Royals in Freefall...Again

Swept in Chicago, the Royals are facing another test to climb back into the race already for a second time in 2026.

Well, that’s not what you want. I suppose it’s sort of poetic that on the night of the NFL schedule release, the Royals proved that maybe you wait to evaluate how different series may look. The White Sox have been a doormat for two or three years now, so when the Royals got to this part of the schedule, it sure looked like they had a chance to clean up. First, it would be the White Sox, who are obviously terrible. Then, it’s the Cardinals. There’s a pocket of six games where a good team can pick up four or five wins.

Eh, not so much. While I still don’t buy that the White Sox are good, they are unequivocally better than they were. They’re now 22-21 after sweeping the Royals. They have now won five in a row after taking the final two from Seattle. They also took two of three from the Padres. They took two of three from the Diamondbacks. They took two of three from the A’s. They’ve previously swept the Blue Jays. They’re 16-8 in their last 24 games. You can’t come into Chicago, play your C-game, and leave with wins anymore. There are times you can’t win with your A game against them anymore. Ahh, those were the days. But they’re over now. And because of that, the Royals are back to six games under and now set to face Cardinals team that was supposed to be bad but is actually seven games over .500.

Let’s get into last night’s game a bit, and then we can look at the future.