing four straight balls to load the bases.

Quatraro has seen enough. He summons veteran lefty Matt Strahm from the bullpen to face off against the left-handed hitting Kody Clemens. Strahm, traded for to be a reliable high-leverage arm, has been anything but that all season. He has three blown saves of his own to go along with a gaudy 6.75 ERA. Unfortunately, he’s the only lefty available in the bullpen; he stares down Clemens from the mound.

Strahm looks in and throws a sinker down the middle that Clemens looks at for strike 1. He goes back to the sinker, this time a little higher in the zone, and Clemens fouls it straight back. For the third time in the inning, Kansas City is one strike away from escaping with a win.

Strahm throws a meatball slider right down the middle. Clemens doesn’t miss it. He blasts the pitch 407 feet to right-center. The Royals lose 4-3.

“It’s a walk-off grand slam from Kody Clemens, are you kidding me? The final out proves impossible for the Kansas City Royals once again,” said Royals radio broadcaster Jake Eisenberg.

“Unbelievable. Absolutely unbelievable,” said Royals TV broadcaster Ryan Lefebrve.

Except… it really wasn’t all that unbelievable. The Royals have been blowing games the entire season. You can take your pick of which blown Royals game has been the most devastating to watch. The game in Minnesota may be the worst of them all, but there are certainly more than a fair share of options to choose from.

As it stands, the bullpen has had only one arm that has been consistently good for the entire season: Daniel Lynch IV. He’s had a great season as a reliever, the one constant on a wildly inconsistent staff.

The only other arm that has been at all reliable has been Steven Cruz, who has shown real flashes of a high-upside arm. He’s one of the only pitchers in the bullpen with high velocity, something that the Royals will need to seek in the offseason. Cruz still has his issues— namely a tendency to give up the long ball— but he’s been fine. In a perfect bullpen, he’s likely a mid-leverage reliever. The Royals bullpen is the complete opposite of a perfect bullpen.

The Royals have blown 23 saves (4th-most in baseball). Their collective bullpen ERA is 5.27 (2nd-worst), and have 32 losses in relief (tied-1st). Their ERA in the 9th inning is 6.72 (by FAR the worst)!

Injuries are some of the reason behind the bullpen’s struggles. Carlos Estevéz, who led the league in saves last year, hasn’t pitched since the second game of the season, and the Royals have been unable to fill his role all year. The aforementioned Erceg started off filling in decently as the closer but lost the job after multiple blown saves. Alex Lange took over closing duties and was effective for a time, but he too lost the job after blowing three saves in five games. Steven Cruz is currently the de-facto closer, but who knows for how long? The Royals don’t have anyone on their roster (other than Daniel Lynch) that makes you feel anything but dread when the bullpen door swings open. It’s a unit that will need to be completely overhauled for 2027.

The lineup

The Kansas City offense has been pretty disappointing this year. It’s had a couple of bright spots (one player in particular), but considering the preseason expectations, they’ve underperformed.

As with the bullpen, the injuries have played a role in the lack of performance, and it’s definitely part of the issue… but even when players have been healthy, they’ve underperformed. Pasquantino has been a below-average hitter— KC was banking on him being their #3 hitter. Garcia regressed this season after an All-Star campaign last year. Father time appears to finally be slowing Salvy down. It’s been a rough season from the guys that the Royals were expecting to be their run producers.

There are some positives here. Carter Jensen has shown flashes; he’s incredibly streaky, but he’s also been asked to be the team’s everyday catcher with Salvy being banged up all year, so there’s been a lot on his plate. Isaac Collins has been around a league average hitter, something Kansas City really hasn’t had in left field since Alex Gordon. Michael Massey has stayed healthy and produced offensively while playing gold-glove caliber defense at second base. Bobby is still Bobby— he’s not having an outstanding offensive season by his lofty standards, but has still been a well above-average hitter.

The biggest positive of the offense this year— and maybe the biggest positive for the entire team— is Jac Caglianone breaking out. He’s been the best player on the team offensively, leading the club in slugging, OPS, and home runs. He’s become the everyday #3 hitter for the team, something that I think a lot of people thought he would become when he was called up last year, but not something people expected after how poorly his 62-game stint in the majors went last season. He’s going to be a massive piece of Kansas City’s future, and I’ll discuss him more in a bit.

The Royals lineup isn’t completely devoid of talent, but they don’t have nearly enough of it. Kansas City has struggled to find a cleanup hitter all year. In 528 plate appearances, players in the cleanup spot are slashing .228/.271/.377, good for an 83 OPS+. It’s been Salvy for most of the year in that spot, but his lineup placement has been due more to injuries than anything. He had been moved down in the lineup after a couple of months where he struggled, but the lack of Royals depth forced him back into the role not long after.

Again, it’s not a horrible lineup— just a shallow one.

Moving forward

Kansas City’s front office has made it clear that they’re in “win now” mode, so they’re going to need to back it up with an aggressive offseason.

While the team’s hitting should certainly be addressed in the offseason, it’s the pitching that must be addressed. Let’s talk about that first.

Rebuilding the rotation

The Royals are historically a team built on pitching. They won the 2015 World Series on the backs of their bullpen, and made it back to the playoffs in 2024 thanks to a stellar starting rotation. Kansas City currently doesn’t have enough quality arms in either the starting rotation or the bullpen to really compete for anything right now. Entering next season, the Royals starting rotation barely has enough arms to fill a five-man rotation:

SP1: Michael Wacha
SP2: Seth Lugo
SP3: Noah Cameron
SP4: Lucas Braun
SP5: Daniel Lynch

That’s just not a good starting rotation. In any solid rotation, Michael Wacha is a #3 starter. He’d clearly be the best starter in this rotation. This rotation is also assuming that the Royals keep Daniel Lynch in it (a decision I would disagree with; Lynch has proved to be much more effective as a bullpen arm) and call up Braun from Omaha (received from Atlanta in the Lane Thomas trade, profiles to be another Seth Lugo).

The 2024 Royals completely transformed their starting pitching when they signed Lugo and Wacha in the offseason. The 2026 Royals are going to have to try and do the same thing.

The Royals need to pick up (at least!) 2 starters: one through trade, and one from free agency.

Kansas City needs to add an ace, someone who can be a true #1 starter. That’s the starter they’ll have to make a trade for. Kansas City isn’t going to be able to sign a guy like Tarik Skubal in free agency— the only real way for them to get someone who could be their new #1 is through trades. It’ll take at least one of their top prospects, and I know that people don’t like to hear that, but if Kansas City wants to compete next year, I don’t think they can go into the season with Michael Wacha as their #1. If they could acquire a pitcher like Logan Webb or George Kirby through trade, it’d be massive.

There’s no shortage of free agents the Royals could pick up this offseason: Casey Mize, Shane Bieber, Zac Gallen, Jack Flaherty, and Robbie Ray are all free agents that the Royals could look at signing. Each pitcher in the group has their warts— if they didn’t, they probably wouldn’t be free agents.

Mize has had one great season (this year) and has a tendency to fall off in the second half of seasons.

Bieber is very injury prone (only 229 IP in the last 4 years) and really hasn’t been good since 2022.

Gallen at one point was one of the league’s best pitchers, but his underlying metrics have dropped off a cliff the past 2 years, as has his on-field production.

Flaherty is a serviceable 5th rotation arm but has little upside outside of depth.

Ray has had a solid past couple of seasons but is 34 years old, making him a regression candidate.

I’d like the Royals to sign one of these guys to a reasonable contract. Personally I’d lean towards Ray— while I don’t love the age or injury risk, I feel the most confident in him being a solid starter for KC out of that group of pitchers.

Tearing down the bullpen

The bullpen needs to be built from the ground up. In my mind, there are 3 current locks for the 2027 bullpen: Steven Cruz, Daniel Lynch (assuming they move him back), and Nate Pearson.* With those pitchers as locks, the Royals still need 4-5 more spots to be filled.

*Pearson may seem like a bit of an odd name, but he’s a guy with good stuff that has upside.

I think one of those spots will go to Carlos Duran, who profiles similarly to Steven Cruz— great velocity and strikeout stuff, but struggles with his command. He’s the exact kind of pitcher the Royals need to be looking to add to the bullpen: guys who can throw hard and get strikeouts. They need more swing and miss in the bullpen. One of the largest problems with this year’s bullpen is their inability to get out of a jam, oftentimes because they aren’t able to get a strikeout when they need it. The 2027 bullpen needs guys who can get those strikeouts.

There are other guys on the team right now who should be given a chance to try out for the bullpen in the spring— Beck Way, Lucas Erceg,* Nick Mears— but they’ll have to earn their spot in the bullpen. They aren’t locks to make the team by any means.

*As terrible as Erceg has been this year, I doubt he gets released in the offseason. He’s under team control for 3 more years and still has minor league options. He can start next season in Omaha if need be.

Signing relievers in free agency can be a bit of a crapshoot, and I’m not sure that it’s the best route to go for the Royals. There isn’t a free agent reliever under 30, and reliever performance can greatly fluctuate from year-to-year, making it risky to give a free agent reliever a big contract. It worked with Carlos Estevéz last year, and if they’re willing to go that route again (signing an established closer such as Raisel Iglesias) I wouldn’t hate it. But you don’t have to look hard to see that sure things aren’t always sure things when it comes to bullpen arms. Matt Strahm this year is a perfect example.

Whether the Royals are able to build themselves even just a serviceable bullpen this offseason is going to be paramount to the success of the team in 2027.

Adding one more bat

I don’t think it’ll be the end of the world if Kansas City doesn’t go out and add another bat in the offseason. Fully healthy, I think their offense can be fine, especially if Carter Jensen is able to take another step forward next season in the way that Jac Caglianone has.

At the same time, I think it’d do the Royals a lot of good to go out and sign a bat in free agency. Adding even one more impact bat to the lineup could do wonders for the offensive production and could take a lot of pressure off of the guys at the top of the lineup.

There are several intriguing free agents the Royals could look at in this year’s offseason. Taylor Ward, Randy Arozarena, Seiya Suzuki, and Luis Arraez are all hitters that would be a boon for the KC lineup— if they could add any one of them, I’d be absolutely over the moon. Those are all guys that I’d feel good about throwing in the 3-4 spot in your lineup.

A sort of “meeting in the middle” option (between not signing any hitters and signing one of the free agents I listed above) could be to re-sign Lane Thomas. Kansas City’s lineup is very lefty-heavy, and Thomas— as he did this season— could be a nice platoon with Isbel in center field. I’m not the most bullish on that idea, but it would be better than not adding anything in the offseason.

Extending Caglianone

I cannot overstate how important it is that the Royals extend Jac Caglianone over this offseason. His breakout this year has been great for the team, but has also upped his price tag. The Royals need to make him an offer now in the same way that other teams around the league have done with their young stars.

Assuming that this season is for real (and all the signs point to that being the case), this offseason is the cheapest Cags will ever be. If the Royals don’t lock him up this offseason, it’s a very real possibility that he’ll become far too expensive for Kansas City to afford. Brian Henry over on Royals Review did a piece about a month ago on what exactly that extension could look like. Locking up Cags would set in stone a core of Garcia-Witt-Cags for years to come and would be a great infrastructure to have in place to welcome the next wave of Royals prospects slated to arrive in Kansas City here in a couple years (Chourio, Shields, Hammond, Rose*).

*I really hope Zion Rose makes it to Kansas City before the other 3, but MLB currently has his ETA for 2029, so we’ll see what happens in the coming years).

The Royals trail the Yankees 2-1 in game 3 of the ALDS. Kyle Isbel leads off of second base. Michael Massey stands at the plate with two outs and only one goal: get the run home. Kauffman Stadium awaits the 2-2 pitch, thousands of people thinking the same thing: please please please.

The pitch comes in. Massey connects. The ball flies into right field and just gets by a diving Juan Soto.

Kauffman explodes. Isbel rounds third and ties the game. Massey flies around the bases, sliding into third base.

Kansas City is alive and well, joy radiating from the stadium. Massey, usually a reserved player, is screaming “LET’S GO!” and Kauffman is echoing him. All seems right in the world, all troubles forgotten, and the cold October night seems just a little warmer.

The Royals need to get back in the playoffs next season and give themselves chances for more moments like that.

A lot of what this post is proposing is hinging on one thing: the Royals going out and spending money. I’m not an idiot and I know that Kansas City can’t go out and spend money like the big market teams can. I also know that if the Royals’ front office is actually serious about winning next year like they claim to be, they are going to have to go out and spend money.

The front office owes it to these fans who have stuck with this team through all the losing years and the blown games and the agonizing defeats. They owe it to them to try.

The end of a professional athlete’s career is rarely glamorous.

There are exceptions, of course: John Elway, Aaron Donald, Rob Gronkowski, etc.— but these are rare. More times than not, the athlete’s love for the game and competitive fire keeps them playing far longer than they should. The decline is sometimes sudden, sometimes gradual, but inevitable all the same. The athlete becomes a shell of what they once were until they’re forced to accept the reality that Father Time is forever undefeated.

Salvador Perez has been challenging that reality for years. Every time it seemed that his best days were behind him, he’d come out and prove otherwise. In 2021, as a 31-year-old, he hit 48 home runs and set the all-time record for home runs by a catcher in a season. In 2024, he had maybe his second-best season ever, helping lead the Royals back to the playoffs (as a 34-year-old catcher). Even last year at 35, when he began the year showing signs of aging, he finished strong in the second half to end the year as an average hitter statistically.

This year, Father Time appears to have finally caught up with Salvy.* He has the lowest OPS of his career (.617), hasn’t caught as much due to injuries, and had to be moved out of the cleanup spot, all in a year that has been the most disappointing season for the Royals in years (given pre-season expectations).

*Father Time should be embarrassed and ashamed of itself— Salvy is notoriously slow.

The image of players who are past their prime often suffers in the eyes of the public due to the human tendency towards recency bias. The years of great memories and big hits are forgotten in the blink of an eye. Revisionist history begins to take shape, and before long, Salvador Perez has gone from an all-time Royals’ great to a catcher who was little more than average (See below).

Isn’t the human mind a funny thing?

Down 0-3 against the Giants on Wednesday, Salvy hit the 317th home run of his 15-year career, a towering opposite-field blast into the fountains that tied him for the all-time Royals record with George Brett. In that moment, every single person at Kauffman Stadium remembered all that Salvador Perez has done for Kansas City. The struggles and disappointment of this year were washed away as he rounded the bases. Cheers and thunderous applause rained down from the stands. The Royals’ radio booth didn’t go to break as the Giants took out their starting pitcher, savoring the moment. Each member of the Royals embraced Salvy in the dugout, and the crowd roared as he came back onto the field to acknowledge them.

It makes the moment all the more wonderful that the Royals rallied behind the man who’s been the face of their franchise for the past decade and a half, coming back and defeating the Giants 5-4.

That home run helped us fans to remember who Salvador Perez is and what he’s given us. He is an all-time Royals legend. From the time that he was signed at 16 years old, he’s given the organization everything he has. He’s responsible for the biggest hit in Royals history. He was the World Series MVP in 2015, and helped lead the team back to contention in 2024 and raised the bar for what baseball in Kansas City should be moving forward. Off the field he’s done so much work in both Kansas City and his native country of Venezuela, pouring both his money and time back into the community to help people.

This year has been a hard one as a Royals fan, reminiscent of the cataclysmically terrible years between 2015 and 2024. It seems fitting that the one constant bright spot throughout those tough years gave us one more thing to smile about now.

I’m in an unfortunate spot as a baseball fan that lives in Indiana. Not even factoring in that I’m a Kansas City fan (a 10-hour drive from where I live), Indiana is not the state to be a fan of America’s pastime. The nearest major-league park is 3 hours away from my house (Comerica, Rate, and Great American ballpark all range from 3-3.5 hours from me). There are 3 minor league baseball teams in Indiana, but only one of them is a AAA affiliate (Indianapolis Indians*), and it unfortunately is the Pittsburgh Pirates’ affiliate, a team that has no impact on my own.

*I’m a bit surprised they haven’t changed the name.

All of that is to say: I don’t get to go to baseball games very often. Which is why it’s all the more exciting when I get the chance to attend a game in person, whether it be at Kauffman Stadium or somewhere else.

For my birthday in April, I was gifted with tickets to 2 Royals ballgames: 1 against the Red Sox in late May, and 1 against the Reds in early June (last week). I was over the moon. I’d attend the Red Sox game with my dad in Kansas City, and the Reds game with my brother in Cincinnati.

At the time I received the tickets, the Royals weren’t doing well. I (somewhat) jokingly said to my family at the time, “hopefully they’re still meaningful games when we go to see them!”

If you’ve been keeping up with the Royals at all, you’ll know that the month of May was not kind to them. They went 10-18 and looked totally inept for about 3 straight weeks. They put themselves in such a poor position that by the time my dad and I were set to head out to KC to watch them play the Red Sox, the season felt just about over.

Despite that knowledge, I was still stoked to go to the game. We had fantastic seats (thanks to my dad knowing a minority owner of the team who graciously gave us free tickets) that were behind the plate on the lower level, but far enough up that you weren’t quite at ground level and could see the whole field. I was excited to watch the game with my dad, who is always a joy to watch any sporting event with.

For one night, I wasn’t thinking or worrying about the broader implications that winning or losing the game would have on the team. I was just going to go and cheer on my favorite baseball team as a fan and hope for a win. If we won, fantastic. If we lost, that’d be okay too. I was just thankful to be in the confines of Kauffman Stadium that night.

Unfortunately the Royals were unable to come through and win one for me, falling to the Red Sox 4-3. I won’t do a whole recap of a game that happened 3 weeks ago, and it was a pretty typical 2026 Royals game anyways: the starting pitching was good, the offense did just enough to scratch across 3 runs with Salvador Perez* and Elías Díaz home runs, and the bullpen blew it in the later innings.

*Salvy comes to the plate in the first inning. I lean over to my dad and say, “Man, it would be an honor to see a Salvador Perez home run.” Not even 5 seconds after I said it, Salvy sent a ball into the stands to put KC up 1-0. I cannot emphasize enough how much I felt like a wizard in that moment.

Even though they’d lost though, I wasn’t all that upset about it. Sure, I had really wanted to see a win, but I also felt grateful to have been able to see them in the first place. My entire time in the park, even when KC was losing, I was just happy. Plus, I knew that I still had 1 more chance to see a Royals’ win* a couple weeks later in Cincinnati. I was at peace with the loss.

*Before we move forward, I should probably say that I’ve been to around 15-20 Royals regular season games in my lifetime. To my memory, the Royals hadn’t won a single game that I’d attended over the years. If they had, it was when I was too young to understand what exactly I was watching.

Fast-forward 2 weeks. My brother and I are heading up to Cincinnati for the rubber-match of a 3-game series against the Reds.

I said earlier that the season seemed almost over when I went to KC with my dad for the Sox game. At this point, it was over. The Royals were 4-17 over their last 21 games as we pulled up to our Holiday Inn. I had legitimately no expectations for the game. I was still excited to go with my brother and hang out at the ballpark and see the Royals play in person. But in terms of my optimism, it was low. A lot of the drive over to Cincy was spent convincing myself that, win or lose, I was going to be okay with it.

We got to our hotel room. I’m okay with losing.

We walk over to Great American ballpark from our hotel. I’m okay with losing.

We enter the ballpark, find our seats, and buy SUPER overpriced chicken tenders and nachos. I’m okay with losing.

Then in the top of the 1st, Vinnie Pasquantino hits a 2-run bomb to right field, putting the Royals up 2-0 just a few minutes into the game. I realize: Oh man, I really, really, really want to see a win today.

That’s the thing about being a fan, especially when you’re physically at the game— you can’t just “be okay” when your team loses. Some losses are obviously tougher than others. But every loss, even if not much, is going to bother you at least a little bit.

I couldn’t come to this game and avoid feelings of disappointment if my team let me down. I was all in.

Unfortunately for me, I was watching the 2026 Royals, who are, to put it simply, bad. If there was ever a team to be rooting for to win, this squad was not the ideal one. KC was up 2-0, but I’ve watched enough Royals baseball this season to know that the game was far from over.

By the time the 9th inning had rolled around, I was getting nervous that I was going to be in attendance for yet another Royals loss. A lot of the losses of the Royals this year have tended to follow a 4-step formula:

1.) Kansas City takes a 1 or 2 run lead early in the game— sometimes it’s a solo home run, sometimes it’s an RBI groundout. In this case, it was the aforementioned Pasquantino homer.

2.) Kansas City gets good pitching out of its starter for 5 or 6 innings, but the opposing offense is able to slowly chip away at the small deficit and either cut the lead to just 1, or tie the game. In this case, it was a game-tying blast off of Stephen Kolek by Blake Dunne in the 5th inning, making the score 2-2.

3.) Kansas City’s offense is completely dormant until around the 8th or 9th inning. Once there, they’ll rally and put a man in scoring position. (WE ARE HERE!) Then, whether it’s bad base running, popups at the worst possible time, or horrific strikeouts, the Royals find a way to strand the runners.

4.) Immediately following the inning, Denny Matthews’ trademarked “Golden Opportunity Rule” comes into effect. The Kansas City bullpen immediately gives up the lead or allows the other team to tie the game. The Royals lose, I’m sad, and we do it all again 24 hours later.

The game had followed the formula to this point. Tyler Tolbert was on second base with Michael Massey standing at the plate. 1 out in the inning. Massey quickly fell behind in the count 0-2. Kansas City seemed doomed to repeat the cycle once again. I sat in the stands desperately trying to reassure myself once again that I’d be fine with a loss (I wasn’t making much progress).

My brother began to shout down from our seats to the Angels’ relief pitcher, Tony Santillan.

“TONY! WATCH THE RUNNER!”

Massey fouled the next 2 pitches away.

“TONY HE’S IN YOUR HEAD!”

He took the next 2 pitches for balls.

“TONY!”

Foul, ball 3, foul.

“TONYYYY!”

On the 10th pitch of the at-bat, Tolbert took off for 3rd. Tony threw a fastball (the only pitch he threw the entire AB) right down the middle. Massey lined the ball into center field for a single. Tolbert scored. My brother and I rejoiced in the stands, cheering and high-fiving, unconcerned by the hundreds of Reds fans grumbling in our section.

My brother continued (nicely) heckling Tony.* 3 pitches later, Nick Loftin smashed a ball to left field to give KC a 5-2 lead. In the bottom of the 9th, the Royals managed to hold on for the win, despite allowing the tying run to get to the plate. I was incredibly stressed for the entire inning, and when it ended, the sense of relief and exhilaration was almost overwhelming.

*I don’t actually think that the shouts of my brother affected Tony, but I also don’t think that you can completely rule out the possibility.

It may sound silly to get so excited about a single win in a season with 162 games, a season that, by almost all accounts, is over before the All-Star break. Maybe it is. For me, though, the feelings of joy and elation watching my favorite baseball team take the lead was unlike almost any happiness I’ve felt in the past year.

I doubt I would’ve felt the same if I’d been at home watching the game. I would’ve been excited— but the joy I felt wouldn’t have been the same.

There’s something magical about seeing your team win in person, something you can only get by paying for overpriced nachos and sitting in a rigid plastic chair that’s just slightly too close to the Reds fan next to you who claimed the armrest for himself. I wasn’t worried about the drive home or college in the fall or going back to work that Friday. I was simply happy, happy to be in Cincinnati that night, happy to be alive.

I, alongside thousands of other Kansas City fans, entered into this MLB season with high hopes for my favorite baseball team. I truly believed in this team— a team that, while coming off of a year in which they had missed the playoffs, had still managed to scratch and claw their way to an 82-80 record.

It was of course disappointing to miss out on October after a short but sweet playoff run in 2024, but the Royals’ absence from the playoffs in 2025 wasn’t difficult to understand. There were three major factors that you could point to:

1.) The pitching rotation, which had stayed unusually healthy during that magical 2024 run, was ravaged by injuries throughout the 2025 season.

2.) Bobby Witt Jr. was sensational, fantastic, jaw-dropping, electrifying, and remarkable in 2024. He was very good in 2025.

3.) The team was nowhere near as good with runners in scoring position— .282/.348/446. with an .794 OPS in 2024, .255/.319/.404 with an .723 OPS in 2025.

All three of these issues were a huge part of why Kansas City missed the playoffs in 2025. 2 of the 3 (the pitching and RISP struggles) have popped up again this season, and in even more extreme fashion.

There are 3 players on the Royals this year that I can point to that deserve absolutely no blame for how this season has gone to this point: Bobby Witt Jr., Michael Wacha, and Daniel Lynch IV.

Bobby currently leads all position players in fWAR (3.4) by a wide margin. While he hasn’t been completely perfect (players rarely are), he has done more than enough for the team.

Michael Wacha has pitched the best season of his MLB career to start the season. He leads the starting rotation with a 2.69 ERA and 1.02 WHIP. In a rotation that has been riddled with injuries and lacked much consistency, Wacha has been the rock thus far. While his FIP shows he’s likely due for some regression (3.90), he’s still likely to finish with excellent numbers.

Finally, Daniel Lynch IV has been far and away the most reliable bullpen arm in a ‘pen that current can’t be relied on for anything. He’s pretty much the only arm in the ‘pen with good strikeout stuff other than Alex Lange, but unlike Lange, he’s been able to keep his walk rate under control. It’s been great to see Lynch, who many (including myself) had given up on as a major league arm, finally find success, even if it’s in a different role than we’d initially though he’d take.

Outside of those 3 names, the entire rest of the team has either been bad, inconsistent, or bad and inconsistent. As sad as I am to say it, this season doesn’t seem like it’s going to be going anywhere.

What has made this team so unbelievably frustrating to watch has been the offense. An offense that has Bobby Witt Jr., Maikel Garcia, Vinnie Pasquantino, and 2 promising young players in Jac Caglianone and Carter Jensen has no business being the 3rd-worst in the league in terms of runs per game— and yet, here we are.

Kansas City can’t hit with runners in scoring position. They just can’t. I don’t know if it’s a mental barrier, or if their approach with RISP is significantly worse, or if they were cursed by a djinn that an angry Orioles fan set on them after being eliminated in the Wild Card round 2 years ago. I really don’t know why they’re as bad as they are when a runner reaches 2nd base. Take a look at these 2 slash lines and try to guess what they are:

.226/.312/.321, .633 OPS

.236/.292/.387, .679 OPS

The top is Kansas City with runners in scoring position. The bottom is 2022 Hunter Doizer. It’s hard to make sense of.

There’s obviously some amount of bad luck here. There’s been quite a few times this season where a hitter (Caglianone immediately comes to mind) scalds a ball that’s either right at a defender or close enough for the defender to turn into prime Alex Gordon and make an absurd diving catch. If I had to guess, I’d say the Royals’ numbers with RISP will be better than they are now when the year concludes.

The trouble is, even if the team drastically improves with RISP, I still wouldn’t trust the team to win games right now because of the maddening inconsistency of their bullpen.

There’s obviously some things that have happened this year that aren’t the fault of the bullpen. They’re currently without two high leverage arms in Matt Strahm and Carlos Estévez which has forced them to use some guys that they wouldn’t otherwise be using in these high-leverage spots (ex. Eli Morgan, Alex Lange, Steven Cruz). The Royals aren’t a team that has a ton of minor league depth, so when injuries happen, things can get tight quick. The little minor league depth the Royals had in Ryan Bergert and Bed Kudrna has already been lost to injury.

Additionally, I can recognize that when the offense is consistently giving you almost no room for error (say, for example, if the offense were to only provide a 1-run lead), it’s inevitable that they’re not always going to be able to hold said lead. The 2014 and 2015 teams warped many Kansas City fans’ brains (including my own) on what a bullpen should be. Bullpens aren’t always going to be able to hold a lead if it’s a tight game. That doesn’t necessarily mean that you have a bad bullpen— it just means that you don’t have a historically great one like those ‘14 and ‘15 teams had.

Even with all of that knowledge in mind… this bullpen just is not good. Here’s how I’d rank all of the arms in the bullpen throughout the season (note that I’m including guys who are injured on this ranking):

1.) RELIABLE— Daniel Lynch IV (Discussed above)

2.) MOSTLY RELIABLE— Matt Strahm (He’d go in the top tier, but he had multiple instances where he’d look great for a few games and then randomly give up a backbreaking home run)

3.) STRESSES ME OUT BUT USUALLY GETS THE JOB DONE— Lucas Erceg (Just hasn’t been the same guy since 2024), John Schreiber (has rebounded well after a brutal start to the season), Nick Mears (started the year off well, been bad lately and now is on the IL)

4.) I ONLY SAW YOU ONCE, BUT HAVE FOND MEMORIES OF YOU FROM LAST SEASON THAT MAKES ME RANK YOU SLIGHTLY HIGHER THAN YOU PROBABLY SHOULD BE RANKED— Carlos Estevéz (He was horrible in his only appearance this year, but with what we know now, I think it’s very likely that he was pitching through some kind of injury)

5.) INCORRECTLY UTILIZED— Luinder Avila (This guy could seriously be so good if Kansas City would use him as a traditional 1-inning reliever instead of a bulk reliever that only comes in whenever the starter leaves early)

6.) OMAHA STORMCHASERS— Eli Morgan (had a great first game, been bad since), Eric Cerantola (could be something eventually, but just doesn’t seem ready for the big leagues yet), Mitch Spence (pretty forgettable appearance in a blowout), Mason Black (actually has been fine, but has only appeared in blowouts)

7.) BATTING PRACTICE— Steven Cruz (was great last year, unusable this year), Bailey Falter (maybe the worst pitcher I’ve ever seen)

It’s normal and fine to have guys that make you nervous when they enter the game. But in order to have a functioning bullpen, you need to probably have at least 3 (preferably 4) bullpen arms that are reliable. The Royals, by my completely subjective ranking that’s based on nothing but my own opinion as someone who watches the games, have 2 (and one of them is on the IL). That just isn’t enough, especially for a team that, as mentioned earlier, finds themselves in a lot of close games because of their poor offensive production.

For as long as I possibly could, I was holding out hope that this team could turn things around. They aren’t devoid of talent like some past Royals teams have been, but that talent hasn’t really shown up to this point. Jac Caglianone is hitting better than last year, but he still hasn’t been even a league-average bat. Carter Jensen has been underwhelming after his blazing-hot first 30ish games in the majors. The real problem with this team is that, well, they’re trying to be the 2024 team again, but with an older and more injury-prone core (Salvy, Ragans, Lugo, Bubic).

In order for this team to compete next year (and yes, I’m unfortunately looking to next year, a year that may not even happen depending on how greedy the owners are), they need to make major additions. This team needs more than small upgrades like Issac Collins and Lane Thomas. Acquiring players like that is good enough for a team that’s already a perennial playoff contender.

Here’s what I think though: what we’ve seen over these past 2 years is that the 2024 team, as great as it was, wasn’t as close to being a division winner as we’d thought it was. They were a good team, but a team that was also somewhat propped up by an unusually healthy starting rotation and 12 wins from the disaster that was the 2024 Chicago White Sox.*

*Not to mention a historic late-season collapse from the Twins.

Making the playoffs that season, after such a drastic turnaround from the season prior, caused the KC front office to view the team in front of them as an 86-win team, when in reality, they were more likely a 75-80 win team that was a product of circumstances outside of their control. This 2026 team is largely the same as that 2024 team, and I think you’re seeing what happens when everything doesn’t go your way like it did that year. It’s an dramatic regression to the mean for sure, but a logical one nonetheless.

If this team is serious about competing, I think we’ll see it in the moves they make this offseason. Despite what I’ve said about the 2024 team to this point, a large part of the reason for their drastic improvement that year was also because they made big offseason acquisitions in Michael Wacha and Seth Lugo. If the Royals are looking to truly compete in 2027, we need to see more of those kind of moves, whether it’s starting pitching or additions to the lineup.

The offense of the Kansas City Royals is in a strange spot. They rank 13th in the league in terms of team OPS, so they’re a slightly above-average offense in that regard. In most other important offensive statistics, they rank around the middle of the pack. For a team like the Royals— a team whose strength is supposed to lie more so in its pitching than in its hitting— an offense that’s about league-average would hopefully be enough to win 84+ games and make the postseason.

Thus far, it hasn’t proved to be. The Royals are 17-21 as of the writing of this post, and while their overall outlook is significantly better than it was 2 weeks ago, they’re also still a team that’s 4 games under .500. They’re 11-5 over their last 16 games, but after what can only be called a disappointing split with the Cleveland Guardians, it’s become clear to me that the largest problem for the Royals is Carter Jensen.

Jensen has had something of a streaky season at the plate. He’s been very hot and cold, but he’s been much more cold as of late.

First 6 games: .125/.167/.313, .479 OPS

Next 7 games: .316/.381/.842, 1.223 OPS

Next 6 games: .190/.261/.190, .451 OPS

Next 6 games: .455/.556/.773, 1.328 OPS

Last 11 games: .081/.190/.081, .272 OPS

When he’s been hot, he’s been hot. When you watched him in the two hot stretches, it didn’t feel like he was getting lucky or something— he seemed like the real deal.

Unfortunately though, it seems that, at least for the moment, the book is out on Jensen. He currently has a major flaw as a hitter that the Royals’ opponents are heavily exploiting: he can’t hit fastballs that are up and inside. He’s also failed to record a hit on any pitches that are right down the middle, although that isn’t necessarily a problem exclusive to him.

Despite his struggles at the plate, I do believe he’ll make adjustments. It’s completely normal for pitchers to adapt to you as a rookie. What matters is how you respond to those struggles. I have little doubt he’ll get better at dealing with those fastballs up and in. He’s had less than 200 plate appearances in the majors. He’ll likely be fine for the long term offensively.

The worrying thing for me has been the defense. Jensen has really struggled behind the plate to start the year. He’s an above-average pitch framer and has a strong arm, but in terms of blocking, he’s in the first percentile with -7 blocks above average.

You don’t need to look at the baseball savant page to notice it’s something he’s struggling with— just by watching the games, you’ll see that balls get by him concerningly often. Jensen’s inability to block pitches hasn’t paired well with a pitching staff that’s given up the 4th-most walks in the league either. Even when the Royals win— right now it’s in spite of Jensen instead of because of him (for example, last night’s game when a dropped ball by him led to 2 more runs being scored).

The question is: what do the Royals do about it? Usually I’d say that they should put him at DH and let someone else do the catching, but that has 2 problems:

1.) The only way to improve at something is to do more of it. Making Carter a full-time DH isn’t going to suddenly turn him into Buster Posey. Bobby Witt Jr. was a below-average defender his rookie year too; things have turned out alright for him. Jensen has the tools, he just needs to tap into them.

2.) If Carter isn’t catching, he can’t be in the lineup. Salvador Perez is dealing with a hip injury that’s keeping him from catching, so he’s stuck at DH. Salvy will be in the lineup every day regardless of his numbers whether or not it makes sense— he’s the captain of the team and the face of the franchise.

I wish Salvy was healthy so that Carter was able to focus on hitting before he tries to tackle really improving defensively as well, but that obviously isn’t the case. The only option is to hope that he makes adjustments and figures it out (as frustrating as that is).

STATE OF THE CENTRAL

The AL Central is looking dominant to start the season!

Jokes aside, Kansas City is fortunate to play in a division without a true juggernaut (or even a great team). While I have all the respect in the world for the Cleveland Guardians, in my view they’re less so a “great team” and more so a very well-run team that is able to scratch and claw their way to the top of the division each year, despite having a team payroll that wouldn’t be valuable enough to fill up your gas tank right now.

Here’s a quick overview of each team’s season thus far!

Cleveland Guardians

Season in a nutshell: Typical Guardball.

The Guardians are something of an enigma. On paper, they shouldn’t be good. Their highest paid player is José Ramírez at $15 million. Outside of him, there’s ONE player who makes over $5 million this year (Steven Kwan). Everyone else on their roster is being paid almost nothing. This SHOULD NOT be a good team!

And yet… every single year, they seem to find a way to win the Central. Even in years like last year, where the Tigers had a seemingly insurmountable division lead with a month to go in the season, it was still Cleveland who ended up with the division crown when it was all said and done.

The formula for this year’s Guardians team is the same as it’s been for the past few. The offense, filled with guys you’ve never heard of, scores just enough runs to get the lead. The starting pitching does just enough to keep the Guardians in the game for their share of the innings. And then the bullpen door swings open to reveal an unknown relief pitcher you’ve never heard of who also happens to be the best reliever you’ve ever seen. The Guardians always do just enough to win. It reminds me of the 2024 Chiefs— a team shouldn’t be as good as they are but always finds a way to win. It’s an admirable quality.

The player that’s been leading the way for the Guardians this season has been rookie Chase DeLauter. The left fielder is currently leading the team in just about every offensive category, slashing .306/.392/.548 with 6 home runs and a .940 OPS. Crazily enough, as good as he’s been so far, there’s a chance that DeLauter hasn’t been the best (or even 2nd-best) rookie in the division. We’ll talk about that more here in a second.

I wouldn’t be shocked if the Guardians battle their way to a division title for the 3rd consecutive year. So far this season, it’s looking like they’re in a good position to do just that.

Detroit Tigers

Season in a nutshell: Everyone is hurt.

The Tigers had lofty expectations coming into the season. After a historic collapse to end 2025, the Tigers bolstered their pitching staff in the offseason with the additions of Framber Valdez, Justin Verlander, and Kenley Jansen. The Tigers seemingly had the pitching— it was just a matter of whether their hitters could take another step forward. Detroit seemed to be the clear favorite in the division.

After less than 40 games, half of their starting rotation is injured (including back-to-back Cy Young winner Tarik Skubal), as well as a couple important lineup pieces in Javier Báez and Gleyber Torres. Kenley Jansen, signed in the offseason to be their closer, has blown 2 of his last 3 save opportunities. The team as a whole is on a 4 game losing streak. In other words: things have been better.

The Tigers still have plenty of time to get right. As a team, they haven’t actually been terrible, they’ve just been very injured. Their offense is going to have to step things up while Skubal is gone— it really hurts not to have him starting for you every 5th day.

The Tigers have an exciting rookie of their own this year in Kevin McGonigle. He’s hitting .293/.393/.443 on the year with a .835 OPS and more walks than strikeouts. Along with Riley Greene (.879 OPS), he’ll be a big part of this offense for years to come.

Kansas City Royals

Season in a nutshell: Putrid start, but heating up.

The Royals started off the season looking as bad as they have since 2023. Nothing was clicking offensively, and when it was, the bullpen would blow the game anyways. They started the season 7-16. The season felt over before they’d even played for a month.

As I said earlier, they’ve managed to turn things around, going 11-5 since that point. Everything has been much better for KC, with the offense finally starting to click and come up in some clutch moments, as well as the bullpen finally performing like many Royals fans expected them to.

Unfortunately, the injuries have begun piling up for the team, especially on the pitching side. Cole Ragans and Carlos Estevéz have been placed on the injured list within the past week. Ryan Bergert, one of the pitchers KC acquired in the Freddy Fermin trade last year, needs Tommy John surgery. Bailey Falter has missed over a month. The Royals entered the season with what seemed like a surplus of pitching. It’s been made clear yet again that pitching depth is an illusion.

Bobby Witt Jr. has been the driving force of the team offensively (.299/.371/.461, .832 OPS), but for the first time in a long time, the outfield is also doing its part. Isaac Collins, Jac Caglianone, and Kyle Isbel have all been above-average hitters by OPS+ (109, 106, and 116 respectively). If KC can continue to get that level of offense, even if it’s a little less, they could certainly make a run at the division.

Chicago White Sox

Season in a nutshell: Surprisingly frisky.

After 3 straight seasons of 100+ losses, the White Sox this year actually aren’t half bad! They’re still under .500, yes, but so is the majority of the American league! When the bar is set as low as it was for the White Sox entering the year, 17-21 looks a whole lot more impressive than it would to a team with lofty expectations (say, for example, another team with “Sox” in the name).

The pitching staff for the Sox has been solid. Starter Davis Martin currently leading the league with 2.3 bWAR and a sparkling 1.64 ERA. The bullpen has some nice pieces as well with Seranthony Domínguez, Sean Newcomb, and Bryan Hudson all off to good starts for Chicago.

The starting lineup has also been decent, led by Japanese rookie Munetaka Murakami. Murakami is currently tied for the league lead in home runs with 15, and has injected a much-needed boost into a lineup that really hasn’t had a standout player over the past few years.

I doubt that the White Sox make a run for the division title, but who knows? In a division as wide-open as the AL Central, anything could happen. I’m interested to see if Chicago can continue to play as well as they have or if this is just a better stretch to start the season.

Minnesota Twins

Season in a nutshell: About what was expected.

It may feel strange to talk about a team being bad with a 16-23 record when the rest of the division has relatively similar records. Make no mistake though— the Twins are the worst team in the division. They actually started off the season going 11-7 but have fallen back down to earth, going 5-16 in their last 21.

The Twins aren’t completely devoid of talent— Byron Buxton, Ryan Jeffers, Trevor Larnach, and Brooks Lee have all played well. Taj Bradley has been great on the pitching side of things with a 2.87 ERA through 8 games. There are certainly pieces to build around.

Unfortunately for Minnesota, outside of those 5 players, there hasn’t been a lot of production from anyone else. Luke Keaschall has had a rough start to his sophomore season, and Joe Ryan, usually the ace of the pitching staff, has been nowhere near his dominant self (although Ryan’s slower start could be chalked up to some nagging injuries).

Minnesota is the only team in the division that I just can’t envision being in first come October. It’s a rebuilding year for the Twins. I’m intrigued to see what they’ll do at this year’s deadline after their massive fire sale last season.

The beginning of this Royals season has been beyond frustrating.

Before I begin my quick rant, I’ll give acknowledgement to one good aspect of the team to this point: the starting pitching. It’s been rock-solid and is the only reason that they’ve managed to piece together 7 wins. Seth Lugo and Michael Wacha have both bounced back in spectacular fashion. Kris Bubic has picked up right where he left off before his season-ending injury last year. Noah Cameron, while not doing great his last time out, has still been excellent in bizarre weather conditions (one start during a downpour, one start in freezing weather, one start after a nearly three-hour rain delay). The only member of the starting rotation that hasn’t been as advertised is Cole Ragans, and even he went 6 scoreless innings last night.

Unfortunately, the quality of your rotation means diddly squat when you:

1.) Have a bullpen that’s about as consistent as the weather in Kansas City has been (I’m not going to talk about them anymore here, but maybe in a later post if I can find the time).

2.) Have an offense that’s allergic to hitting the second a runner reaches second/third base.

The amount of games that this team has played that make me want to rip my hair out is probably nearing 10, and we’re not even out of April yet. The games that the Royals are losing right now aren’t (for the most part) games where they’ve been totally outmatched. They’ve been in pretty much each game to this point, at least through the first 6 innings, before either the other team pulls away or they blow the lead. KC isn’t constantly getting blown out or anything, which honestly makes it even more frustrating. If the Royals were getting blown out every single night, you could tell yourself that this is just a bad team and move on with your life.

The trouble is, they aren’t a bad team. They’re playing like one, yes, but there’s so much talent on this roster. They have the best shortstop in the world, an incredibly promising young catcher, a third-baseman that’s one of the best in the league (probably at least top 5), not to mention some great arms out of the bullpen and the aforementioned starting rotation.

The biggest problem to this point in my view has been Vinnie Pasquantino… but I know that some would argue Salvy, and I understand why. Salvy has had an incredibly rough start to the season, and his numbers are very similar to Vinnie’s. For me, Salvy has at least had 2 big hits: the homer in the second game of the season that put the Royals ahead (a game that they’d blow in the 9th through no fault of his own) and a go-ahead home run against the Brewers that helped to spark a rally in the 6th inning. Salvy has undoubtedly failed to come through with runners in scoring position (0-20 in that situation) but has at least (in my eyes) helped the team in some tangible way. I’m probably just biased towards my favorite player too.

Vinnie has come up 2 games in a row now with the chance to either tie or win the game for KC in the 9th inning. He’s had 2 abysmal plate appearances. Pasquantino is supposed to be the guy who drives in runs. He (somehow) has 7 RBI on the season, but only 3 are from hits, with the other 4 being from a walk, an error, and 2 sacrifice flies (admittedly not a negative, but also not the best result). In terms of OPS, he’s been the worst #3 hitter in the league. He’s been absolutely brutal.

I understand that Vinnie has slow starts, and I’m not writing him off for the rest of the season (it is worth noting, though, that his start so far this year is on track to be the worst of his career). That doesn’t make the slow starts any less frustrating.

After Carter Jensen made national news by sleeping through alarm (a situation that was goofy but not worthy of the national coverage that it received for some reason), Vinnie was quick to say that “there are some things that can’t happen, and that’s one of them.” Another thing that can’t happen? Having a .392 OPS through 17 games when you’re in the 3 hole. The entire team is relying on you. I’m sure Vinnie would be the first to tell you that he’s been horrible.

He needs to be better. Salvy needs to be better. The bullpen, who I didn’t even talk about because I’m writing this on 3 hours of sleep and don’t have the energy to discuss, needs to be better.

This team needs to be better. End of discussion.

Apologies for the rant. I wasn’t planning on posting anytime soon, but after last night’s game, I needed to write something, even if it wasn’t much.

Go even the series today.

This is a very short post, but I feel the need to share some of my thoughts about the Royals’ start to the 2026 season. Kansas City fell to Milwaukee on Easter Sunday 8-5 in what was an encapsulation of the season to this point.

There were some bright spots— Maikel hit his first home run, Vinnie knocked in a couple, and the starting pitching was solid (I’ll say more on that in a second).

There were also the same lows that we’ve seen— failure by the biggest stars to come through (Bobby was bad again at the plate, and still lacks an extra base hit), an inconsistent bullpen, and horrible luck on hard-hit balls.

Here’s the thing: despite all of the incredibly frustrating moments that the Royals have already had this season— and there’s been quite a few— I can still sit here and convince myself that they’re going to turn things around. The balls hit at 100+ mph that keep resulting in outs instead of hits? The law of averages will balance out. Bobby Witt’s slow start? He’s a great player; he’ll make adjustments and figure things out.

What I simply can’t wrap my head around, though, is why Matt Quatraro won’t just start his good players in each day’s lineup.

The three players missing from the lineup that I want in are Carter Jensen, Kyle Isbel, and Isaac Collins. Instead of starting those 3, Q started Starling Marte, Lane Thomas, and Nick Loftin.

Starting Marte over Jensen makes the most sense to me, even though I still would’ve liked to have seen Jensen. Carter hasn’t started the season off how he would’ve liked, sporting a 39% strikeout rate thus far. Marte is a righty, this is why you brought him in… I get it. You don’t need to start Jensen every day and can ease him into it.

Lane Thomas… look, it’s justifiable in that Thomas is a righty and Isbel is a lefty, but at the same time… Kyle Isbel has been the best hitter on the team to this point. It obviously won’t stay that way forever, but why bench a guy who’s so hot at the plate? Again, I understand that the plan coming in to the season was to platoon Isbel and Thomas, but so far Thomas has done virtually nothing in his opportunities while Isbel has done just about everything right. I know that for the past two years, Isbel has been bad against lefty pitching, and it therefore makes sense to start Thomas. Here’s the thing about that logic: Isbel has also been bad against right-handed pitching in past seasons too! He isn’t this season so far (in the admittedly tiny sample size that we have so far)! Let the guy play! I understand your process and what you’re thinking here, but I also can’t understand how you could look at what Isbel has done and what Thomas has done and say “hmm, I’d rather have Thomas.” Give the guy a shot against lefties and see what happens!

The player that I still can’t understand leaving on the bench though, is Isaac Collins. The Royals went out and traded Angel Zerpa TO THE BREWERS for him this past offseason. He’s a switch-hitter. He’s hit well enough to this point in the season. He switch-hits, so he can play every day, regardless of the starting pitcher. He’s a pretty good defender in left field (even though he had a difficult game yesterday). Have I mentioned that he’s a switch-hitter yet?

Why is Nick Loftin, who by the way, is a SECOND BASEMAN, getting starts over Isaac Collins?? With no disrespect to Loftin, who I’m sure is a wonderful guy, he’s a quad-A player and has been one throughout his career— he has a career 74 OPS+ over about 400 plate appearances. There’s simply no reason to have him out in left field over Collins, who in almost the same amount of bats as Loftin has a 114 OPS+. It makes so much more sense to give Collins the start. I’m confounded as to why Quatraro would choose to let Collins ride the bench, especially when it’s a game against his former team.

The loss yesterday isn’t completely the fault of a bad lineup card from Q. It’d be unfair to blame all of that on him when the both Lucas Erceg and Matt Strahm both had poor outings that resulted in 4 more runs being tacked on by the Brewers. I do think it’s fair to say that if Isaac Collins (who, if I haven’t already mentioned, switch-hits) had gotten the start over Loftin, this ball is almost certainly caught and the Royals have a scoreless first inning instead of a 3-run first inning. Kris Bubic perhaps ends the day with 1 ER instead of 4. From there, who knows how the game might’ve gones?

I understand that Quatraro loves to switch up the lineup depending on if a lefty or righty is on the mound. But for right now, the best players need to be the ones that are starting, regardless of which batter’s box they step into. End of story.

Kansas City begins a 3-game series in Cleveland tonight with work to do. Hopefully they’ll be given a better lineup to work with.

After months that have felt (at least to me) like years without Royals baseball, we’ve finally made it! Meaningful baseball will be played today, and let me tell you, I’m stoked.

The Royals went 82-80 last season. In most years, that would’ve been a great year for a team that historically hasn’t been consistently good since the ‘80s.

It was viewed as a disappointment. A winning season—something that the Royals have done once in the past decade—was seen as falling short.

That perception was mainly because of what Kansas City had done the year before (2024). Going from 56-106 to 86-76 and making the playoffs for the first time since 2015 created a new standard for this team. Winning 82 games isn’t going to cut it anymore. This is a team that needs to, at the very least, make the playoffs this year.

I think that 5 things need to go right for this Royals season to continue into October (and who knows, maybe even November if everything falls KC’s way. Here’s what I think needs to happen to get there:

1.) Cole Ragans stays healthy all year

The Royals have had one of the best pitching staffs in the major leagues over the past couple of seasons (#6 in ERA in 2025, #8 ERA in 2024), and a lot of it has to do with the starting rotation. When looking back at the 2025 season however, the Royals were forced to lean much more heavily on their bullpen due to the lack of starter health. Every member of the starting rotation on Opening Day—Ragans, Lugo, Wacha, Bubic, Lorenzen—spent at least some time on the injured list.

The Royals still managed to figure things out (even if they were forced to toss out a 45-year-old Rich Hill for a couple games), but the starting rotation that had helped to carry Kansas City to a playoff berth in 2024 wasn’t close to the same caliber of rotation in 2025.

For me, the most pivotal piece of the rotation to stay healthy is Cole Ragans. That seems like an obvious thing to say—of course the most important member of the rotation is the number 1 pitcher in the rotation. I think it’s been understated, however, how head and shoulders better Ragans is compared to the rest of the rotation (I don’t say that to say that the other pitchers are bad, I say it because, while they’re all good pitchers, Ragans is an elite one).

Ragans is only one of 2 pitchers in the rotation with an above-league average xERA (96^th percentile) and K% (100^th percentile), with the only other pitcher being Kris Bubic. Ragans has the best Stuff+ out of everyone in the rotation as well, with Wacha, Lugo, and Cameron all having below-average scores. In other words, Ragans is the best pitcher in the rotation, at least by the expected stats. Obviously expected stats aren’t everything—at some point you need to actually produce—but Ragans has already shown that he can live up to those expectations, finishing 4^th in Cy Young voting in 2024. I have full faith in Ragans having a similar season to that one this year, but he must stay healthy.

2.) Salvy wards off father time

As I wrote about in my last blog, Salvy has had what I believe to be a hall of fame career. He’s 15 home runs away from becoming the Royals’ all-time leader in career home runs, a feat that I expect to happen this year. The Royals need at least one more year of solid production from Salvador Perez. 2025 was seen as a down year, but in that down year, he hit 30 home runs and drove in 100 runners with a league-average OPS+.

While it’d be great to see a 2024 version of Salvy this year (probably the 2^nd best year of his career), I think the 2025 version of Salvy would be just fine. While it’d be great to have a little more consistency throughout the year (a lot of his stats are bolstered by his incredible month of July), the Royals wouldn’t complain about getting another league-average year from a guy who’s 35 years old. If you want to argue that he should be moved down in the lineup, that’s fine, and I may even be inclined to agree with you. But he can still contribute positively to the lineup.

I genuinely believe in Salvy being a solid contributor for the team again this year. The discrepancy between his expected numbers and his actual numbers last year showed him to be one of the unluckier hitters in baseball. He still hits the ball hard and still has an above-average bat speed. Obviously if he starts the year off with a bat speed drastically slower than it is currently, that’s a problem and would signal that he’s starting to really age. But if Salvy can just keep doing what he’s been doing the past couple of years, that’s good enough in my eyes to garner a spot in the lineup, especially as Carter Jensen learns behind him.

3.) Cags breaks out (or is at least solid)

I think that a huge part of the Royals’ 2026 season success is dependent on if Jac Caglianone can become the guy that the Royals had hoped he could be.

It’s fair to say that there was some unrealistic hype placed on Cags when he was called up from Omaha in June of last year. He was viewed as the savior of the outfield, the guy who was going to turn the struggling Royals offense into a top-tier juggernaut.

Obviously that isn’t what happened. Cags’ rookie year was just about as bad as it gets. He hit .157/.237/.295 with a 49 OPS+ over the course of 62 games, accounting for -1.3 bWAR in that timespan.

Hold on though! There’s reason for optimism! Most of it comes from the fact that Cags has the God-given ability to send a baseball to space. His swing speed last year was 8^th in the MLB, putting him ahead of guys like Aaron Judge and Shohei Ohtani.

Additionally, he was the unluckiest hitter in the MLB last year, with there being an 80-point discrepancy with his expected batting average and his actual batting average. The discrepancy between his expected and actual slugging percentage was over 130 points. As bad as his year was, some of his struggles can be attributed to bad luck.

Some. But not all.

Caglianone needs to perform well this year and lengthen this lineup. Outside of Bobby, Maikel, and Vinnie,* the Royals don’t have anyone who can currently be trusted to be an above league-average bat (Obviously there’s hope that Carter Jensen can be another one of those guys, but his sample size is still very small). If Caglianone could be another guy that can just be a little better than league average, even if he’s not the guy the Royals initially thought he was, it would still be an incredible upgrade for an offense with the worst outfield production in the league the past 2 years.

*And Salvy in the month of July.

4.) The Twins are terrible

The Twins decided to sell off about a third of their team at last year’s trade deadline, leaving behind a barely recognizable team from the one that began last season. The only major pieces that survived the great selloff of 2025 were Byron Buxton, Royce “IL” Lewis, Joe Ryan, and Pablo Lopez (who’s set to miss all of 2026 with an injury). Minnesota staggered to a 92-loss season and are at the beginning of what appears to be a long rebuild.

Why does that matter for the Royals? Well, in the same way that Kansas City was able to take advantage of the 2024 White Sox and their incompetence, they need to take advantage of the rebuilding Twins this year as well. While the Twins likely aren’t going to have a 1-12 record against KC this year like the Sox did in 2024, if the Royals can even take 9 or 10 from them, it’d be big in a division race that will likely come down to the wire. Winning the division is obviously a free ticket to the playoffs and would allow the Royals to avoid having to try and beat out the other teams that’ll be fighting for the 3 wild card spots this year.

5.) The bench is usable

While the Royals didn’t make any huge moves to upgrade the team over the offseason, they made a couple of smaller moves to improve one of the parts of the team that’s been lacking the past two years—the bench. The Royals bench was pretty horrible in 2025. At the beginning of last year, MJ Melendez, Hunter Renfroe, Mark Canha, and Cavan Biggio were all part of the Royals bench. If there’s a common thread between those guys, it’s that none of them can hit. Entering this year, the bench looks a little more usable with Lane Thomas (who can platoon with Kyle Isbel against righties), Starling Marte (111 OPS+ in 98 games last year), Tyler Tolbert (for pinch running—better Darion Blanco), and Nick Loftin (admittedly the guy who I’m least excited about, but can play in a lot of spots on the defense).

Matt Quatraro loves to shuffle his lineups around depending on the pitcher. Having the flexibility to both be able to play these guys and feel like it’s not a massive downgrade is something that he hasn’t had the past couple years, and I’m looking forward to seeing how he’ll utilize them going forward. As I’m writing this post, the lineups for today’s game have already been released, and Q has both Thomas and Marte starting over Isbel and Cags—last year, Q wouldn’t be able to do that because of how bad the bench was. If the bench can be good, it’s really going to help Kansas City.

A Quick Update on the blog

Before I go, I just wanted to talk about what my plan is for this season and the blog. Obviously, I love to write about the Royals and hope to post quite a few blogs about them over the summer (especially if they’re doing well).

I do have to be realistic, however, and must unfortunately acknowledge that I’m not sure how frequently I’ll be able to post in the coming weeks. Once I’m out of college for the summer (beginning of May), expect to see a lot more content on here about the Royals. Until that point, I can’t guarantee that I’ll be able to post much with the chaos that college finals will bring.

Thanks to all my subscribers for your support—it means the world to me! Please hang on for just one more month, and then I’ll be back to posting more regularly. Go Royals!

A recurring word that’s brought up in discussions about Salvador Perez online is the word “overrated.” It’s one of the most common arguments I see made against Salvy by baseball fans outside of Kansas City, usually sounding something like this:

“Salvador Perez is an overrated catcher. He’s one of the worst baserunners ever, terrible defensively, and is a below-average hitter. He shouldn’t even sniff the Hall of Fame.”

I’m using a strawman here, but I also think that at least some aspects of this claim are argued by those who are against Salvy reaching the Hall.

I see most of this statement as wildly outlandish for a number of reasons I’ll be breaking down here. I’m going to go over each aspect of Salvy’s game and career (hitting, defense, baserunning, off the field work, and legacy) and explain why I believe that Salvador Perez deserves an eventual spot in Cooperstown.

Baserunning

Career stats/accolades: 6 stolen bases, 1 caught stealing.

The legs of Salvador Perez are undoubtedly his worst trait. While most catchers aren’t known for their speed (barring outliers like J.T. Realmuto and Shea Langeliers), most also aren’t infamous for being slow like Salvy is.*

*Interestingly enough, he was only the 7^th slowest catcher in the league last season by sprint speed—I expected him to be at least in the top 5.

Assuming Salvy never steals another base (which wouldn’t be surprising), he would have the least stolen bases of any Hall of Fame catcher. The closest player to him would be Ernie Lombardi with 8.

I’d make the argument that the speed of Salvador Perez shouldn’t be a factor at all for his Hall of Fame candidacy. 6 of the 20 catchers in the hall have no more than 30 career stolen bases, and only 5 have over 100. Stolen bases aren’t generally a statistic valued at the catcher position—a fast catcher is more of a commodity than a necessity.

Obviously, there’s more to speed and good baserunning than just stealing bases. You don’t want a slower player to either a.) slow down a faster player running behind them and prevent them from advancing an extra base, or b.) be unable to score on a play where they would’ve been driven in, had they been faster. There’s no question that Salvy’s lack of baserunning ability could be a problem if he was constantly clogging the basepaths for great hitters throughout his career.

I’d argue, however, that Salvador Perez has rarely had good offensive players hitting behind him. I combed through every batting order that Salvy has ever been in, looking at each player who had hit behind him in a starting lineup. The results: in 1,679 career starts, Salvy has only had a league-average hitter (which I chose to measure by OPS+) or better hitting behind him in 444 of them (or 26.44% of the time).

To be clear, I’m not trying to say Salvy is a good baserunner, nor am I saying that his baserunning isn’t a detriment. I’m aware that my stat about above-average hitters behind Salvy is one with holes and doesn’t account for a ton of varying factors that could be involved within a game. I get all of it. I just don’t think you can keep Salvador Perez out of Cooperstown due to baserunning when it’s not what his game is built around (we’ll talk more about that in a bit).

Defense

Career stats/accolades: 33.42 CS%, .996 fielding%, -91 catcher framing runs, 5 gold glove awards (2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2018)

Defense is likely the most divisive aspect of Salvy’s game. He’s earned 5 gold gloves in his career, all during the 2010’s. He’s the active league-leader for caught-stealing percentage, which is especially impressive considering he has the second-most stolen base attempts against him (only J.T. Realmuto has more). While fielding percentage isn’t as important at the catcher position, Salvy would have the highest out of any in the Hall of Fame.

I think Salvy’s defense at first base should be taken into consideration as well, even if it doesn’t move the needle much on his HOF case. He’s still a catcher and will be viewed as one forever, but with him playing more frequently at first the past couple years, it’s worth noting that he’s quietly been very good. Over 826 innings in the last 3 seasons, he’s committed only 1 error. Again, not much of a needle-mover, but something to keep in mind.

There are plenty of statistics to back up the claim that Salvador Perez is a good defender. Unfortunately for Salvy, this is where I’m forced to bring up the second-weakest part of his game: his pitch framing.

It’s no secret that Salvy is a poor pitch framer. Since 2015, he’s accounted for -91 catcher framing runs. For those who don’t know as much about pitch framing, -91 runs is beyond atrocious—about 40 more than any other qualifying catcher. Salvy’s ineptitude at framing is a blemish on his defense.

That said, I don’t think it should make up the entire argument for Salvador Perez as a defender. He was one of the best pitch blockers in the game for years—that should count for something. He’s great at throwing out runners—that should count for something.

Let me draw a parallel with another athlete who plays for Kansas City: Nick Bolton, linebacker for the Chiefs. Bolton is one of the better linebackers in the NFL. He’s great at stopping the run and effective rushing the passer on blitzes. His problem? He’s terrible at defending the pass.

Is Nick Bolton a bad defender? I’d say no. Is Nick Bolton a good player with an unquestionable hole in his game? I’d say yes.

It’s the same thing with Salvy. Should he be considered a bad defender simply because he has a hole in his game? That’s obviously up to your discretion, but I would say no—and I think the managers who voted for Salvy to win his Gold Gloves (while having pitch framing data fully available to them) would say the same.

Hitting

Career stats/accolades: 1712 hits, 303 HR, 1016 RBI, 105 OPS+, 5-time Silver Slugger

Salvador Perez is one of the greatest power-hitting catchers of all time. Tying back into his baserunning, another reason that his slow sprint speed doesn’t matter is because that just isn’t his role. Salvy’s plan when he comes to the plate isn’t to get on base and swipe a bag—it’s to annihilate the baseball into outer space.

Salvy is also a bad-ball hitter. He never walks (28 in 2025) and will swing at pitches that few others would. As a result, his career OPS+ isn’t very high—but I don’t think that his OPS+ properly reflects just how good he’s been. It’s honestly a feat that his OPS+ is even above average, as it’s almost entirely carried by his slugging percentage. He’d be tied with Carlton Fisk for 11^th among Hall of Fame catchers in terms of slugging (.457). Salvy’s style of play can leave him prone to some pretty rough slumps, but when he’s locked in and firing on all cylinders, he’s an unstoppable force.

Salvy has hit 303 home runs in his career, which is especially notable considering the stadium he plays in. Kauffman Stadium is (or was) a notoriously difficult ballpark to hit homers in, so the fact that Salvy has managed to hit over 300 of them in his career is wildly impressive. Barring an injury, Salvy will hold the all-time Royals record for home runs by the end of 2026, with only 15 more needed to surpass George Brett’s 317. For context, Brett—who is far and away the best player to ever wear a Royals uniform—played for 21 years. Salvy has played for 14.

Before Cal Raleigh broke it this year, Salvy also held the record for most home runs hit by a catcher in a single season with 48. At 35 years old he hit 30 home runs and drove in 100 runs—in other words, “unc still got it.”

Salvy’s career home run count is perhaps his best argument of reaching the Hall of Fame. 6 out of the 7 catchers with 300 career home runs are in the hall, which sets a precedent. Salvy can very reasonably retire with the 5^th most home runs of any catcher in the hall, which is quite the feat. Again, I’m not saying it makes him a lock (Lance Parish hit 324 in his career and received almost no support), but it’s something that must be taken into consideration by the voters when the time comes.

Legacy

Career stats and accolades: 9x All-Star, 2015 World Series MVP, 2x All-MLB 1^st Team, 1x All-MLB 2^nd Team, 2021 Lou Gehrig Award, 2024 Roberto Clemente Award, 108,302,761 smiles (estimate)

In terms of impact, Salvador Perez is the 2^nd greatest Kansas City Royal of all time.

The single-most meaningful hit in Kansas City Royals history is not George Brett’s 3-run home run in the 1980 ALCS vs. the Yankees. It’s not Alex Gordon’s game-tying home run in game 1 of the World Series in 2015. It’s not Eric Hosmer’s go-ahead single in game 6 of the 2015 ALCS, not the pine tar home run, not even Dane Iorg’s walk-off 2-run single in game 6 of the 1985 World Series to force a game 7.

No, the single-most meaningful hit in Kansas City history is Salvador Perez’s walk-off single against the Oakland Athletics in the 2014 Wild Card Game.

I talked in the last section about Salvy’s tendency to swing at everything. While that can be seen as a negative most of the time, it’s absolutely not here. In that moment, with the game tied in the 12^th inning and 2 outs, Salvy was himself. He didn’t take the pitch or try to work the count. He swung and hit the ball past 3^rd, into left field, and the Kansas City Royals are walking off into the ALDS.

That hit led Kansas City to not only the World Series that year, but the year after as well. In one swing, Salvador Perez became responsible for the best 2 years as a Royals fan since the 1980s. None of it happens without that swing.

Salvy’s impact on Kansas City extends far beyond that hit. For me, it’s what Salvy has done after that hit that have been worthy of the Hall of Fame.

My first blog post was about Salvador Perez and his Hall of Fame case, and I opened it by listing Kansas City’s record each year since their 2015 World Series. I won’t rehash that here, but to quickly sum it up, there was a 9-year gap between that World Series and 2024 where the Royals were horrible. The team had a losing record every year post-2016 (82-82).

Salvador Perez could’ve asked for a trade over this near decade of organizational incompetence. He could’ve made a stink about never being a contender—he would’ve had every right to. Instead, he spent his prime and the years after in Kansas City and has been a model citizen on and off the field.

I’d like to direct your attention to rule #5 of the rules for Hall of Fame voting, pulled directly from the Hall of Fame website:

“Voting shall be based upon the player’s record, playing ability, integrity, sportsmanship, character and contributions to the team(s) on which the player played.”

Look at the last 4 factors it lists. Integrity, sportsmanship, character, contributions to the team—Salvy checks all of the boxes.

He won the Roberto Clemente award in 2024, an award given to “the player who best represents the game of Baseball through extraordinary character, community involvement, philanthropy and positive contributions, both on and off the field.” He’s the 4^th player in Royals history to be named as a captain and was also named as the captain of the 2026 Venezuela team in the WBC.

Every offseason, Salvy travels home to Venezuela and pours back into his community, whether it’s by providing hundreds of homes with food, or providing kids with the chance to play baseball. He’s the standard for what a player should be off the field.

The reason I make such a big deal about this is because the best athletes in the world are very rarely also some of the best people in the world. Salvador Perez is one of those rare exceptions, and I think that should be a huge argument to have him in the Hall of Fame. Salvy has not only had a massive impact on Kansas City, but he’s managed to have perhaps an even larger impact on the thousands of people he helps through his off the field work.

I’m not saying that Salvador Perez should be in the Hall of Fame only because he’s a fantastic person—the voting criteria that I cited earlier begins with player record and player ability. But as I’ve tried to demonstrate in the previous sections, Salvy has the resume of a Hall of Fame player, even if some of the finer metrics don’t best reflect that. Adding the impact he’s had on the city into the argument only further solidifies his case in my mind.

The Hall of Fame, in my view, exists to tell the story of Major League Baseball. When I think about which players should or shouldn’t get into the Hall of Fame, I ask myself the question: can you tell the story of baseball without them?

I don’t think that you can tell the story of baseball and not include Salvador Perez. He’s an all-time great offensive catcher who’s provided the people of Kansas City and beyond with so much. Even if he doesn’t end up being a 1^st ballot Hall of Famer, I truly believe that he deserves a chance to be enshrined with the rest of baseball’s all-time greats.

A Super Bowl without Patrick Mahomes? What’s the point of watching if my team isn’t playing in it?

I’m kidding of course. I, along with 100+ million people (half of which only watch for the commercials), will be tuning in Sunday night to watch the Seattle Seahawks take on the New England Patriots in Super Bowl 60!

I don’t think that anyone could’ve predicted this as the Super Bowl matchup, but it was a weird year. In a season with no truly dominant team, two teams that missed the playoffs last year were able to take advantage and make it to the Super Bowl. I’m going to tell you a bit about both of them before I make my Super Bowl prediction at the end of the post. Let’s get into it, starting off with New England.

NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS

Record: 14-3

Strengths: Great rookie QB, good pass defense.

Weaknesses: Exploitable run defense, mediocre run game.

Keys to victory: The defense plays the way it’s played thus far in the playoffs, Drake Maye breaks out of his playoff funk.

Path to the Super Bowl: Smothered Chargers 16-3, took care of Texans 28-16, outlasted Broncos 10-7.

Most to gain: Drake “Drake Maye” Maye.

The Patriots have made it farther than anyone could’ve predicted this season. It was fair to feel optimistic about New England entering the year—they’d made some splashes in the offseason with both free-agent signings and coaching hires. But if you’d said they’d be playing in February, I would’ve either laughed at you or looked at you like you were crazy (I may or may not have done both to one of my friends who’s a Patriots fan).

One of the driving forces behind the unprecedented turnaround of the Patriots was the emergence of Drake Maye. I had expected him to be better, yes, but I had no idea that he would take this large of a step forward from last season. Maye was sensational throughout the year, throwing for 4,394 yards and 31 touchdowns with all only 8 interceptions. He had an MVP-like season and finished second in MVP voting, just losing out to Matthew Stafford. In my view, Maye is the largest reason for the Patriots being where they are, even with his struggles in the postseason.

Helping Maye to take this step forward were new HC Mike Vrabel and OC Josh McDaniels. Both were instrumental in developing Maye and helping reestablish a winning culture New England. Vrabel’s defensive prowess, as well as a couple of free-agent pickups by the front office, helped them to completely turn the defense around from just a year prior. The Patriots went from the 22^nd best scoring defense in 2024 to the 4^th best in 2025.

The skill position group, viewed as probably their largest weakness entering the season, turned out to be much better than expected. Led by newly signed WR Stefon Diggs, the Patriots’ receiving room was surprisingly solid. Diggs posted a 1,000 yard season after missing half of last year with an ACL tear, Kayshon Boutte took another step forward, and Hunter Henry was second on the team in receiving yards with 768. The running back room was disappointing compared to the receiving corps. Both rookie TreVeyon Henderson and Rhamondre Stevenson were decent but didn’t do anything to blow anyone away.

The largest red flag that the Patriots have? They haven’t really played anyone yet. New England had the 3^rd easiest regular season schedule in NFL history, with their opponents having a .391 winning percentage overall.

Things didn’t get much more difficult in the playoffs. Their wins came against the Chargers, Texans, and Bo Nix-less Broncos—decent teams that all have a deficiency at QB.* The Patriots defense has feasted on bad QB play throughout January, with the offense doing just enough to scrape by. It’s been a winning formula thus far, but it remains to be seen if it’s a formula that can be sustained against a great team.

*Justin Herbert isn’t usually a deficiency, but he’s yet to show that he can perform at an even below-average level in the playoffs.

I’m not trying to discredit the Patriots. They’ve played the teams on their schedule, and they’ve exceeded all expectations set for them. When you have games against bad opponents, the best you can do is crush them. The Patriots have done that. They’ve been doubted for their easy schedule all year. The way to end the narrative is simple: win the Super Bowl.

SEATTLE SEAHAWKS

Record: 14-3

Strengths: Vicious defense, possibly the league’s best WR, solid running game.

Weaknesses: Not many, but if you had to pick one, it’d be the QB.

Key to Victory: Sam Darnold doesn’t turn into a pumpkin, the defense doesn’t have a repeat of last week.

Path to the Super Bowl: Crushed 49ers 41-6, outdueled Rams 31-27.

Most to gain: Sam Darnold, Mike McDonald.

In a similar boat to the Patriots, nobody expected to see Seattle here. Their offseason was met with a lot of scrutiny—and rightfully so. They seemingly downgraded on offense, trading away Geno Smith to the Raiders and D.K. Metcalf to the Steelers. These trades were met with some pushback by fans, to say the least.

The pushback only grew stronger when they signed Sam Darnold to a 3 year, $100.5 million contract. Darnold was coming off a great statistical season with the Vikings, throwing for 4,319 yards and 35 touchdowns. However, Darnold had a disastrous end to the season, losing to the Lions in week 18 (and in turn losing out on the #1 NFC seed) before losing to the Rams in the first round of the playoffs. When the moment got big, Sam Darnold reverted to the quarterback who saw ghosts in New York.

Darnold has played well again this year, but unlike a year prior, he’s played great in the playoffs too. While he wasn’t asked to do much against the 49ers in a 41-6 shellacking, he didn’t make any mistakes either. In the NFC Championship game vs. the Rams, he outplayed the MVP of the league. Darnold showed up for the big moments this year, to the delight of Seattle fans (and to the dismay of Justin Jefferson).*

*Jefferson talking about Darnold, per ESPN: “Of course, selfishly, I wish that he had done that for us last year, but to see him blossom and bounce back right after last year and make it this year, I’m all happy for him, and I hope he wins.”

It helps that Darnold’s supporting cast is a strong one. He’s had a very good running back room with Kenneth Walker III and Zach Charbonnet (Unfortunately, Charbonnet tore his ACL a couple weeks ago and will not play in Super Bowl 60). The receiving corps is a top 5 unit in the league. Lead by what may very well be the best wide receiver in the NFL, Jaxson Smith-Njigba, the unit also consists of solid secondary options in Cooper Kupp and Rashid Shaheed. Altogether, the offense has been extremely effective this year, ranking 3^rd in the league in points per game.

While the offense is great, the defense has been the engine of the team all season. The Seattle defense is a wrecking ball, ranking 1^st in the NFL in points scored against. There isn’t necessarily one incredible player that’s the heart and soul of the defense either—it’s a true team effort on defense. Obviously they have great players like Leonard Williams, DeMarcus Lawrence, and Devin Witherspoon, but there isn’t a Chris Jones or Aaron Donald on this defense. It’s just a bunch of guys who are solid all around and don’t need to rely on one guy to drive the bus.

A lot of credit also has to go to 2^nd year HC Mike McDonald for shaping this defense into the force that it is. Before the arrival of McDonald from Baltimore, Seattle’s defense had been the 25^th ranked defense by points per game in 2023 and 2022. In the two years he’s been head coach, they’ve been 11^th and 1^st in points.

Seattle has been rolling in these playoffs. Unlike New England, they’ve been battle-tested. The only question that they have now may be a bit unfair, but it’s the question nonetheless: can Sam Darnold rise to the occasion one more time? If he’s able, I have little doubt in my mind that Seattle takes home the Lombardi this year.

MY PREDICTION

This is going to be a close and hard-fought game. I think that the defenses of these two teams won’t allow either offense to completely pull away and make this game a blowout.

New England is a very good team, and they’ve been good all year. I can acknowledge that. I just don’t think they’ve faced anyone of Seattle’s caliber yet. I’ve seen Seattle face teams of New England’s caliber, and they’ve won more times than not. I don’t know what it’ll look like for the Patriots. If they want a chance to win, Drake Maye is going to have to play well in the playoffs, which I also haven’t seen to this point. It’s hard to put my faith in a team that I haven’t seen perform in a spot like this before.

Seattle is better than New England at probably every position other than QB (and maybe CB if you want to get picky). With all respect to Drake Maye, I don’t think that the gap between him and Darnold is so large that it makes up for how much better Seattle is. Because of that, I’m rolling with Seattle to win the Super Bowl. My final score prediction is 27-24. Sam Darnold will win Super Bowl MVP, Seattle will be champions, and despite all of it, the Buffalo Bills will be the Super Bowl favorites entering next season. Lock it in!

Before I go, I’d like to give all of you a gift: broadcast bingo!

I did this last year with Tom Brady BINGO but unfortunately couldn’t keep track of it during the game (the manhandling of the Chiefs was too distracting). This year, I’m going to try and get a bingo! Feel free to print it out if you’d like to play along as well, and let me know in the comments if and how you get a bingo! Happy Super Bowl watching everybody!

Welcome to my ranking of the NFL Quarterbacks for 2025! I wrote a QB rankings series last year and enjoyed it, so I decided to bring it back in 2025. If all goes the way that I hope it does, this will become an annually occurring series!

A couple of housekeeping items before we get into things:

1.) Now that football season is about over, we’ll be transitioning into baseball posts! I’m beyond excited for this baseball season, especially because it may very well be the last one for a while (thanks MLB owners!). I’ll be doing my best to post semi-regularly, but no promises!

2.) This list is MY OPINION. I try to keep these rankings unbiased to the best of my ability, but it’s inevitable that at least a little bias will creep into my rankings. If you disagree with my opinion, that’s totally okay, but please don’t get too angry over where I’ve ranked your favorite quarterback.

With that out of the way, let’s get into this year’s rankings!

32.) Justin Fields

2025 stats: 9 G, 62.7 cmp%, 1259 yds, 7 TD, 1 INT

Last year’s ranking: N/A

Justin Fields’ time as an NFL starter is just about over.

Over the past offseason, Fields signed a 2-year, $40 million deal with the New York Jets. At the time, I thought this was a good move by the Jets. Fields was coming off a good stint as the Steelers’ backup QB, going 4-2 and playing solid (but unspectacular) football while filling in for an injured Russell Wilson.

Unfortunately, Fields showed yet again that he just isn’t an NFL-level quarterback. While not lacking in talent, he encountered all the same issues that he had back in Chicago—he’s a slow processor that struggles to play within the system. He’s at his best as a runner, but his rushing ability isn’t enough to make up for his deficiencies in the passing game. He’ll probably be the backup for the Jets next year because of his contract, but after that, his future in the NFL is murky.

31.) Shedeur Sanders

2025 stats: 8 G, 56.6 cmp%, 1400 yds, 7 TD, 10 INT

Last year’s ranking: N/A

I’m sure that this ranking won’t make Mel Kiper very happy, but in my defense, I don’t see how I could justify putting Shedeur Sanders any higher on this list. The guy was drafted in the 5^th round, and he looks like it.

It’s not that Shedeur looked horrible in his limited playing time this year—he had a couple of nice throws—but he didn’t do much to prove that he was capable of being the Browns’ starting quarterback either. He looks like a decent backup with potential upside to be an average NFL starter, but I didn’t see anything (in my admittedly small time watching the Browns) that really popped out at me.

The Browns are in an odd spot at the QB position moving forward. Because of the boneheaded deal that they made with Deshaun Watson, Cleveland will have the most expensive QB room in the league next year. It’s unclear whether they’ll move forward with Shedeur as the starter or try to find a new starter in the draft. The future is uncertain for Shedeur, but if he remains the starting QB for the Browns next season, he’ll need to show that he can be better.

30.) J.J McCarthy

2025 stats: 10 G, 57.8 cmp%, 1632 yds, 11 TD, 12 INT.

Last year’s ranking: N/A

J.J. McCarthy had an unfortunate year in more ways than one. In terms of quarterbacking, he was very underwhelming. Some of my friends who are Michigan fans will struggle to hear what I’m saying here, but the dude doesn’t appear to be an NFL-level quarterback. I feel that if you aren’t able to succeed with a skill position group that includes Justin Jefferson, Jordan Addison, and T.J. Hockenson, you just don’t have it as an NFL quarterback. There’s always the chance that he can develop into a good QB, but head coach Kevin O’Connell’s whole shtick is that he’s a QB whisperer. If it hasn’t happened yet, then when is it going to happen? I’m being a bit unfair here, but the lack of almost any good plays was a little bit concerning, especially for a first-round QB.

Unfortunately for J.J., he also became the face of bad quarterback play after an image of him in the locker room went viral. If you’re active on any social media, you’ve probably seen the meme that I’m talking about. It’s never great to make an alter-ego for yourself. It’s even worse to be horrible in every game after telling the world about said alter-ego.

Despite everything I’ve said, McCarthy could still very well develop into a proper NFL starting QB. He’s only 23 years old, and this year was his first year. We’ll see if he can make some adjustments in year 2.

29.) Tua Tagovailoa

2025 stats: 14 G, 67.7 cmp%, 2660 yds, 20 TD, 15 INT

Last year’s ranking: 19th

It’s been quite the fall from grace for Tua. From leading the league in yards to being benched for Quinn Ewers this season, it’s been a rocky road. Tua’s future is uncertain at this point—his contract (one of the largest in the league) has handcuffed the Dolphins, but Miami looks like they’re done with him. Their next head coach is going to be put in a weird spot.

Why did Tua fall off so badly? It’s simple: he can’t play out of structure to save his life. If he’s playing in structure, he’s a decent, even good QB. When the Dolphins’ offense was at the top of the league and humming a few years ago, the engine was Tua playing within the structure of the system that Mike McDaniel had designed for him. When it all fell apart, it was because the league figured out that the solution to beating Miami was getting Tua to play out of structure. This isn’t an issue exclusive to Tua; there’s a lot of QBs in the league that struggle when the play breaks down. The difference with Tua compared to the others is that he doesn’t have the physical tools to still make something happen. His arm is weak, and he can’t scramble due to his concussion history.
One last issue with Tua—he can’t play in the cold. If I’ve done my research correctly, he’s 0-6 when starting in a game which has a temperature of 40 degrees or colder. For a quarterback that already needs a very specific set of circumstances to be just right to succeed, another limitation isn’t very enticing for teams interested in him. The Dolphins are in a tough spot. Tua’s contract makes it so that any trade with him would likely require the Dolphins to get pretty much nothing in return. Tua’s future as a starter looks grim, but he has one positive moving forward: his contract, as well as his past success, may give him one more chance to prove that he has what it takes to be a starter.

28.) Kyler Murray

2025 stats: 5 G, 68.3 cmp%, 962 yds, 6 TD, 3 INT

Last year’s ranking: 15th

For the second straight year, I have no idea what to do with Kyler Murray. Last year I had him ranked much higher. I don’t watch the Cardinals much, but when I do, Murray never impresses me. It’s not a secret that he’s short, but it really is jarring just how much shorter he is than most other quarterbacks. He just seems so much smaller than the other players on the field. His best attribute—his legs—combined with his size have made him into quite the injury-prone player. As you’ll see later in the list, I value availability. Murray isn’t durable; since 2020, he’s missed 30 games.

The thing that really was eye-opening for how far that Murray has fallen was when I saw Jacoby Brissett play for Arizona. Brissett has had a solid career; he’s been a journeyman backup over the past few years. He isn’t a bad player by any means, but he’s not a starting QB either. That’s why it was so startling when he played markedly better than Murray had for the rest of the year. Again, Jacoby Brissett isn’t bad— but for him to look so much better than Murray is telling.

27.) Geno Smith

2025 stats: 15 G, 67.4 cmp%, 3025 yds, 19 TD, 17 INT

Last year’s ranking: 14th

If you read my list last year, you’ll remember that I had Geno Smith high in the rankings. I felt it was justified—he’d been very good in Seattle after the departure of Russell Wilson and had a great story to go with it.

I also wrote last year’s rankings before I knew that he was going to be traded to the Raiders for a 3^rd round pick. As anyone who’s ever watched the Raiders should know, everything that goes to Las Vegas dies. While the Geno trade may have seemed like a bad deal for the Seahawks at the time, it looks pretty good now!

Geno had a lousy year in 2025. Reuniting with old HC Pete Caroll did nothing to help him play better; he had one of the worst years of his career (which is saying something considering how abysmal he was to start his career). He led the league in interceptions with 17 and went 2-13 in his 15 games played. It sounds bad—it looked worse. At no point throughout the season did the Raiders resemble an NFL offense. Geno looked lost and was forced to play through injury all season. It certainly doesn’t help to have the worst offensive line in football either, but if you want to be viewed as one of the best QBs in the league, you should be able to at least slightly elevate the offense. All the woes of the Raiders weren’t on Geno Smith this season, but his play certainly didn’t help.

26.) Cam Ward

2025 stats: 17 G, 59.8 cmp%, 3169 yds, 15 TD, 7 INT

Last year’s ranking: N/A

This may be a bit too high for Cam Ward. He wasn’t great this year by any stretch of the imagination, and the Titans’ record reflects that. With that said, Ward showed some promise.

Was he everything that you’d want out of a 1^st overall selection? No—not by any stretch of the imagination. He didn’t show the upside that you’d want your assumed franchise quarterback of the future to show. That doesn’t mean that he showed no upside though. He started showing improvement as the year went on, playing his best game of the season in week 17 against the Chiefs. (If you’re wondering, yes, the Chiefs game may be slightly influencing my placement of Ward on this list.)

Robert Saleh will be taking over as the Titans HC this season, so we’ll see if Ward can continue to develop under him. Tennessee will need to get Ward more weapons as well—I’d say that I’m fairly knowledgeable when it comes to the NFL, but I don’t know that I could tell you a single skill position player on the Titans outside of Tony Pollard.

25.) Michael Penix Jr.

2025 stats: 9 G, 60.1 cmp%, 1982 yds, 9 TD, 3 INT

Last year’s ranking: 23rd

Similarly to Kyler Murray, I just don’t know what to do with Penix. There are times when he looks fantastic, dropping deep bombs to wide receivers down the field. Then there are other times where he looks like one of the worst quarterbacks in the league. The most consistent thing about Penix is his inconsistency.

There are obviously things to like about Penix. He’s a solid pocket passer with a great arm but doesn’t offer much outside of that. He’s one of the more injury-prone QBs in the league—his season ended early yet again in 2025 because of one—and he isn’t great at creating plays out of structure. His legs aren’t as bad as a Jared Goff or Matthew Stafford, but he doesn’t have the same burst that a lot of other rookie QBs seem to usually have.

Penix isn’t a bad QB, but he didn’t show much upside this year. The hope for the Falcons moving forward is that he turns into Jared Goff-type player. He has good weapons around him with Drake London and Bijan Robinson, similarly to the Lions with St. Brown/Gibbs. I don’t think that he has the same 1^st round ceiling as other QBs, but he could at least raise his floor moving forward.

24.) Bryce Young

2025 stats: 16 G, 63.3 cmp%, 3011 yds, 23 TD, 11 INT

Last year’s ranking: 25th

I like Bryce Young a lot, and I don’t think that I’m alone in feeling that way. He’s one of the easiest quarterbacks in the league to root for—a guy who looked like a bust in his first season, got benched for Andy Dalton in his second, but then started showing real improvement at the end of last season and throughout this one.

Here’s the problem: while Bryce Young has clearly improved from his dreadful rookie year, he hasn’t in any way justified what the Panthers gave up for him. In 2023, the Panthers made a trade with Chicago to acquire the 1^st pick of the draft. In return for the pick that Carolina would use on Young, the Bears received the Panthers’ 2023 and 2024 1^st round picks, their 2^nd round pick in 2025, and DJ Moore. That’s an insane amount of value to give up for any player; it’s almost unforgivable to give that much for Bryce Young.

Not to bring up Kyler Murray for the third time in this post, but he’s the comp for shorter quarterbacks. Bryce Young is listed at 5’ 10” and looks about 5’ 7”. I don’t mean to harp on short QBs, but they just don’t usually work out, and that’s been the case for Young in his career. It will be interesting to see what the Panthers do after this season—he still hasn’t played great, but the improvement is clearly there. Do they trust that he keeps improving, or do they accept that he was a bust and move forward?

That wraps up the first edition of the 2025 QB rankings! I hope to have the next edition out by next Monday, so stay tuned! Until then, thank you all for reading and have a great week!

Photo Credits:

32.) Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images

31.) foxnews.com

30.) foxnews.com

29.) AP Photo-Doug Murray

28.) Ron Chenoy-Imagn Images

27.) Brian Fluharty-Imagn Images

26.) James Gilbert/Getty Images

25.) Kevin C. Cox/GettyImages

24.) Morgan Tencza-Imagn Images

It’s odd to have playoff football without the Chiefs. In my (admittedly somewhat short) time as a fan, missing the playoffs has never been something that I perceived to even be possible. I assumed that when you cheer for the team that has the best quarterback in the league, you’d never be in a position where you’d be watching NFL playoff games in January without your team playing.

Turns out, it’s more than possible! This Chiefs’ season went about as poorly as it could’ve. Apart from a great 6-game stretch in the middle of the year, it was a miserable and frustrating season from start to finish. Pretty much everything that could’ve gone wrong did. The Chiefs lost close game after close game, a stark contrast to just last year where they always found a way to win. To top all of it off, the Chiefs were eliminated from playoff contention mere minutes after maybe the greatest Kansas City athlete ever tore his ACL in the waning moments of a must-win game against the Chargers. Patrick Mahomes got hurt doing what he’s always done—putting the team on his back and willing them to victory.

Before I explain exactly what I think went wrong with the Chiefs this year, let me say this: it wasn’t Mahomes’ fault. I’m not trying to be a Mahomes apologist or anything, but I think that the final 3 games of the season revealed just how much he was holding together on offense. I thought that Mahomes, while having a few struggles throughout the year (namely with consistently throwing a catchable deep ball), generally was the only reason that the team was in games. Again, don’t get me wrong—Mahomes wasn’t perfect this season. He made mistakes (the pick-6 against the Jaguars and the brutal interception in that final Chargers game both come to mind). But if you watched this Chiefs’ season and thought that Mahomes was the problem, I have no idea what to tell you. Mahomes was not the problem this year. Even if he could’ve played better in certain spots, I don’t see how you can in good faith pin this losing season on him.

So, if not Mahomes, what exactly was the reason for the utter incompetence of the 2025 Chiefs? The answer is very simple. The Chiefs, at least this year, were not at all a well-constructed football team. The main reason for this poor roster is due to the fact that the Chiefs have drafted somewhat terribly since the legendary 2022 draft that the current defensive corps is constructed around. In the 3 drafts since, the Chiefs have whiffed on the majority of their picks. The Chiefs have drafted 21 players since that 2022 draft. Not many have been good. Here’s a ranking of all 21 players:

Good: 3 players (Josh Simmons, Nohl Williams, Kingsley Suamataia).

Solid sometimes, but also has had some rough patches: 3 players (Xavier Worthy, Rashee Rice, Chamarri Conner)

Haven’t played much, but potentially could be starters: 5 players (Omarr Norman-Lott, Ashton Gillotte, Jalen Royals,* Brashard Smith, Jaden Hicks).

Misses: 10 players (Jeffery Bassa, Jared Wiley, Hunter Nourzad, Kamal Hadden, C.J. Hanson, Felix Anudike-Uzomah, Wanya Morris, BJ Thompson, Keondre Coburn, Nic Jones).

*Andy, I’m begging you. Let the guy play. His name is perfect.

Even if you’re counting the first 3 categories as “good picks”, the Chiefs have still whiffed on half of their draft picks over the past 3 years. Obviously, teams can’t hit a home run on every single player. There will inevitably be draft busts—it happens to every team. But only having 3 out of 21 players be significant contributors to the team (and all 3 of those players only really having played this year) is absolutely abysmal. They don’t all need to be stars (although a couple might be nice), but you need to have at least a few solid players to build around. The Chiefs have done a terrible job of finding those players through the draft.

The 3 position groups that have suffered the most because of this poor drafting are the wide receiver room, the running back room, and the defensive line. If that seems like a lot of the team, well… it is.

Let me start with the wide receiver room. Entering the season, the wide receiver corps was actually supposed to be a strength of the team. The Chiefs knew that their WR1 Rashee Rice would be missing the first 6 games of the year, but despite his absence, there was still reason for optimism. It was assumed that second-year WR Xavier Worthy, who had come on strong at the end of the previous season, would do just fine filling in as the WR1 for the start of the season. This assumption proved to be foolish, as Worthy was injured in the first game of the year after just 3 plays. That left the Chiefs with Hollywood Brown, Tyquan Thornton, Juju Smith-Schuster, Jason Brownlee, and Nikko Remigio.*
*For anyone thinking that I left out Jaylen Royals, I did not. He was injured to start the season.

Despite the lack of talent in the wide receiver room, Patrick Mahomes managed to make it work. With both top receivers absent, Tyquan Thornton emerged as a playmaker for the offense. Kansas City was able to hold things together until both Rice and Worthy returned, with Worthy returning in week 4, and Rice in week 7. The offense, for a few weeks, looked great. The passing game was humming, especially after the return of Rice. Then, the cracks started to show.

The largest problem with the wide receiver room, in my opinion, is Rashee Rice. I actually believe that this was a better offense without him. I don’t believe that Rice is a WR1—I think that the Chiefs just force-feed him the ball. He doesn’t do anything exceptionally well—he’s solid after the catch, but he doesn’t run great routes, he’s not particularly good at catching the football, and he struggles to get any separation if he isn’t schemed open.* The reason that he has productive numbers is in large part because the offense is manufacturing touches for him, not because of anything that he’s doing. In only 8 games played this year, Rice was targeted 78 times, meaning he’d be on pace for 160+ targets had he played all 17 games. For reference on just how many targets that is, the most targets that Travis Kelce has ever had in a season was 152 in 2022.

Because of the sheer amount of targets that he received upon his return from suspension, the offense felt more one-dimensional; rather than Rice simply being another weapon, it felt like he became the only option for the offense. Rashee isn’t a bad player by any means, but he isn’t an alpha wide receiver, no matter how badly the Chiefs want him to be. In combination with all of his off-field issues, I simply don’t think that Rice is worth it. I’d try and trade him for something this offseason, but if that isn’t possible, under no circumstances do I want him getting a second contract. He can play out the last year of his rookie deal in KC (assuming that the current allegations that have been brought against him are false), but after that, I’m letting him walk. He isn’t worth the trouble that he brings.

*This isn’t an issue exclusive to Rice on the offense—but it’s a problem for the player that’s supposed to be your best wide receiver.

As for the receivers outside of Rice, they were disappointing for the most part. Worthy didn’t play very well all year (apart from his first game back from injury), but I don’t think that he ever was healthy. In addition to the dislocated shoulder that he suffered in week 1, he also dealt with a nagging ankle injury throughout the season that seemed to slow him down a bit. It was evident all year that he was playing differently because of injury. Watching his highlights from 2024, the difference is noticeable. I think he’ll be a great piece next year, but I wouldn’t expect him to be much more than a WR2. Hollywood Brown was… fine—but given the hype that he received last year when the Chiefs signed him, his production was a little disappointing. Juju Smith-Schuster wasn’t much more than a warm body for most of the season, and Jalen Royals played so little that his first catch was in the final game of the year.

The single bright spot in the wide receiver room was Tyquan Thornton. As I said earlier, Thornton was sort of the de facto WR1 through the first few games of the season. He was great down the field and was seemingly the only player on the team all year that could consistently catch the ball. Unfortunately, after Rashee Rice returned in week 7, Thornton barely saw the field despite the struggles of the other wide receivers. I honestly still can’t wrap my mind around why Kansas City just refused to use him.

Moving on to a position group even worse than the wide receivers, we have the running back room. In hindsight, it seems obvious that this running back room just wasn’t going to work. But as they say, hindsight is 20/20. It’s clear that Kansas City was banking on Isiah Pacheco to get back to his 2022-2023 form, and it just didn’t happen. Despite what a lot of people might say, I will die on the hill that Pacheco used to be a good running back. He just isn’t the same player he used to be before he broke his leg last season. In previous years, Pacheco was able to mask his lack of vision with his sheer strength, but he just isn’t the same guy anymore. He was running into offensive lineman all year, and it doesn’t appear that he’ll have a job in 2026.

Outside of Pacheco, the RB room consisted of Kareem Hunt, Elijah Mitchell (who was cut before the end of the season), and Clyde Edwards-Helaire. That sounds bad on paper; it was worse on the field. To be fair to Kareem Hunt, he was a decent back and fantastic weapon on short distance runs, but at 30 years old, he had absolutely no explosiveness left. Both Mitchell and Edwards-Helaire were little more than names to fill up the depth chart. It was, hands down, the worst running back room in the league.

The Chiefs statistically had a good defense this season, but if you watched the games, it was fairly evident that the defense wasn’t quite as excellent as the numbers may have suggested. The problem with the defense was simple: without blitzing, they would never (and I mean never) get any pressure at all. The defense only recorded 35 sacks the entire season, which was the 7^th-fewest in the league. They had a pressure rate of 23.6%, which isn’t horrible—15^th in the league—but for a team that blitzes as much as the Chiefs do, 15^th just doesn’t cut it. Because of the lack of pressure, opposing teams were able to exploit the Chiefs’ secondary, which, while typically being a strength of the team in past years, benefitted massively from the pressure that Kansas City has been able to generate. Without that same pressure, some of the weaknesses in the secondary (Nick Bolton in coverage, Chamarri Conner roleplaying as a cornerback for some reason) were really exposed throughout the season.

I believe that a large part of the regression came from the loss of Justin Reid this offseason. He was great on safety blitzes, a fantastic tackler, and was truly a leader on that defense. While Brian Cook did a very good job at safety this year,* it just wasn’t the same without Reid.

*Cook was graded as the second-best player on the team this year by PFF, only behind Creed Humphrey. I will say though, I’m slightly skeptical of PFF… Nick Bolton was graded 3^rd, Rashee Rice 5^th, and George Karlaftis 6^th—none of those players had especially great seasons in my view.

Chris Jones showed some signs of aging as well, but still proved that he’s capable of taking over a game throughout the season. The problem is, Chris Jones was the only player on the defensive line that seemed to show up this season. The numbers will say that George Karlaftis was good this season, but I’m here to tell you that he was not. Look, I’m as big of a Karlaftis guy as anyone—he’s been “my guy” on defense for a few years now—but the amount of times that I saw him come around the edge and just miss the quarterback this season had to be at least 30. He’s a decent player and has been very good in past years in tandem with Chris Jones, but there was a large regression this year. I’m hoping that he’ll play better in future years (especially because the Chiefs just gave him a pretty large contract), but after seeing him do, for all intents and purposes, nothing this season, I’m slightly worried. The return of Omar Norman-Lott will probably help the line next season, and I can only assume that they’ll be picking a pass rusher somewhere in this year’s draft. Ashton Gillotte didn’t do much all year, but hopefully he’ll be able to develop over this offseason and be a contributor for the team next year. Everyone else on the d-line can go. Mike Danna and Derrick Nnadi were MIA all season, and some salary cap space can be saved by cutting Danna. The line needs a lot of new faces next season.

There are a number more reasons why the Chiefs went 6-11 this season—the offensive line wasn’t fully healthy all season, the cornerback room was somewhat banged up, and the play calling throughout the year was stale and unoriginal—but I think that the lack of almost any “stars” on the team is something that really came back to bite them. Think about it: outside of Patrick Mahomes and Chris Jones, are there any other stars on the team? The only other 2 players who I think you could make an argument for are Travis Kelce and Trent McDuffie, but I have something of a problem with calling either one of them a “star.” Kelce, who I believe to be the greatest tight end of all time, is still good; he’s not the legendary player that he used to be anymore. Father time has clearly caught up with him in at least some capacity. As for McDuffie, he’s a fantastic slot corner, but as I came to learn this year, struggles against “alpha wide receivers” such as CeeDee Lamb and Nico Collins. I would’ve called McDuffie a star entering 2025, but after watching him struggle this season, I’m a little bit more hesitant to do so. Even if you still wanted to call Kelce and McDuffie both stars, it’s possible that neither will be on the team next year, and probable that neither will be on the team in 2027. Kelce, even if he returns for one final season, would almost certainly retire after 2026, and I just don’t see where Kansas City will be able to find the money to pay McDuffie. The Chiefs need some real stars on this team next year.

I’ve talked enough about 2025. It was a supremely disappointing season, and I’m sick and tired of thinking about it. I want to put it behind me and start looking ahead towards 2026. What needs to be done in order to get this team back to the AFC Championship game next season?

The first thing that Kansas City will have to do is clear up some cap space. They’re currently over the 2026 cap by about $51 million according to Spotrac (worst in the league by a pretty wide margin). As bad as that sounds, they can actually get under the cap relatively easily. The salary cap will increase once again this offseason, and Kansas City will likely restructure Mahomes’ deal as they usually do. They can save an additional $40 million by cutting Mike Danna, Jawaan Taylor, Drue Tranquill, and Kristian Fulton. I know that the narrative around Fulton has somewhat changed, as he played solidly in the final few games of the season, so if he isn’t cut, I wouldn’t be completely blindsided. If he remains in KC, the Chiefs will still save $35 million by cutting the other 3 players.

Now comes the tough part. The Chiefs could save another $13.6 million if they were to trade away Trent McDuffie, who will be playing on his 5^th year option in 2026.

It stinks to trade away great players. Despite what I said just 4 paragraphs ago, Trent McDuffie is a great cornerback. He’s been a huge contributor on the defense and has lived up to every bit of his first-round pedigree. For me though, I honestly just don’t think that the Chiefs need him all that badly. Kansas City hasn’t drafted well in past years, but they’ve excelled for a while now at developing cornerbacks. Nohl Williams is young and cheap, and I completely expect that the Chiefs will draft a cornerback this year as well. Trent McDuffie is a great corner, but he’s on a team that, for all its flaws, isn’t lacking at his position. In addition to the cap space that trading him away would provide, you would be recouping some draft capital. I personally wouldn’t settle for less than a second rounder along with a late round pick, but I’m not sure how much more you could get than that, as whatever team trades for him would have to pay him as well. If you could get a first-round pick, I’d do that in a heartbeat.

The biggest reason that the Chiefs need all the cap space that they can get (aside from being required to get under the salary cap) is because they’re going to want to keep at least 1 or 2 of the players who are free agents this year. Leo Chenal, Bryan Cook, and Jaylen Watson, all members of the 2022 draft class I spoke so highly of earlier, are the most significant names that are free agents this offseason.* I firmly believe that it’s in the best interest of Kansas City to keep at least one of these players. The question is, which one should they keep?
*Kelce is also technically a free agent, but if he chooses not to retire, the Chiefs will be re-signing him.

Each free agent has a valid case to be re-signed: Leo Chenal has quietly been a great linebacker for the team, and if the Chiefs were to cut Drue Tranquill, their linebacker room will consist of Nick Bolton and a whole lot of practice squad guys. Bryan Cook, as I said earlier, was great this year, and would be a big loss to a safety room that’s largely unproven without him. Jaylen Watson has been a great corner the last 2 years, and would be cheaper than McDuffie, who will likely get a top-of-the-market deal (whether from the Chiefs or some other team). It’s a tough decision, but I think if I had to prioritize which player to re-sign, it’d probably be in order of Cook, Chenal, Watson. I won’t be mad no matter who gets re-signed though—they’re all excellent players

The only other 2 free agents that I’d re-sign are Kareem Hunt and Tyquan Thornton. I’d love Hunt back as their 3^rd and short weapon, but nothing more than that. The team needs to draft or sign a great running back—they can’t have Hunt be their lead back for 3 years in a row. As for Thornton, I’d love to re-sign him to a Hollywood Brown type deal (something along the lines of 1 year, $5-6 million). If he wants a long-term contract, I wouldn’t give it to him, but I’d be happy to have him back for another year. (If we’re completely honest, he might’ve been the Chiefs’ best WR this year).

Now it’s time to talk about the draft… and I’m sorry to say, but you’ve come to the wrong blog if you were looking for college football player analysis. The truth is, I have somewhat of a lack of ball knowledge when it comes to college football. This year was my first time ever watching any (other than when I randomly watched the national championship that Michigan won a couple of years ago), and I probably couldn’t name 15 players in this upcoming draft for you. It’s not my strong suit.

What I can do for you is tell you what positions the Chiefs need to draft in this upcoming draft. Here goes:
1.) Everything but QB.

Okay, that’s a joke, but in all seriousness, Kansas City needs to fill a lot of holes. Unfortunately, they a.) have only 5 picks as of today, and b.) have to fill said holes with a draft that I’m hearing doesn’t have very much talent in it. Why the Chiefs had to choose this season to get the 9^th overall pick is unclear, but they’re in the position that they’re in; they need to make the best of this opportunity to draft in the top 10, as this situation (hopefully) isn’t one that they’ll find themselves in again for a while.

What the Chiefs should do with the 9^th overall pick has been a very hot topic of discussion. For me, as long as Kansas City takes the best available running back, edge rusher, or wide receiver remaining, I’m perfectly fine with who they choose. For me, I think I’d be more excited about a running back or wide receiver, but I recognize that drafting an edge rusher would be greatly beneficial for the team. What I absolutely do not want to do under any circumstance is trade out of the 9^th spot—with the asterisk being “unless they get an absolutely crazy haul like someone’s first rounder this year and next year.” Again, the Chiefs won’t likely be in this high of draft positioning for a while. Take advantage of this opportunity!

As for the rest of the draft, the positions that the Chiefs need are running back, wide receiver, tight end, right tackle, edge rusher, safety, and cornerback. Huh, I guess I wasn’t really joking earlier when I said that they needed everything except for a QB.

Needing help in 7 positions when you only have 5 picks is less than ideal. If I had to choose the position that they need the least, I’d go with tight end—I’m betting that Kelce returns for one final ride in 2026. If that’s the case, they can’t wait until next year’s draft to take a TE for the future. There’s a good chance that Kansas City will also opt not to take a right tackle in the draft, and instead will put Jaylon Moore out there. That’s slightly concerning considering how bad Moore looked out at RT once Jawaan Taylor went down, but hopefully an offseason of practice will help him look at least a little better? Whatever the case may be, I just can’t see the Chiefs prioritizing right tackle with all of their other issues. Again, I’m not sure what players that the Chiefs will draft. All I know is that they must draft well this year.

We’ll end on the coaching side of things. Kansas City needs to revamp their offensive playbook. I’m not sure what it was this season, whether it was Andy getting complacent, or the league just figuring him out, but there needs to be changes made. By the end of the season, defenders were blowing up receivers because they knew what routes they were running. The Chiefs are almost certainly going to have a new OC this year, as Matt Nagy is expected to either (somehow) become a head coach, or go somewhere that he can actually call offensive plays. Additionally, they’ll have a new wide receivers coach, as well as a new running backs coach after firing Connor Embree (who was somehow the WR coach despite only having 1 year of coaching experience… in HIGH SCHOOL) and Todd Pinkston. Lack of accountability has seemed to be a problem for the offense over the past few years, and hopefully a couple of new coaches can help fix that.

As for the offensive coordinator, I would be completely fine with bringing back Eric Bieniemy, which I know isn’t the popular opinion, but Mahomes had the best years of his career with him. I firmly believe that there’s at least some correlation with EB leaving and Mahomes’ numbers dropping.

At the end of the day though, Andy Reid is the one calling the plays. It’s up to him to redesign the playbook. He did it in 2022 after the Chiefs traded Tyreek, and Mahomes won an MVP. He’s done it before, and he needs to do it again now.

I sincerely hope that this year was just a blip. Obviously, the Chiefs aren’t going to be in the Super Bowl every single year as they have for the past few. But when you have the best quarterback in the world, you should be winning the division every year, or at the very least, making the playoffs. Kansas City absolutely cannot squander another season of Patrick Mahomes like they did this year. If they do, it should be forever looked back on as an organizational failure.

For the first time in my fandom, it appears that Kansas City isn’t going to win the division.

I don’t think the Broncos are as good as their record suggests. I give them credit for finding ways to win—the Chiefs did the same thing last year and they were praised for it, so the Broncos deserve to be praised for it too.

I don’t think that the Broncos played very well today. Yeah, their defense is great (even with them missing Patrick Surtain II) and they have a great offensive line. But they didn’t do a whole lot that impressed me overall.

I don’t think that Bo Nix is good. I know that he won the game, and I know that he made the plays at the end to get the win. But I watch Bo Nix play terrible for 90% of his games every week before making a couple of good plays when it matters.

And yet, despite all of that, the Chiefs just weren’t good enough to beat them.

Usually at this point in the post, I’d throw a twist in. I’d insert an “and yet” and then tell you all about how the Chiefs should’ve won this game if not for a few stupid mistakes that they made throughout. While that is technically true, I’m also forced to consider: how many stupid mistakes do you have to make every week before I’m forced to accept that it just might be who you are?

The Chiefs all year have been a team that has just made back-breaking mistakes at the most pivotal moments in the game. Anyone watching has seen the graphic that the Chiefs are 0-5 in one-score games this season after being 17-0 in the 17 games before that. While some of that stat may simply be regression to the mean, I also think that it comes down to the fact that the Chiefs haven’t been able to execute in close games all season. The Chiefs’ 5 wins have all been blowout-adjacent:

26-9 vs. Giants: After the first half, game was never close.

37-20 vs. Ravens: After the first quarter, game was never close.

30-17 vs. Lions: While the game was somewhat close throughout, the Chiefs had a 10-point lead entering the 4^th quarter.

31-0 vs. Raiders: Just look at the score.

28-7 vs. Commanders: After the first half, the game was never close.

In all of the Chiefs’ wins, they’ve faced very little adversity. All of them (with the exception of the Raiders and maybe the Ravens game) share a similar pattern: the Chiefs come out flat, but then pick things up in the second half. Something similar happened on Sunday as well. The Chiefs scored 6 in the first half, then scored 13 in the second. Obviously that’s not lighting the world on fire, but until the final 2 KC drives to end the game, the Chiefs were solid all-around in that second half. But unlike a lot of the other teams that Kansas City has played throughout this year, the difference was that the Denver Broncos (to their credit) didn’t just roll over and die like the other teams did.

Here’s the point I’m trying to make here: when this year’s Chiefs team has faced adversity, they haven’t been able to rise to the occasion. It’s a strange thing to say about led by a quarterback who has been able to respond to adversity all of his career, but it’s unfortunately the reality that we’ve been living in this season. It hasn’t just been one thing—whether it’s been Chris Jones getting greedy against the Chargers, Travis Kelce volleyball-serving a pass directly to the Eagles, the countless special-teams penalties against the Jaguars, the lack of any protection for Mahomes facing the Bills, or an appalling interception thrown to the Broncos in the redzone today—the Chiefs have found ways to lose games. This team doesn’t look like a Chiefs team. They look like a team that sees that they’re down and gives up.

Before I talk about what exactly went wrong in this game, I want to give some credit to both Travis Kelce and Tyquan Thornton. In my eyes, they were the only two guys that seemed to show up ready to play today. Kelce continues to amaze. He had an insanely impressive touchdown catch-and-run in the 4^th quarter that gave the Chiefs the lead and gave him the franchise-record for the most career touchdowns by a Chief (84), breaking a tie with Priest Holmes. Outside of his week 2 gaffe, Kelce has been one of the only constants in this offense all season (which isn’t something that you’d say for many non-QBs who are 36). As for Tyquan Thornton… can we please get him on the field more? It’s been clear this season that Thornton has been our best deep threat. His 61-yard catch in the 4^th quarter was a big reason why this game was even close in the first place. If there’s a wide receiver that needs more playing time going forward, it’s him.

Outside of those two, no one played particularly well Sunday. All of it starts with the play calling, and it was once again puzzling at times. I think that Andy Reid is a great coach, and I know that he’s been heralded as one of the best offensive minds in the league. He must be doing something right, because the Chiefs have been to 5 Super Bowls in the past 6 years. I don’t think that Andy Reid is some sort of idiot.

The problem is, I just don’t feel like he ever has anyone schemed open to throw to. Everything on offense feels excruciatingly difficult right now. It feels like the entire offense is just running the ball once a drive and then having Mahomes chucking deep balls down the field that are either overthrown or dropped. He’s made some strange calls at times, but they don’t feel that out of the ordinary for him. I’ve always felt like Andy Reid gets a little too cute sometimes. It’s just that this season is the first time it has ended up hurting KC.

The strangest call of the game came on 3^rd and 2 with 6:46 left in the 4^th quarter. The Chiefs were leading 19-16. A sustained drive here could end the game. Drive down the field, drain the clock, and seal the game with a TD. All that the Chiefs needed was 2 yards. Luckily, the Chiefs have the best weapon in the entire league for converting in short yardage situations: Kareem Hunt. Hunt has been almost automatic on short-yardage situations all year. I can’t remember a single time when he’s come up short on an important down. All that the Chiefs have to do is send him out and run the ball. Obviously, it’s not a guarantee that the Chiefs pick it up with Hunt, but it’s incredibly likely.

Instead, Reid calls a pass play. It actually ended up being a good play, but Brashard Smith overran the pass from Mahomes, leading to 4^th and 2. The Chiefs are forced to punt the ball away. It’s not a bad play call by any means, but it’s also just not the smartest one in that situation. I’m obviously always in support of putting the ball in the hands of the best QB in the world, but that doesn’t mean that you have to get cute with it either. Take the (almost) sure thing. Give it to Hunt.

Speaking of Hunt… One of the struggles for this offense over the past couple weeks has been being able to establish a rhythm on offense. The largest reason for this struggle is because the Chiefs don’t run the ball. It’s not that they can’t. They don’t have a great run game by any stretch, but Kareem Hunt averaged 4.5 yards/carry on Sunday. That’s nothing too crazy, but it’s good solid production. Here’s the issue: Andy Reid isn’t able to call more run plays because Kareem Hunt can’t physically handle running more. He’s 30 years old and shouldn’t be on the field as much as he is. Unfortunately for the Chiefs, because Isiah Pacheco is injured*, Kareem Hunt is the only RB left who’s capable of gaining decent yardage at all. While Brashard Smith could turn out to be a decent weapon as a receiver, he’s not big or strong enough to be a primary running back. That leaves the Chiefs with Elijah Mitchell (who must be horrible, because they haven’t let him run the ball once despite paying him $2.5 million) and Clyde** (who is bad).*** I know that the general consensus seems to be that they need to run the ball more, but Kansas City doesn’t have anyone to run the ball with.

*I know that a lot of Chiefs fans have been critical of Pacheco. While he does deserve some criticism, I also thought that he was beginning to return to his 2022-23 form before his injury. I’m hoping that he can continue to improve once he returns, and I hope that he can return soon!

**It shocked me to see that Clyde is actually a month younger than Pacheco is. I know that Clyde isn’t very good, but I’d honestly rather see him run the ball than Brashard Smith, if not to just feel some nostalgia for the old days.

***After watching some CEH highlights, I’m convinced that he should be the #2 back until Pacheco gets healthy! While the highlights did only show the best runs of his career and not the 8,000 times that he ran directly into the O-Line and fell down, I’m still ready to give him another shot!

The other problem with this offense right now is that I still don’t know if they have a true #1 wide receiver. I think that Rashee Rice is very good, and I’m hopeful that he’ll continue to get better as time goes on, but I’m also not sure that he’s a bona fide #1 wideout. He’s electric when he has the ball in his hands. But similarly to what used to be said about Chiefs’ legend Kadarius Toney, he has to get the ball in his hands first. He had a couple of brutal drops yesterday that really made me wonder if the Chiefs still haven’t found a true #1 wide receiver yet. It’s probably not fair to question that considering it was one bad game, but he led the Chiefs in drops his rookie year too (in a year where Kansas City led the league in drops). I’m not saying that he can’t be a #1 wideout, I’m just saying that I’d be a little more hesitant to give him a huge contract than I might’ve been after his first couple weeks back.

The Chiefs’ WR2 coming into the year has underperformed as well. Look, I love Xavier Worthy. I still believe in him in the long run. But after his first game back from injury against the Lions, he’s simply been a non-factor. I don’t know that he’s being utilized properly (every pass to him seems to either be a deep shot that Mahomes overthrows or a quick sideline pass), but I also just don’t know that he’s healthy. It’s kind of flown under the radar, but Worthy has been listed with an ankle injury on every injury report since week 5. I don’t have any real data to back this observation up, but he just doesn’t seem as agile on the field as he did last season. Maybe it’s the ankle, maybe it’s the shoulder, maybe it’s something else—he just hasn’t been a big part of the offense for one reason or another.

Now let me address the elephant in the room: Patrick Mahomes. He’s having a much better season statistically this year than last year. I think the same applies to the eye test as well. He’s making some nice plays, running the offense well, making plays out of nothing—he’s doing a lot of what he’s been doing. The difference between this year’s Mahomes and last year’s Mahomes is that he’s failed to come through in the clutch so far this year.

Here’s the thing: apart from Sunday’s game (in which he had 2 chances to seal the game and admittedly wasn’t able to get anything done on either of them), Mahomes really hasn’t been significantly worse in the clutch than he has been in years’ past. Taking a look at the Chiefs’ other 4 losses, Mahomes hasn’t even had many chances to save them.

21-27 vs. Chargers—After a poor first half, Mahomes plays well enough in the 2^nd for the Chiefs to potentially stage a comeback. Problem is, the defense is unable to stop the Chargers, who smartly go on long, clock-eating drives that limit Mahomes’ opportunities to score. Mahomes puts the Chiefs within one score of LA with 2:37 remaining in the 4^th, but the Chiefs’ defense isn’t able to get a stop on 3^rd and long. Mahomes never sees the ball again.

17-20 vs. Eagles—With the Chiefs trailing 10-13 late into the 3^rd and early in the 4^th, Mahomes leads a grinding 14-play, 8:11 drive that puts the Chiefs in prime position to, at the very least, tie the game. Travis Kelce proceeds to make his worst play of the season, gift-wrapping an interception to the Eagles with a pass off his hands. After the Eagles score a TD to go up 2 scores, Mahomes cuts the lead to 3 points… but similarly to the week before, the Chiefs defense is unable to stop the Eagles from running out the clock.

28-31 vs. Jaguars—While a lot of this loss can be attributed to Mahomes throwing a 99-yard pick-6, his defense let him down again in this one. He gets the ball back down 7 in the 4^th quarter. The Chiefs tie the game. The Jags once again take the lead. Mahomes drives down the field and takes the lead. Once again, the Chiefs defense lets him down, and Trevor Lawrence scores a rushing TD. Mahomes gets the ball back with 16 seconds left at his own 17-yard line. There’s not a whole lot that even he can do in that spot.

21-28 vs. Bills--Mahomes obviously didn’t play well throughout this game. It’s hard to blame him too much considering that he was pressured on almost every other play. Still, Mahomes got the ball back with a chance to tie the game with 22 seconds left and no timeouts. Mahomes threw a perfect Hail Mary pass into the endzone, but Tyquan Thornton wasn’t able to haul it in. The next Hail Mary fell short of the endzone, and the game was over.

As you can see, Mahomes hasn’t been terrible when the game is on the line—he just hasn’t come through in positions that we’ve come to expect him to. He hasn’t been anything close to the Chiefs’ biggest problem this year, and I don’t think that he’s “washed” either (despite the general public disagreeing with me in that regard). He’s been fine.* He needs to be better. But he’s been fine.

*Quick side-tangent about Mahomes’ deep ball. I’m not entirely sure what’s going on with it. Early in his career he was constantly throwing bombs down the field, but in the past couple of years he hasn’t been anywhere near as accurate as he used to be. I don’t know if he’s just rusty with it or it’s something mental, but I’m really hoping that he’ll improve as he takes more shots. Unfortunately, he’s still missing at the halfway point of the season, so maybe he won’t ever get better this year. He still obviously has the arm strength, but the accuracy just isn’t there right now.

The offense needs to be better, and I hope that they’ll get better, especially as Rashee Rice can hopefully get more integrated into the offense. I know that I said earlier that I’m not sure if he’s a true #1 WR, but I do know at the very least that he’s a pretty dang good football player that’ll make the team better. I’m not writing off the offense, at least not yet. But they need to start coming through in the biggest moments.

Speaking of not coming through in the biggest moments… In years past, Kansas City’s defense would’ve made some sort of play on that final Broncos drive. The old Chiefs always came through, even when all hope seemed lost. Melvin Ingram would force a fumble inside the 10-yard line that’d be picked up by Nick Bolton for an 86-yard scoop and score. Chris Jones would sack the QB on 4^th and 2. L’Jarius Sneed would intercept a pass. Leo Chenal would block the game-winning field goal. The defense hasn’t really had a play like that this year.

The thing that has to find a way to get better on the defense is the pass rush. I’m not entirely sure what the solution is, or if it’s even fixable at this point, but something needs to be done.

The Chiefs’ pass rush is seemingly non-existent. Even when they blitz, it feels like Kansas City is almost never able to get to the opposing QB. When I watch other teams, it always looks like they have an eternity to throw. When I watch the Chiefs, it feels like Mahomes either has to get the ball out in less than 2.5 seconds or take a sack. The defensive front is something that must be addressed in the 2026 draft.*

*I know that there were a lot of upset Kansas City fans when they didn’t trade for anyone at the deadline, but I’m not sure who they could’ve gone and traded for defensively. They weren’t going to spend a first-round pick on someone, and it’s not as if there’s a thousand diamond-in-the-rough defensive lineman out there that the Chiefs could’ve snatched from another team. I’m not upset that they didn’t give away a first-round pick to trade for a marginal upgrade in the passing game. That hasn’t been who the Chiefs have been.

Because the pass rush has been so poor, the Chiefs’ secondary has been somewhat exposed as well. Don’t get it twisted—the Chiefs have a good secondary. Trent McDuffie is probably a top-5 corner, Jaylen Watson is great (especially for a 7^th-round pick), Nohl Williams has been a promising rookie, Bryan Cook and Jaden Hicks are both solid players. But the Chiefs don’t have an outstanding secondary by any means. Outside of McDuffie, there isn’t anyone that you’d say is All-Pro or maybe even Pro-Bowl caliber. It’s just a bunch of solid players. And while that’s not necessarily a bad thing, it does unfortunately mean that when the pass rush isn’t getting home, the secondary isn’t going to hold up nearly as well as it might if there were more than one star player back there.

The defense has had its good games and its bad. But they’re going to need to figure out something down the stretch if they want to have any chance.

So where do the Chiefs go from here? They’re 5-5. Barring a wonderful collapse from the Broncos down the stretch, any hope of them winning the division is just about lost. With this knowledge in mind, the Chiefs will have to be fighting the rest of the way for Wild Card spot—an unfamiliar situation for the Mahomes-led Chiefs to be in.

The first step to getting into the playoffs will be next week when KC takes on the Indianapolis Colts at Arrowhead. This is the biggest game of the season for the Chiefs. If they lose, the season is officially on life support—they would likely need to win out to make the playoffs.

If the Chiefs can win, I think there’s a chance that they could run the table anyways. After the Colts, the Chiefs’ remaining schedule is Cowboys (Thanksgiving), Texans, Chargers, Titans, Broncos, Raiders. They have a good chance of winning all of those games. To me, the most threatening opponent in that final stretch is probably the Cowboys due to how explosive their offense can be. The Texans, Titans, and Raiders should all be wins (so long as nothing stupid happens), and while the Chargers and Broncos have both beaten the Chiefs already this season, I just can’t see them beating KC at home to sweep them on the year. Maybe that’s wishful thinking, but I guess time will tell.

The Chiefs’ season isn’t over. But they need to be better, starting this week. If they can go out there and beat the Colts (regardless of how close or ugly the game might be), they’re back in business. If not? We may be talking about the 2026 draft sooner rather than later.

The Chiefs are back.

In fact, they’re more than back. The Chiefs are SO back.

Kansas City defeated the Detroit Lions 30-17 on Sunday night. They’ve scored at least 28 points in each of their last 3 games, in which Mahomes has accounted for 10 total touchdowns while only turning the ball over once. The wide receiver corps, which hasn’t been complete for almost a year and a half, is going to have the combination of Rice-Worthy-Hollywood on the field together Sunday for the first time. The defense, while not quite as good as it has been for the past couple of years, is still excellent (even with the lack of pass rush). Even the weakest part of the team thus far, the running game, has looked somewhat competent over the past few weeks.

But when I say the Chiefs are back, you want to know how I can really tell?

The conspiracies are back! Yes indeed, the National Football League is once again rigging the games so that the team from a small market can win!

Everything about this narrative is goofy, absurd, and largely built on the shoulders of anonymous X users who are upset that their favorite NFL team lost a game. I hate all of it. In this day and age, teams that lose to the Chiefs didn’t lose because they got outplayed. No, they only lost because big bad Roger Goodell wanted them to! No other solution makes any sense!

The “Kansas City Refs” conspiracy makes it harder to enjoy being a Chiefs fan as well (I know, we have it so hard). At times, it feels like I’m not allowed to be happy that my team won because they “cheated” in order to win. When everyone pretends that the only reason that your team won is because the league wanted them to, it makes talking to people who aren’t Chiefs fans miserable at times. The whole thing just makes football feel less like football and more like politics.

One of the things that is so frustrating about this issue is how people act as though no team other than the Chiefs has gotten a call that benefited them. Teams benefit from bad or missed calls every single week. Yet you rarely hear about them. If it didn’t benefit the Chiefs, it’s probably not worth talking about for a lot of people!

To me, this narrative truly began in Super Bowl 57 against the Philadelphia Eagles. If you remember at all how this game ended, you know exactly what I’m talking about.

Bradberry holds JuJu. A flag is thrown. And it begins.

On almost every single sports show the next day, the flag is the headline. “The Chiefs won, I guess, but what a terrible call!” is the sentiment echoed on almost every show other than First Things First—Nick Wright is too busy celebrating to let such talk dominate the discussion that day.

For the record, Bradberry holds JuJu on this play. Is it a ticky-tack call? Maybe a little. Was it a hold? Yes. Both the officials and Bradberry came out after the game and said that it was a hold. That should’ve been the end of the discussion.

As you’ve probably guessed by now, it wasn’t. The narrative did quiet down a bit the following season (with a couple of exceptions), but it reached a fever pitch last year. The combination of the Chiefs going 11-0 in one-score games reignited the theories. “The NFL wants the Chiefs to win because of Taylor Swift!”

Then, Kansas City got blown out in the Super Bowl and started this season 0-2. The buzz around the referees quieted back down. Of course, there was still the occasional armchair referee who would post some missed holding call occasionally, but I feel that the discourse around the NFL being rigged had somewhat quieted after the first two games of the year.

Fast forwarding to now, the conspiracy theories are back and louder than ever. It doesn’t help that America’s beloved Detroit Lions have done nothing but complain since the game ended. Up to Thursday (yes, THURSDAY), I was seeing Detroit news outlets complaining about the officiating. 4 days after the game was over! It’s not just the Detroit media complaining either—the Lions themselves are hopping on the conspiracy train too! Safety Kerby Joseph went on a rampage after the game, sending out over 2 dozen tweets about the officiating (as any mature adult would do)! Brian Branch, who punched JuJu Smith-Schuster for no clear reason, claimed after the game (and I quote) that the Chiefs were “bullying him!” It’s the first time that I’ve heard a professional athlete complain about being bullied. In fact, he might be the first grown man to complain about being bullied since Richard Nixon!

The discourse online surrounding this game has been absolutely insane. Because nobody can fathom that the Chiefs might simply be better than the Lions, many have joined the Lions and complained about the officiating. Kansas City, who had been flagged 13 times the previous week against Jacksonville, was not flagged once. The Lions were flagged 4 times. All of them were legitimate:

1.) Illegal formation on a trick play that the NBC rules analyst (shoutout Terry!) confirmed was illegal.

2.) Delay of game penalty that the Lions took while they argued with the officials about being flagged for the illegal formation.

3.) Pass interference that, despite what you’ve seen online, was pass interference.

4.) Roughing the passer where Mahomes was leveled by Aiden Hutchinson about 20 minutes after getting rid of the ball.

All of these were penalties. And here’s the thing: even if none of these were called, Detroit still likely loses. It was a 13-point loss!

Now of course, people are pointing to some “questionable calls” that went unflagged by the Chiefs. The big one that many are pointing to is a pass to Travis Kelce that was ruled complete on the field, but on review, appears to have maybe been incomplete. Here’s the problem for anyone arguing that this wasn’t a catch:

1.) Kansas City (aware that it might’ve been incomplete), quickly snapped the ball in order to prevent the officials from taking another look at the pass. Fun fact: every team in the league can do the same thing. In fact, it’s quite common to see!

2.) After the Chiefs got another play off, good old Terry (the rules analyst) came on and said that it was actually a catch, since the ball didn’t move when it came in contact with the ground. Therefore, even if the Lions had challenged the play, it would’ve stood.

People are also pointing to multiple missed holding calls and… look. I’ve seen the clips. Yes, there is holding in them. That is true.

THERE IS HOLDING ON EVERY SINGLE PLAY. EVERY. SINGLE. ONE.

Officials missing holding calls is not Chiefs exclusive! Go ahead and watch a full NFL game and pay close attention to the offensive line. If you don’t see a single missed holding call, you either weren’t paying close enough attention, or you just watched something that has never happened in recorded human history. If you look close enough, you will see about 1,000 holds during each game that aren’t called. That’s football.

I’m so sick of this narrative. I want it gone. If we’re going to call out every single slightly questionable call when it goes Kansas City’s way, then how about we do the same for every other NFL team?

I’m excited to see what the conspiracy theorists will cook up after the Raiders game.

Alright, look. I don’t want to jump to any conclusions. It’s just one game, and it was against the Baltimore Ravens defense (currently the worst defense in the league in most categories). It’s not like we dropped 37 on the top defense in football or something.

But man, the Chiefs are so back!

The game against the Baltimore Ravens on Sunday was not at all what I was expecting it to be. I went into the game thinking that the Chiefs would have a shot to win, especially with Xavier Worthy returning. I thought (and hoped) that Worthy would provide a spark, but I didn’t expect him to see a lot of balls thrown his way.

I also wasn’t expecting a high scoring game. While Baltimore has a very good offense, the Chiefs’ defense had quietly been one of the best in the league over the past couple of weeks. They’d shut down Lamar Jackson in their last 2 meetings as well, only allowing 30 points total (10 in the AFC Championship, 20 in last year’s season opener).

I was wrong about everything that I thought going into the game. The game started off exactly how I expected it to: the Ravens got the ball, drove down the field effortlessly, and scored. KC’s run defense, which has been a strength of the team over the past 2 years, looked unable to stop Derrick Henry, who immediately ripped off a couple of chunk runs. In a flash, the score was 7-0.

I wasn’t particularly worried. Something that has been consistent with the Chiefs defense is starting games slow. Maybe it’s just me, but I feel that the KC often seems overmatched at the start of almost every game. It never lasts though. They’ve been the best scoring defense since 2023 for a reason.

KC’s offense took the field, and things looked good… but not great. They methodically drove down the field but were forced to settle for a field goal after a dropped pass from Pacheco on 2^nd down, and then a pass that was tipped at the line of scrimmage on 3^rd down. Typical Chiefs, kicking a field goal to respond to a touchdown. It’s been the story of this offense for 3 years now.

The Ravens again looked unstoppable on their second drive, moving the ball easily down the field. At this point, I was beginning to get a little concerned. Yes, it was early in the game, but the Chiefs offense looked like… well, the Chiefs offense, while the Ravens offense looked like the buzzsaw that they’d been for the first 3 weeks of the season.

Here’s where the game completely changed. On 1^st and 10, the Chiefs brought a blitz that clearly caught Lamar off guard. He lofted up what I would say was an ill-advised pass to tight end Mark Andrews. The throw wasn’t actually a terrible one, but it isn’t a throw that would usually be made by Lamar. Not a bad throw, more so just reckless.

Chiefs’ linebacker Leo Chenal was in coverage against Andrews, and made an outstanding play to intercept the ball, wheeling around while the ball was mid-flight and picking it off. I don’t think that Andrews did Lamar any favors on the play either. He seemed to turn a moment too late, and by the time he had come back for the ball, it was already in the hands of Chenal.

I truly believe that this play was the turning point in the game. Before the play, the Ravens looked unstoppable. Here’s what they did on each drive following the interception:

Punt, turnover on downs, fumble lost, field goal, field goal, turnover on downs, turnover on downs, touchdown.

After the interception, the Chiefs outscored the Ravens 34-6 until a late garbage time TD from Ravens’ backup running back Justice Hill. Kansas City was completely dominant.

Let me tell you, it was bizarre having a Chiefs game where I wasn’t stressed out during an ad break in the 4^th quarter. I must say, it was pretty nice!

Patrick Mahomes played the best game he has so far this season, throwing for 270 yards and 4 touchdowns. As I’m sure you’ve heard about a thousand times by now, that was his first time throwing for 4 touchdowns in a game since October of 2023. When I first heard that stat, I couldn’t believe it. Then I thought about it for a second, and realized that it sounded about right.

The largest reason for Kansas City’s success (other than the fact that they were playing Baltimore’s defense) was Xavier Worthy. He made a notable impact on just about every aspect of the passing game, including making some plays himself. I had assumed that he wouldn’t be much more than a decoy coming into the game,* but he was a large part of the gameplan for Kansas City, finishing the day leading the team in both rushing (38) and receiving yards (83).

*Something that flies a bit under the radar with Worthy is his speed. I don’t know if you know this, but he actually has the fastest 40-yard dash time in the history of the NFL. You’d think they’d talk about that more!

It was very noticeable that Worthy was taking extra care to protect himself as well. There were a couple of plays where he probably could’ve gotten a few more yards, but opted to either step out of bounds or just go down before getting hit. I loved the caution— I’d rather him get a few less yards and stay healthy than trying to be over-aggressive and knock himself out for the season.

This game was a huge step in the right direction for Kansas City’s offense. I’m very interested to see if the offensive explosion was simply due to the Baltimore defense, or if Worthy being back has truly opened up the offense once again. For the first time in years, I’m excited to see what the offense will do in this next game against the Jaguars on Monday Night Football.

It’s the 3rd quarter of the 2023 NFL opening game. The Kansas City Chiefs are driving down the field against the Detroit Lions, trying to extend their 14-7 lead. Patrick Mahomes drops back to pass on 3^rd and 6, surveying the field. He sees Kadarius Toney streaking across the field, wide open. Mahomes sets and throws, a perfect pass per usual. The ball hits Toney in the hands.

He doesn’t catch it. Instead, the ball bounces off of Toney’s hands into the air… right into the hands of rookie Lions DB Brian Branch. Branch runs the football 50 yards back for his first career pick-6. A game that had seemed firmly in the Chiefs’ control instantly was flipped on its head. The Lions went on to beat the Chiefs 21-20.

The Chiefs weren’t in the exact same situation on Sunday, but it felt similar. The Chiefs are trailing 10-13, but a methodical 14-play drive has Kansas City at the Eagles’ 6-yard line. Patrick Mahomes drops back to pass, and sees his favorite target, Travis Kelce. Kelce isn’t looking at the QB, but Mahomes knows that Kelce will turn around. They’ve pulled off this play hundreds of times.

This time, it’s different. Mahomes throws the ball a split-second too early, or maybe Kelce turns a split-second too late. Regardless of what exactly went wrong, the result is the same. The ball bounces off Kelce’s hands, and once again lands in the hands of an opposing rookie defender. This time, it’s S Andrew Mukuba, who returns the interception 41 yards down the field (and would’ve likely had a pick-6, if not for the heroic efforts of LT Josh Simmons).

Just like the Lions game 2 years prior, the game was flipped completely on its head in a single play. The Eagles went on to beat the Chiefs 20-17.

Let me start by saying this: Sunday’s loss was not all on Kelce. Prior to the interception, Kelce had been the most productive pass catcher on the day, catching all 4 of his targets for 61 yards. It wasn’t a vintage Kelce day, but it was shaping out to be a very solid performance from the future Hall of Famer. A lot of the loss ultimately falls on Kelce’s shoulders, but I think that it’d be unfair to completely blame him for this loss.

To me, the largest problem with Sunday’s game (and really the Chiefs offense in its entirety) is that outside of Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce, this team has no healthy skill position players on the offense that I’d say are above-average. The lack of talent on offense has been a problem for a few years now, but the Chiefs have been able to mask it with a combination of devil magic and the Mahomes-Kelce combo. What we’ve seen in these first two games really isn’t much different from what we’ve seen the past two years. The difference now is that Kelce just isn’t the same player that he was even 2 years ago. Because of that, the Chiefs’ lack of talent has become even more evident.

The Chiefs, and more specifically Brett Veach, get a lot of credit for how well they’ve drafted over the years— and they should! Kansas City has found some great pieces in the draft over the years, especially in the later rounds. Veach has emphasized building the defense through the draft, and this strategy has paid off for the defense as a unit. They haven’t had to worry as much about paying guys like Willie Gay and L’Jarius Sneed because they’ve done such a great job of drafting defensively.

The problem is, Kansas City seems to be incapable of drafting good skill-position players, at least since Mahomes has been there. The Chiefs have drafted 12 of them, and I’d say that maybe 4 of them have worked out.

2018: Tremon Smith (Punt returner taken in the 6^th round. Only played one season for KC and primarily played defense.)

2019: Mecole Hardman (WR taken in the 2^nd round. Not a bad player, but taken far too early— DK Metcalf and Terry McLaurin were taken after him and Darwin Thompson (RB taken in the 6^th round. Only played 2 seasons for the Chiefs, and has 225 career rushing yards on 64 attempts.)

2020: Clyde Edwards-Helaire (RB taken in the 1^st round. Arguably the worst pick of the 12. Edwards-Helaire was taken FAR too high, likely because he was the RB of a historically great LSU team.)

2021: Noah Gray (TE taken in the 5^th round. Gray is the first player that I’d say was a good selection relative to where he was taken. He’s been a solid contributor over the years.) and Cornell Powell (WR taken in the 5^th round. Has played in 3 career games as a special teamer.)

2022: Skyy Moore (WR taken in the 2^nd round. Has 1 career touchdown. In contention with Edwards-Helaire as the worst pick of the 12.) and Isiah Pacheco (RB taken in the 7^th round. While Pacheco has been bad this year, I’d still consider him a good pick, as he was a solid running back for his first couple of years before getting injured last year.)

2023: Rashee Rice (WR taken in the 2^nd round. Maybe the best pick that KC has made, especially considering where in the draft they got him. Unfortunately hasn’t played in about a year due to injury and a need for speed.)

2024: Xavier Worthy (WR taken in the 1^st round. Another great pick, at least from what we’ve seen so far.) and Jared Wiley (TE taken in the 4^th round. Has 1 career catch in 7 games, missed a lot of last year with injury.)

2025: Jalen Royals (WR taken in the 4^th round. Yet to play a game due to injury) and Brashard Smith (RB taken in the 7^th round. Hasn’t been involved yet, but we’ll see what happens at the season goes on.)

Looking at the list, there’s something of a trend: the Chiefs don’t take skill-position guys in the first few rounds, with the only exceptions being Hardman, Edwards-Helaire, Rice, and Worthy. I think that this is due in large part to the fact that Kansas City seems to have faith that Mahomes will be able to mask whatever deficits they may have offensively, and can in turn spend the majority of their draft capital on the defense. Obviously, this way of thinking has proved correct— they’ve made 3 straight Super Bowls, due in large part to Mahomes making magic happening with the limited pieces around him— but it’s also come at the expense of the explosive offense that the Chiefs have had in the past.

I say all of that to say this: Mahomes needs help. In the past, he’s been able to make do with his limited resources, but that simply is not a sustainable strategy. You’re seeing it this year: the entire Chiefs offense is Patrick Mahomes. They don’t have any running backs creating holes, and they don’t have any wide receivers getting open. Kelce, while still very good, is not the player that he once was.

Here's the good thing about all of this: help is on the way. Xavier Worthy will hopefully be back in the next couple of weeks, and Rashee Rice will return from his suspension in Week 7. Just having those two players back should provide a massive boost to the offense, and I’d even go so far as to say that it will fix the problems that the Chiefs have had passing the ball.

However, even once Worthy and Rice return, there’s still a problem: the running back room.

I love Isiah Pacheco. I’ve loved him since his rookie year when I saw him take his first snap. I love how hard he runs, and I love that he gives everything that he has every single snap. The guy is a fighter--- he played through Super Bowl 57 with a broken hand and torn labrum, and he rushed back from a broken leg to play late in the season last year.

Unfortunately, he’s not very good. I don’t think he’s bad, but I don’t think that he should be the starting running back for the team. He doesn’t have the vision, he’s not a great pass catcher, and he doesn’t have a ton of speed or agility either. Again: I love the guy! But Kansas City needs a running back upgrade. Whether they trade for someone, or that guy turns out to be a fellow 7^th round pick in Brashard Smith, it needs to be someone else.

The Chiefs play the Giants this Sunday night with their backs somewhat up against the wall. This is a must-win game for them. If they lose to the New York Giants, my faith will truly be shaken. For now, I’m holding strong. This team can still make the Super Bowl. But changes need to be made first.

Before I go, I just wanted to quickly share some news… I started a podcast! If you’re interested, here’s the first episode on Spotify (which is about the Royals):

If you choose to listen to said podcast, please keep in mind that I’ve never podcasted before--- give me some grace! I’m planning on getting an episode out sometime after this post goes out, so be on the lookout for that! Thanks for reading, and I’ll see you next week after the Giants game!

The Kansas City Chiefs had a good run. But it’s all over now. On Friday night, the defending AFC Champs fell to the Los Angeles Chargers in Super Bowl 60, 27-21. The Chiefs tried their best to rally late, but in the end, they just couldn’t come back from an early hole that they put themselves into. Credit to the Chargers: they played a great game start to finish on both offense and defense. Justin Herbert finally has himself a ring. When interviewed after the game, Chargers HC Jim Harbaugh said, “It’s monumental. September 5th will go down in Charger lore, in my opinion.”

…wait, what? That wasn’t the Super Bowl?

Sorry, I didn’t actually watch the game. I just looked at the Chargers social media and made assumptions based on what I saw:

The Chargers took quite the victory lap. And in all fairness, they did win the game fair and square, and they’re allowed to do what they’d like… but also, it’s a bit excessive, especially from an official team social media account.*

*I am aware that the Chargers social media does tend to be a bit less “corporate” then some other team social media accounts, but it still felt a bit excessive.

In all seriousness though, I don’t think that the Kansas City Chiefs’ dynasty is actually dead. In fact, I oddly enough feel a bit better about the Chiefs after that game than I did coming into it. I know that might be something of a crazy take, especially because the Chiefs lost both the game and their #1 wide receiver (at least until Rashee Rice gets back from his suspension). But I really do feel better about this team now than I did before Friday night.

That’s for one simple reason: Patrick Mahomes showed me that he’s still Patrick Mahomes.

The Chiefs have been to the last 3 Super Bowls, and won 2 of them. It’s been an insane run for them. The first year that they made the Super Bowl, Mahomes won both league and Super Bowl MVP, looked great all season without Tyreek Hill, and set the single-season record for total yards. The second year was a lot rougher. Mahomes still looked good, but his receivers couldn’t catch anything, leading the league in drops.

Last year, it was a different story. The Chiefs went 15-2, and Mahomes still delivered in the clutch, but he just didn’t look the same. He was great (as always) when the playoffs rolled around, but something seemed off for all of the regular season. He looked tight all season, almost like he was afraid of making a mistake. Looking back on it now, it makes some sense why that’d be the case. You may not have heard, but the Chiefs were actually trying to be the first NFL team in history to three-peat last year. I can see how the weight of history could make you tense up a bit.
Then, the Chiefs got blown out in the Super Bowl. The game score reads 40-22, but anyone who watched that game will know that it was never remotely close. Mahomes looked incredibly tense the entire game, and it didn’t help that he was constantly under pressure.

I was nervous that Mahomes’ play in the Super Bowl might leak over into this season— and for the first 3 or so drives, it looked like that was the case. Now, I don’t think all of the slow start on offense was on Mahomes. It was very clear that the Chiefs had centered the entire offense around Xavier Worthy— so when he went down on the 4th play of the game, you could see that KC had no idea what to do. They looked completely dysfunctional on offense. They managed to cobble together a couple of solid drives for field goals before halftime, but it was clear that the loss of Worthy had them reeling. Mahomes had completed 12/21 passes for 98 yards. Through a half, I was ready to come on here and actually say that the season was doomed.

But when the Chiefs came out of the halftime tunnel, it’s like they’d traveled through a time machine. Mahomes looked like vintage Mahomes in the second half. The Chiefs had 3 offensive possessions in the last 30 minutes, and they scored on all 3 of them. For the first time in about a year, the Chiefs were exciting to watch on offense again. They weren’t taking huge shots down the field like they did back in the old days, but Mahomes looked like he was playing loose and free.

Look, at the end of the day, the Chiefs lost. But if Mahomes plays like he did on Friday for the rest of the season, I have faith that this team could go back to the AFC Championship game and perhaps even the Super Bowl.

With all of that being said… just because I have faith doesn’t mean that there weren’t some (a lot of) things that worried me.

For one, the defense was a PROBLEM. The amount of Chargers players that were wide open on plays was insane. It felt like every time that Herbert had more than 2 seconds to stand in the pocket (which was on pretty much every play of the game— more on that in a second) he would find a wide-open receiver down the field. Herbert was spectacular, yes, but I think that the Chiefs defense made him look spectacular in some ways. The lack of pressure on defense was a huge problem for Kansas City all night. It seemed like whatever they did, they simply couldn’t get back to the QB— despite the fact that the Chargers were without their star right tackle Rashawn Slater after he suffered a torn patellar tendon in the offseason. I do think that the field conditions might’ve played a part in it— while the broadcast made a big point of talking about the new-and-improved turf that the NFL had sewn into the ground for the game, I was watching Chiefs defenders falling down all night. Regardless of the reason, Kansas City has to figure out ways to tighten up the defense, and they need to do it fast.

As for the offense, while Mahomes looked great, he was about the only one who did. The pass catchers struggled. Travis Kelce caught a touchdown pass on a busted coverage late in the game, but only had one catch outside of that. Hollywood Brown (who quickly became Mahomes’ primary target after the Worthy injury) caught 10 balls for 99 yards, but seemed to be afflicted by a mysterious illness that caused him to immediately fall down after catching a pass.* JuJu Smith-Schuster… actually, JuJu looked pretty good. Why didn’t we get him more touches?
*Doctors are calling it Tylerian Lockettosis, per Adam Schefter.

The run game didn’t do much at all either, but I kind of feel like that was less of the running backs’ fault, and more because the Chiefs were playing from behind for almost the entire game. If the run game continues to be lackluster, I’ll worry about it then, but it’s not a huge concern of mine for the moment.

The Chiefs play the Eagles this Sunday, and it goes without saying that it’s a huge game. This game really isn’t one that Kansas City can afford to lose— dropping to 0-2 in a division as tough as the AFC West is not at all ideal. The Eagles are actually coming off a game similar to the one the Chiefs just played (except they actually won theirs) in which Jalen Hurts played fantastic— but he was pretty much the only one that did. The Eagles will have Jalen Carter for this game, which may be a problem for a Chiefs O-Line that is still working through some growing pains. If the Chiefs want to have any hope of winning this game, the defense is going to have to step it up, and Mahomes needs to play like a superhero again. We’ll see if they can pull it off. Regardless of the end outcome, I think that Sunday will tell us a lot about the kind of team that the Chiefs are this season— whether it’s one that’s holding the Lombardi at the end of the year, or one that simply isn’t good enough to make it there.

The 7-month gap between the Super Bowl and the start of the next NFL season is excruciatingly long. When your team gets molly whopped in said Super Bowl, the gap manages to feel even longer. Thankfully for all football fans, we’re finally… still a few weeks out from any meaningful* football being played. Boo.

*Notice that I emphasized “meaningful” in that last sentence, because while yes, the preseason has started, if you consider that to be entertaining, there might be something wrong with you. The only reason that anyone bothers to watch the preseason games is because by the time that they roll around, NFL fans are so starved for football that they’re willing to watch Tyler Shough duke it out against Trey Lance. The entire preseason is a complete crapshoot, and that’s fine— they’re meant to be glorified scrimmages, not actual games! Just stop marketing it to me as if it’s much-watch TV.

I’m heading off to college at the end of the week, and so I decided to write these predictions now, just so that I can make sure that they’ll actually end up getting out. As I said in my last post, I have absolutely no idea what my upload schedule will look like when I start school (not that it’s exactly consistent now either), so I figure that I might as well write these now and take the risk of looking stupid if/when someone goes down with a major injury.

Before we start, just to remind everyone: yes, I am a Chiefs fan. Yes, there is a very good chance that some bias creeps into my predictions. But I will try to keep these predictions as unbiased and objective as I am able. Today I’m going to be predicting what the AFC will look like come January, and I plan to release my NFC predictions a bit later in the week. I look forward to looking back at these predictions in February and laughing at how wrong I was with some of these.

1. Baltimore Ravens (14-3)

It’s not a particularly hot take to say that the Baltimore Ravens will have a great regular season. The Ravens always have a good regular season— they’ve gone 35-16 over the past 3. It hurts my Chiefs-loving heart to put someone other than the Chiefs as the #1 seed, but I just can’t see Kansas City managing to grab it with how difficult their schedule is. As for the Ravens, everyone already knows what’s going to happen. They’ll have a dominant regular season. Lamar will be great, leading people to once again (stupidly) ask themselves if he’s the best QB in the league. They’ll look unstoppable throughout, with the occasional odd loss to a bad team (trust me, it happens every year). Then the playoffs will arrive, and none of that will matter! Sure, there’s always the chance that Lamar could conquer his playoff demons, but I’ll believe it when I see it.

2. Buffalo Bills (13-4)

In a similar vein to the Ravens, the Bills will also have a great regular season that ultimately ends in disappointment. Josh Allen will be spectacular week in and week out, and all of the talking heads on sports TV will talk about how “this is the Bills’ year!” Rex Ryan will inevitably claim once again that Josh Allen is the best QB in the league, and once again, none of it will mean anything! I know that it may seem like I’m just copying what I said about the Ravens (and I kind of am), but at the end of the day, Buffalo is kind of the AFC East version of Baltimore. When the Bills do end up losing in the playoffs this year, I hope it isn’t to Kansas City.

3. Kansas City Chiefs (13-4)

As I said earlier, it hurt me to put the Chiefs down at the #3 seed, but I feel that it’s a realistic projection for them. They have a tougher division this year, and while I have no doubt that they’ll win it, there’s a good chance that they won’t be going undefeated in the division like they have in past years (last year they were 5-1, but the game that they lost was when they rested all of their starters in week 18). It’s just a tough schedule for them overall as well, and I don’t think that it can really be counted on for them to go 15-2 again like they did last year. I actually think that they’ll be better than they were last year, but it’s hard to win 15 games for 2 years in a row. Even though I’m predicting that they’ll take a step back as a team, I do think that the offseason additions to the O-Line and WR room will bring back the explosive Mahomes offense of years past.

4. Houston Texans (12-5)

In the eyes of many, the Texans had a somewhat disappointing season last year… which is odd for a team that won their division, made the playoffs, and won a game there (even if it was against the Los Angeles Chokers). But if you look back to some of the predictions before 2024 for Houston, you can see why people might look at it as a letdown year. The Texans had the reigning Rookie of the Year in CJ Stroud, a very good receiving core with Nico Collins, Tank Dell, and Stefon Diggs, and a solid defense. They were a dark horse Super Bowl pick. Obviously, things didn’t go how they thought they would. After week 2, the Texans didn’t have all of their skill position players healthy at once for the rest of the year, and Stroud took a step back, in part due to very poor offensive line play. While Houston didn’t do much to address the offensive line in the offseason, I still think that they’ll win their division without much of a problem, and be right back in the playoffs for the 3rd straight season.

5. New England Patriots (11-6)

This pick is probably my hottest take on the list. It’s also probably the pick that I’m the least confident will come to fruition. The thing that makes me the highest on this year’s Patriots team is the hire of Mike Vrabel. I don’t think his significance can be understated— this is a guy who managed to get the #1 seed with a bad Titans team led by a bad quarterback (unless you’d like to argue that Ryan Tannehill is secretly really good). Vrabel has (I think?) a better quarterback this time around in Drake Maye, and a defense that has some interesting pieces. What gives me the most pause about this team is the lack of weapons on the offense. While 2nd-round RB TreVeyon Henderson has shown flashes in the preseason, they really don’t have any other difference makers on offense. And no, I don’t consider 64 year-old Stefon Diggs to be a difference maker at this point in his career.

6. Los Angeles Chargers (10-7)

Yeah, we know, the Chargers will be good this year. It’s not like it’s going to mean anything at the end of the day. I know that I just made a big case for Mike Vrabel changing things for the Patriots, and so you’d think I’d feel the same way about the Chargers, but I have already seen a year of the Chargers with Jim Harbaugh, and it looked remarkably similar to how it looked with Brandon Staley. Obviously there were improvements, but the overall outcome of the season was the same. The Chargers have also lost lineman Rashawn Slater for the season, which is terrible news for them (especially because they just signed him to a large contract extension). They’ll run the ball. They’ll make the playoffs. And then Justin “this kid is something special” Herbert will implode.

7. Pittsburgh Steelers (9-8)

“Wow, the Steelers got Aaron Rodgers! He sure looks good in practice! Could this finally be the year that the Steelers break through and win the AFC?”

NO.

The Steelers will go 9-8. Aaron Rodgers is not a good quarterback anymore, and why people still think that he is, I will never understand. Mike Tomlin, while a very good head coach, hasn’t been able to succeed without having the highest paid defense in the league. The Steelers are a very solid organization, but the idea that getting a washed-up Rodgers is going to change anything is ridiculous in my opinion.

8. Cincinnati Bengals (9-8)

Why should this year be any different for the Bengals than last year? Their defense is going to stink. Tre Henderickson is reportedly being shopped by Cincinnati now that they haven’t been able to sign him all offseason. The Bengals added no one in free agency. Yes, they resigned JaMarr Chase and Tee Higgins in the offseason, but we’ve already seen what the Bengals look like with those two. If Joe Burrow is the top 4 QB that everyone thinks he is, he should be able to make due with just one great receiver and allow the Bengals front office to spend money on the defense. I’m not trying to argue that it isn’t a good thing to have both Chase and Higgins— But when your defense last year was the main reason that you missed the playoffs, it seems like it’d be a good idea to invest in that side of the ball and risk taking a slight step back on offense in return.

9. Denver Broncos (8-9)

For my entire Chiefs fandom, I haven’t hated the Broncos. They’ve been the Chiefs’ punching bag for as long as I’ve been a fan. I’ve even felt sorry for them at some points. After this offseason, I’m so sick of the Broncos. The amount of hype that a mediocre quarterback like Bo Nix has gotten in the offseason is insane. Yes, the guy had a solid rookie year! But I think that his rookie year was his ceiling, not his floor. Bo Nix isn’t some young raw talent. He was a 5-year college quarterback. We’ve seen everything that Bo Nix can do— he isn’t about to suddenly surprise everyone. They’re not winning the AFC West, and I think that Bo Nix is going to be somewhat exposed in his second year. Maybe it’s just the Chiefs bias in me.

10. Indianapolis Colts (8-9)

The fact that the Colts don’t even know who their starting QB is would make you think that I’d predict them having a worse record, but Indianapolis is just one of those teams who somehow manages to be in the playoff hunt every year. Their defense always seems to be just good enough to win them a couple of games. Their offense… well, it depends on what Anthony Richardson you get. While I’m on the topic of Richardson, I’d like to say that he should obviously be the starter. The fact that there’s any question on whether he should start over Daniel “4 years, 160 million” Jones is downright absurd. We know what Daniel Jones is! He’s a bad quarterback who’s a decent rusher. I don’t think that we’ve seen enough of Anthony Richardson to know what he is yet. Don’t get me wrong— Richardson has been bad. He has a career completion percentage of 50.6%, which is beyond terrible. But he’s also played only 15 games in his career. The Colts need to give him the 2025 season to prove that he can be their QB of the future. If he’s bad, you can move on. But you can’t give up on a guy when he hasn’t even played a seasons’ worth of games yet.

11. New York Jets (7-10)

I’m curious to see what the Jets do this season, because there’s a very good chance that they end up being a couple wins better than this projection. I like Aaron Glenn as a coaching hire, and I’m intrigued to see what he can do with a defense that is actually somewhat healthy. Justin Fields also interests me. He played well last year in Pittsburgh when Russell Wilson was injured, and I look forward to seeing what he can do with his old college teammate Garrett Wilson.

12. Jacksonville Jaguars (7-10)

Wouldn’t you know it, but Travis Hunter (the guy that Jacksonville traded up to get) is already injured. It’s almost as if playing both offense and defense takes a larger toll on your body than just playing one or the other! Who could’ve seen that coming? The Jags should be better this year with new head coach Liam Coen, but I’ve lost so much faith in Trevor Lawrence being an above-average quarterback that I just can’t put them any higher than 7 wins.

13. Las Vegas Raiders (6-11)

The Raiders could definitely win more than 6 games this year, but I simply can’t picture the Raiders being a good football team. In my brain, the Raiders are forever a bad team, even if they really improved this offseason with adding Pete Carrroll, Geno Smith, and Ashton Jeanty.

14. Miami Dolphins (6-11)

I really think that the league has figured Mike McDaniel out, and I think he’ll be fired after this year. It’s hard to understand how a team that has De’Von Achane, Tyreek Hill, and Jaylen Waddle could miss the playoffs. I know that Tua was injured last year, but good head coaches find a way to make things work, even if their quarterback is injured. Obviously your offense isn’t going to be anywhere near as explosive when the QB gets hurt, but it also shouldn’t turn into the worst offense in football when you have the weapons that the Dolphins have. Even if Tua stays healthy for the entire 2025 season (which is certainly not a guarantee), the Dolphins have already shown us that they just aren’t a tough football team. They’re flashy and fun when they’re clicking, but that isn’t what wins you football games.

15. Tennessee Titans (5-12)

Cam Ward may very well have a great rookie season and shock the world… but I can’t see that happening. I just don’t know who the Titans have. Their WR1 Calvin Ridley is a WR2 on most other teams, they have a solid running back in Tony Pollard, and then I couldn’t name a single Titans player outside of them. While that might just be my fault for not being a Titans fan, I have to imagine that most people don’t know many other players on the Titans either.

16. Cleveland Browns (3-14)

The Browns are a mess, and I legitimately don’t know if they’ll even manage to win 3 games. The love of Mel Kiper’s life (Shedeur Sanders) was behind Dillon Gabriel on the depth chart, but after a promising first preseason game, it looked as if he might force the Browns to move him up. Then he got hurt, and he’ll now probably have to wait either most of 2025 or even until 2026 to get a chance to play in the regular season. Their 2nd round RB Quinshon Judkins appears to be able to sign with the team now that the battery charges against him have been dropped, but even so, his off-the-field situation isn’t a good look for a Browns team that already has Deshaun Watson on its roster. I feel sorry for Cleveland fans. At least they have the Cavaliers?

I’d like to lead off this post with an apology for my incredibly inconsistent uploads this summer. It’s been a pretty busy summer for me, and as a result, I haven’t gotten as many chances to write for the blog as I would’ve liked. I’m not sure how often I’ll be able to post this fall either, as I’m entering into my freshman year of college and thus will DEFINITELY not have a whole lot of time to post. I’m going to do my best to keep posting (especially once Chiefs season starts, I’d like to have a recap post for each game), but I can’t promise anything in terms of a consistent post schedule. Please bear with me as I begin this next chapter of my life, and thanks in advance for your understanding.

Alright, now onto the Royals! In my last post, I made a blueprint for how the Royals could be in postseason contention by the end of their first 5 series out of the All-Star break. While I haven’t been right about everything, things have still gone well to this point. I predicted that the Royals would need to go 8-4 through the first 12, and 9-6 through 15 to still be in serious contention for a playoff spot. I’ve been one off so far— they’ve gone 7-5 through their first 12… but a series win over the Blue Jays would still put them right where I said they needed to be. Here’s a recap of each series so far in the 2nd half for KC:

1.) @Marlins

What I said needed to happen: Sweep them.

What happened: Lost the series.

This series easily could’ve gone Kansas City’s way. Game 1 might’ve been (and I’ve said this about a lot of games this year) the low point of the season. After battling back from a 0-4 deficit to tie the game in the 9th at 5-5, the Royals managed to take a 7-5 lead in the 10th, thanks to a 2-run single by the returning veteran Adam Frazier. For a moment, it appeared that the Royals might start off the second half of the season strong… and then Carlos Estevéz blew the game, giving up a single to cut the lead to 1, and then a walk-off 2-run homer. It felt like the kind of game that the Royals win 9 times out of 10. A similar situation happened in game 2. The Royals were held scoreless through 7 innings before Salvador Perez (who I’ll talk more about later) crushed a ball 413 feet to center that tied the game up at 1 apiece. This homer didn’t end up mattering, as Lucas Erceg promptly gave up a 2-run double in the 8th to lose the game for KC. Luckily for the Royals, they managed to take the final game of the series 7-4, despite the best efforts of Andrew Hoffman to blow a 7 run lead in the 9th inning. Even with the Royals salvaging the final game of the series, it felt like a huge missed opportunity to stack up some wins right out of the All-Star break— and with the Cubs next up, things weren’t looking good.

2.) @Cubs

What I said needed to happen: Take a single game.

What happened: Won the series.

I was SHOCKED that the Royals managed to find a way to win this series, especially when it felt like they had an auto-loss entering it, with 45 year-old Rich Hill being slated to start the 2nd game of the series. With that in mind, it felt like a necessity to win game 1 if they wanted any chance of winning the series. So when the Royals fell behind 4-1 to the Cubs in the 2nd inning, I’ll be honest and admit that I thought that the Royals were getting swept. I was fully prepared to write about how the season was over.

Then, Salvador Perez stepped to the plate in the 4th with 2 outs and a runner on. Kansas City was down 3 runs when he stepped to the plate. I don’t have the stats in front of me to prove this, but I’d guess that the number of games that KC has won when they’ve trailed by 3 or more runs is, uh, not many. Starter Noah Cameron had just been lit up the inning before, and with the Cubs offense being as good as it is, you had to assume that they’d be getting more. It felt hopeless.

But as he’s done so many times in his career, Salvy gave the Royals hope. On the first pitch of the at-bat, Salvy swung and belted a ball into the left field stands to cut the lead to 1. I can’t emphasize enough how much different the game felt after this homer. Yes, Kansas City still trailed by a run, but Salvy’s 2-run blast completely re-energized both me as a fan watching on his couch, as well as the team. The Royals took the lead in the 5th and never looked back, eventually winning the game 12-4 in their highest scoring game of the season. It was maybe the most enjoyable game to watch from start-to-finish all year.

As predicted, the Royals lost game 2. With all due respect to Rich Hill, who has had a long and great career, you don’t expect to win many games when a 45-year old is starting. Hill did have a surprisingly good outing, only allowing 1 earned run over 5 innings of work— but the offense couldn’t get any runs on the board, and ultimately fell 6-0.

The rubber match of the series seemed like it’d be a shootout at first. The Cubs responded to a Pasquatch 2-run bomb in the 1st inning with a 1-run single in the bottom of the 2nd. Then they responded to a 2-run homer from Salvy with a 1-run double. Fortunately for the Royals and my heart rate, they managed to pull away later in the game, with Vinnie hitting a second 2-run tater in the 5th, and Tyler Tolbert (!!) hitting his first major-league home run in the 6th. The Cubs hit a couple of their own in the 7th and 8th, but ultimately weren’t able to get themselves back in the game. Taking 2 of 3 from the Cubs was absolutely huge, and if the Royals can keep winning in the 2nd half and make the playoffs, there’s a very good chance that this series might be looked at as the turning point in the year.

3.) Vs. Guardians

What I said needed to happen: Series win.

What happened: Series win!

I know that I keep saying that each series that we win is huge… but that’s because they are. The Royals are in a position now where they really can’t afford to have a really bad week for the rest of the season if they want to make the playoffs. They can’t get swept by anyone, and they could really use a few sweeps of their own. They’ve just dug themselves into too deep of a hole, which is a stark contrast to last year where they started off the season so well that they were able to keep a playoff spot despite having two 7-game losing streaks at the end of the season. The Guardians have historically played Kansas City tough. They hadn’t only won both of the series this season— they’d kicked the Royals around. In my last post, I said that Cleveland had been playing some terrible baseball, and that we’d maybe be able to take advantage of that. Well naturally after I published that post, the Guardians went ahead and got hot again. Because why wouldn’t they? It was going to be a tough series.

Game 1 was your typical stressful Royals game. KC took an early 2-0 lead, but the Guardians managed to tie it up in the top of the 7th. The Royals predictably weren’t able to do anything offensively over the final 3 innings, so the game was forced to extras. Steven Cruz was sent in to pitch the 9th inning. While he’s been stellar for the vast majority of the year, Cruz has struggled as of late, and those struggles continued in this game. After a single and 4-pitch walk loaded up the bases, Cruz managed to get a forceout at home, but then gave up an RBI single to Kyle Manzardo that gave the Guardians the lead. Luckily for the Royals, Cruz managed to get out of the inning without allowing any further damage, which gave them a great chance to at least tie up the game in the bottom of the frame. Draftkings enthusiast Emmanuel Clase came in to “try” to win the game. Clase walked John Rave to start the inning, which really got me excited, especially after Luke Maile took the first pitch of his at-bat for a ball. Clase didn’t appear to have much control, and it seemed like maybe, just maybe, it’d be a repeat of Opening Day where the Royals rallied off of Clase in the 9th to tie the game.

Well, it was a repeat of Opening Day, but not the good part. Clase wheeled around and caught Tyler Tolbert napping between 2nd base and home. Tolbert was picked off, and suddenly the Royals had 1 out and a man on 1st. The game felt over.

Then Maile took ball 4. Suddenly the lineup had flipped over, and there was a chance for Bobby Witt Jr. to get one more AB. All that the Royals had to do was make sure that Jonathan India didn’t get doubled up.

Luckily for the Royals, Clase had taken the under on total hits for Bobby Witt Jr., so he decided to throw India a slider down the middle. While he isn’t a power hitter, the vast majority of major league hitters would’ve taken Clase deep on that pitch. India blasted the ball into left field for a game winning 3-run shot, and Clase got a few bucks richer. Everyone wins!

Game 2 made me even more grateful that the Royals had taken game 1. Kris Bubic began the game by walking four batters in a row. The Guardians somehow only managed to score 2 more runs in the inning, but it really set the tone for the entire game. The Guardians were in complete control for the rest of the game, and while the final score was 6-4, the game didn’t ever feel all that close.

Game 3 was a textbook win. The offense does enough, the starting pitching is great, and the bullpen does its job. The Royals got a couple of groundouts in the first to put themselves up 2-0, and then cruised the rest of the way, with Noah Cameron having another great outing. He’s been spectacular this season, and I really don’t know where the Royals would be without him. The Royals added a couple more runs off of a Luke Maile double (get him more playing time!) and a Maikel Garcia blast, and won the game without any trouble. The Royals did what they had to do in the series, winning their second in a row.

4.) Vs. Braves

What I said needed to happen: Series win.

What happened: Series win!

The Braves have had an incredibly disappointing year. Their offense is supposed to be star studded, but it’s been incredibly underwhelming, even after the return of Ronald Acuña Jr. Their pitching staff is supposed to be elite— but every single one of the starters on their Opening Day roster is currently on the injured list. They were 44-60 coming into the series. It should’ve been an easier series win.

It was not! But the Royals still managed to win, and at the end of the day, that’s all that matters.

Game 1 was a beatdown. Whatever pixie dust that Rich Hill used in his first start had completely worn off. He couldn’t find the strike zone all night, walking 6 batters through 4 innings. Royals pitching on the night combined to walk 14 batters total, which is an absurdly high amount. The offense did… okay. They scored 7 runs, but 3 of those were in the 9th inning when the game had pretty much already been decided. This was one of the few times all season where I’ve actually turned the game off because there’s no point in watching. It was an ugly loss.

Game 2 was a weird one. The Royals were leading 1-0 after the first inning, taking the lead off of a Pasquatch homer, then adding 3 more runs in the 2nd to put them up 4-0. Things were going swimmingly. Seth Lugo was absolutely cruising for 5 ⅔ innings… until he wasn’t.

He gave up a solo homer to Austin Riley with 2 outs in the 6th. No big deal, this kind of thing happens.

2 pitches later, he gives up a single. Alright, still not a problem.

1 pitch later, the score is 4-3 thanks to a homer by Marcell Ozuna. The Royals’ lead has vanished in the blink of an eye.

1 pitch after that, Lugo gives up a double. Good lord. This is all going south very quickly.

Lugo then walks the next 2 batters. All of a sudden, the bases are loaded. What in the world just happened? In the span of 18 pitches, the game has been completely flipped on its head. Out comes Seth Lugo, in comes Hunter Harvey. Harvey gets to a full count against Jurickson Profar, but manages to induce a flyout that looked way too close to a hit off of the bat for my liking. 6th inning over, 4-3 Royals.

The Royals came out in the bottom of the 6th and immediately responded, loading up the bases for Kyle Isbel with only one out. I was completely sure that Isbel was going to a.) pop out, or b.) ground into an inning-ending double play. Instead, he hit a bases-clearing double (which just so happened to be the first extra base hit with the bases loaded all year for the Royals) to make the score 7-3. Both Bobby and Vinnie each added on a run (thanks to a couple of bad plays from Ronald Acuña, who would come out of the game with an Achilles injury) to make the score 9-3. With a 6 run lead, you’d assume that this was a stress-free win. You’d be incorrect! The Braves scored a run in the top of the 7th, then added on 2 more in the top of the 8th. All of the sudden, the score was 6-9, and the tying run was at the plate with 1 out. Thankfully John Schreiber was able to escape the inning, and Estevéz slammed the door shut in the 9th. It was an oddly stressful game considering that Kansas City had a comfortable lead for the majority of it.

But don’t worry— if you thought that the second game was stressful, you aren’t ready for the third. It was a scheduled bullpen game, something that the Royals have been forced to do a few times this season due to the plethora of pitching injuries that they’ve had. I expected to lose this game unless we could score a lot off of starter Joey Wentz (a distant cousin of Carson). I was way off in my thinking. Angel Zerpa was the opener, and he pitched a 1-2-3 inning. Maikel Garcia (batting leadoff with Jonathan India on the bench due to shoulder soreness) led off the game with a single. This single would be Kansas City’s last hit until the 8th inning.

Despite the lack of offense from the Royals, the bullpen held strong. After Zerpa gave up a hit to begin the 2nd, Jonathan Bowlan came in and pitched a scoreless 2nd and 3rd inning. John Schreiber had maybe the most impressive outing of the day in the 4th, striking out all 3 batters that he faced. Taylor Clarke had a 1-2-3 inning in the 5th. The Braves threatened in the 6th when Hunter Harvey gave up 2 singles to begin the inning, but he managed to shut them down without allowing any damage. Steven Cruz locked down Atlanta with a 1-2-3 inning of his own. Lucas Erceg gave up a 1-out single, but managed to close out the 8th without any more trouble. The bullpen was dominant in a way that I’ve never seen.

In the 9th, Carlos Estevéz had one of the luckier 1-2-3 innings that I’ve seen. Austin Riley hit a ball 111 mph directly at Tyler Tolbert. Then Michael Harris II crushed a ball at 108 mph that went straight into Estevéz’s glove. Marcell Ozuna made an easier out than the first 2, but still one that required Adam Fraizer to make a bit of a tricky play. The bottom of the 9th rolled around, and… the Royals didn’t do anything offensively. A Garcia lineout, Witt strikeout, and Pasquantino flyout took the game to extras.

While the bullpen had shoved all day, by the time that the top of the 10th rolled around, they had exhausted all but 2 of their pitchers: Sam Long (who has mainly been the mop-up guy in blowouts) and Thomas Hatch (a guy with bad Triple-A numbers who had been called up to replace Rich Hill). The Royals opted to go with Sam Long. Just to reiterate, Long has been bad all year. He’s been a bit better as of late, but he still has a 7.40 ERA on the season. Long began the inning by allowing a leadoff single. That put runners on the corners with nobody out. Uh oh. But then something remarkable happened. Long struck out the next batter. And then the one after that. And then induced a groundout to end the inning. What?? I was listening to the game on the radio in my car, and I fully expected Sam Long to blow the game. After Long struck out his 2nd batter, my watch buzzed, and I looked down to see this:

I was pretty invested in the game.

The bottom of the 10th begins with Salvy at the plate and MJ Melendez on 2nd. The Braves’ pitcher Daysbel Hernández begins the inning by throwing Salvy a slider on the outside edge of the plate that Salvy takes looking. 9 times out of 10, Salvy swings at this pitch and wins the game. This time, Hernández gets lucky.

“Hmmm…” Hernández thinks to himself. “Let’s throw that exact same pitch again and see what happens!”

You can guess what happened. Salvy swings, hits the ball into left field, and wins the game for Kansas City. Another clutch hit by El Capitán as well as an incredible performance from the Royals bullpen gave KC their 3rd straight series win.

The Royals are in a much better position now than they were a few weeks ago, but they have to keep winning. This upcoming 9-game road trip starting tonight is going to be absolutely pivotal for the Royals to keep pace in the Wild Card race. They most definitely have a shot.

The Trade Deadline— Losing a Legend.

I was hoping to have this post out yesterday, but decided to wait to post it until today so that I could talk about the trades that the Royals made all in one big post rather than waiting until tomorrow and making a separate one. It was a great deadline for the Royals in which they acquired 3 pitchers and 1 bat without having to give up very much (at least not very much talent-wise…).

The first trade of the day happened at around 2pm ET, when the Royals traded C Freddy Fermin to the Padres in return for 2 starting pitchers: Ryan Bergert (a 25 year-old rookie who now slots in as the Royals #7 prospect) and Stephen Kolek (a 28 year-old pitcher who fits in as a good Michael Lorenzen replacement while he’s on the IL, and possibly next year if the Royals choose not to resign him). Look, it’s a good trade. With all of the injuries that the rotation has sustained, the Royals desperately need starting pitching if they want to have a shot at the postseason. The 10 inning shutout by the bullpen on Wednesday was fantastic— but it’s also the first time in history that it’s been done, so you probably shouldn’t expect something like that to happen again anytime soon. I’m really intrigued by Bergert, with him being a young pitcher that’s done well in his limited time playing in the big leagues. I’m excited to see what Brian Sweeney can do with both of these guys, and they’re both under team control for multiple years, so they could become either trade pieces or even mainstays in the rotation in years to come.

With all of that said, I am absolutely gutted to see Freddy go. He was one of my favorite players on the team, and was impossible not to love. He had 2 of the biggest hits for the Royals all season, and was really good for us defensively as well as being a solid offensive contributor. I understand why the Royals are moving him— he’s 30, and they have a lot of depth at the catcher position with Carter Jensen and Blake Mitchell both coming up in the next few years— but I’m still incredibly sad to see him go. I wish Freddy nothing but the best in San Diego, and I hope that he’s able to shine as their starting catcher.

The Royals 2nd trade came about 20 minutes before the deadline, and saw them acquire another starter in Bailey Falter (great name) from the Pirates for LHP Evan Sisk and 1B Callan Moss. This was another very good trade for the Royals. Sisk is an older prospect at 28, and has struggled in Triple A as of late, and Moss, while a promising prospect, isn’t very close to the big leagues and also plays a position that the Royals don’t really need. Falter has been a solid pitcher for the Pirates all year, and will hopefully continue to be that for the Royals. Like Bergert and Kolek, he has multiple years of control left, so he’ll be back on the team next year assuming that Kansas City doesn’t move him in the offseason for a bat.

Both of these first two trades were good ones, but it does raise some questions for me about the rotation next year. As of now, the Royals 2026 rotation will be Ragans, Lugo, Wacha, Bubic, and Cameron. That’s pretty set in stone. But what will Kansas City do with the other 3 starters? Part of me wonders if there might be a trade this offseason for a bat, just due to the fact that the Royals have so much depth at starting pitching now. It could also be wise to just move the 3 to the bullpen next year too, as you never know who will get hurt. I’m excited to see what the Royals do.

The 3rd and final trade of the day for Kansas City was actually announced a few minutes after the trade deadline had arrived. The Royals traded their #20 prospect, RHP Yunior Marte, for OF Mike Yastrzemski. At first, I wasn’t a huge fan of this trade, but it’s grown on me over the past day. Yastrzemski (whose name is a pain in the butt to spell) is a league average bat (100 OPS+ on the season) who, while somewhat unexciting, is probably just what the Royals need. He has good splits against right handed pitching, and is primarily a right fielder, so he could be used as a platoon bat with Randall Grichuk. Again, it’s not an exciting move, but considering that the Royals didn’t have a single outfielder that’s even league average (minus Grichuk who they just traded for), this move is a really good one. It does sting a bit to give up your #20 prospect, but Marte wasn’t very close to the big leagues, and the Royals have proved that they are perfectly capable of developing pitchers. I’m intrigued on what the Royals do when Cags is healthy again; he went on the IL with a hamstring injury after trying to beat out a double play. I don’t think that we should send him back to Omaha, but we’ll have to see what the Royals end up doing.

Overall, it was a great deadline for Kansas City (even if it was a sad one). Hopefully the reinforcements to the pitching staff will help get them back into a playoff spot. It starts tonight against the Toronto Blue Jays. Let’s go win this series.

The week of the All-Star break is one of the most boring weeks of the year, at least from the perspective of a sports fan. There aren’t any other sports going on during the week (unless you’re really into the NBA Summer league), and it’s tough to go from having at least 5 baseball games on any given day to suddenly go without a single one for 4 days. Yes, while the All-Star break does have the Home Run Derby and All-Star game on the first two days of the break, those just aren’t the same thing as playing a regular season baseball game that has an actual impact on the season. Now obviously, I know that the All-Star break is good for baseball players. 162 games is a lot, and I can completely understand taking a week off in the middle of all of it (well not quite exactly in the middle, but you understand my point). But for a guy who loves the everyday nature of baseball, this is a tough week for me.

While we’re on the topic of the All-Star break, I might as well say a bit about the actual game itself before discussing the 2nd half of the season for Kansas City. The Derby was on Monday and the All-Star game was on Tuesday. Starting with the Derby, while I will say that it wasn’t quite as much fun this year as it was last year (due to me not really having anyone that I was rooting for), I still enjoyed watching it. It had quite a few awesome moments— Oneil Cruz hitting a ball 513 feet, Big Dumper’s dominant performance (after the first round, that is), Byron Buxton going off in the first round— but the highlight of the night, at least for me, had to be Jazz Chisholm having maybe the worst Home Run Derby performance in history.

It was glorious.

If you’re not familiar with Jazz Chisholm and his antics, well… let’s just say he’s not exactly beloved in Kansas City. For anyone who wasn’t around for last year’s playoff run, the problems with Chisholm started when he claimed that the Royals “got lucky” after they defeated the Yankees in the second game of the ALDS. This statement was obviously not appreciated by KC fans, who booed him relentlessly for the rest of the series. Things escalated further in the final game of the series. In the 6th inning of Game 4, Maikel Garcia tagged out by Anthony Volpe while trying to steal 2nd base. While Garcia was sliding, Volpe appeared to almost chop Garcia in the throat, which understandably led to Maikel appearing a little annoyed. Still, nothing seemed to really be wrong— that is, until Jazz Chisholm decided to involve himself, walking over and jawing to Garcia. Tensions flared slightly, and while ultimately nothing came out of the scuffle, the jawing by Jazz Chisholm added more fuel to the fire for Kansas City fans. The drama between Chisholm and Garcia continued into this year. While attempting to slide into 3rd base in a game against KC, Garcia laid down a tag on Jazz that he felt was “too hard”, which led to Chisholm appearing to say that he would “smack” Garcia if a tag like that happened again. To be clear, the tag wasn’t really anything out of the ordinary— Garcia attempted to catch a ball from Freddy Fermin and tag Jazz all in one motion, but the ball got away from him. From an outsiders’ view, it looked like a normal tag. After the incident this year, I was pretty fed up with Jazz Chisholm.

All of that to say, while I wasn’t rooting for anyone specifically in the Home Run Derby this year, there was one player that I definitely did not want to win— which made his performance all the better. To honor Yankees legend Babe Ruth, Jazz hit a whopping 3 home runs. I’ll repeat: in a competition where you get around 40+ chances to hit a home run, Jazz Chisholm hit 3. After the derby, he claimed that he hadn’t wanted to change his swing and mess up his rhythm by participating in the derby. I would understand this thinking— the problem is, if you weren’t going to change your swing and try to hit home runs, then why did you participate in the derby to begin with? Kinda sounds like a sore loser if you ask me… but I digress.

As for the All-Star game, I must say that I was pleasantly surprised by how entertaining that it was! I was fully expecting something of a snooze fest, and through the first 7 or so innings, that’s exactly what it appeared to be. The NL had taken a commanding 6-0 lead,* and looked to be in complete control of the game. I planned on turning the game off after the 7th inning was finished— the only reason that I was even still watching at that point was because I was waiting to see Bobby Witt and Maikel Garcia bat.

*I found it amusing that all 6 runs scored by the NL were off of AL Central pitching. Tarik Skubal (DET) allowed 2, Kris Bubic (KC) 3, and Casey Mize (DET) 1. That doesn’t really mean anything, I just found it interesting.

But then the AL decided to make it interesting. A 3-run homer by Brent Rooker cut the deficit in half 6-3, and then after Maikel Garcia walked and stole second, Bobby Witt Jr. drove him in with an RBI groundout. Suddenly this was a ballgame again. I decided that I was going to stay up and see it through, even if nothing else came out of it. As it turns out, staying up was the right call. Bobby Witt drove in Byron Buxton with a double in the top of the 9th, and then Steven Kwan tied the game up at 6-6 with an infield single.

The AL kept the NL off of the board in the bottom of the 9th, meaning that a “swing-off” was needed to determine the winner. There’s been a lot of talk about the swing-off in the following days, but all that I’ll say is a.) it was awesome and such a fun gimmick for the All-Star game, b.) under no circumstances should it ever happen in anything but the All-Star Game, and c.) Aaron Boone either hates Bobby Witt or is just dumb, because there is NO WORLD in which you should put “Jonathan Aranda” into a home run contest instead of Bobby Witt Jr. The NL won the swing-off (crazy that the team that actually put in home run hitters won!), and the game was over. It greatly exceeded my expectations, and I had a great time watching it.*

*I will admit, while I was happy to have an exciting end to the game, it probably would’ve been better if the AL would’ve lost before the 9th, considering that I had to wake up to run the next morning at 4.

Before I end this post, I of course have to talk about the Royals and the 2nd half of the season. It’s absolutely crucial that the Royals come out and finish July strong. While KC is currently within striking distance of the final Wild Card spot, just one more bad week from them would probably put them almost completely out of the race. Of the next 5 series for the Royals, they must take at least 3 to remain in serious playoff contention, at least in my opinion. Below is my blueprint for how they can put themselves back in a good spot to make a run at the postseason:

Series 1: @Marlins

What’s needed: A sweep. It would be fantastic if the Royals could come out of the All-Star break with momentum, and I think that it’s very feasible to believe that they could. I think that the week off for Jac Caglianone to reset could be very beneficial to him having a much stronger second half. Speaking of strong second halves, you know who usually has those? Bobby Witt. After the break last year, Bobby hit .345 with 16 homers and 46 RBI. If he can go on that kind of tear again, the Royals are going to start winning a lot more games.

Series 2: @Cubs

What’s needed: At least a win. The Cubs are an extremely good team, and I’d be shocked if the Royals could take 2 out of 3 against them. But even just a single win for the Royals would still translate to a 4-2 road trip (assuming that they sweep Miami).

Series 3: vs. Guardians

What’s needed: A series win is crucial here. The Guardians are in a very similar boat as the Royals, starting off very strong before going into a terrible slump as a team. As of writing, they have a very similar record to the Royals at 46-49. If KC can find a way to beat them, they would be able to hopefully stop worrying about Cleveland overtaking them in the standings.

Series 4: vs. Braves

What’s needed: Another series win. The Braves, while uber-talented, have just been straight-up bad this year. Their pitching staff has been decimated by injuries, and their offense hasn’t lived up to what an offense with Ronald Acuña, Matt Olson, and Austin Riley should be. A sweep isn’t needed here, but if the Royals could find a way to pull that off, I sure wouldn’t complain about it.

Series 5: @Blue Jays

What’s needed: MUST avoid a sweep. The Blue Jays are actually currently in 1st place in the AL East as I write this, so I’m not expecting to beat them. But even just taking a single game can go a long way.

If the Royals are able to do everything that I’ve listed above (and yes, it’s a lot), they’ll be at .500 on August 4th. That’d put them in position to make a run at that last Wild Card spot over the final 2 months of the season. It’s now or never. Bring October baseball back to KC.