Mar 12, 2024; Salt River Pima-Maricopa, Arizona, USA; General view of Kansas City Royals hats and gloves in the first inning against the Colorado Rockies during a spring training game at Salt River Fields at Talking Stick. Mandatory Credit: Matt Kartozian-Imagn Images Matt Kartozian-Imagn Images

Offense Named Royals Biggest Failure For 2025

Originally posted on Kansas City Royals on SI
By Curt Bishop | Last updated Sep 21, 2025 12:00 PM ET

The Kansas City Royals are on the verge of elimination. At 78-77, they are six games back in the American League Wild Card race with seven games remaining of the 2025 regular season schedule. They won 86 games last season and were the second Wild Card team before falling short in the ALDS against the New York Yankees. This year, they haven't been able to follow up their 2024 success.

Their starting rotation has held up its end of the bargain. Even with injuries to Seth Lugo and Cole Ragans, they have performed well, but there are other areas of the roster that have let them down.

Bradford Doolittle of ESPN listed the offense is the team's biggest failure in 2025.

Royals' Offense Named Team's Biggest Failure

"Bobby Witt Jr. remains a superstar. Maikel Garcia has been one of baseball's most improved players. Vinnie Pasquantino remains a high-level run producer. But other than a midseason surge, the Royals have just not been able to score consistently enough to hang in the playoff chase, despite their elite pitching-and-defense combo. They've tried to paper over their holes with trades during the season, but the baseline for the lineup is just too low to fix on the fly," Doolittle wrote.

The Royals didn't do a whole lot last offseason in terms of improving their offense. The only major move was the trade to acquire Jonathan India. That deal has not worked out for them, and it cost them right-hander Brady Singer, who has performed well with the Cincinnati Reds since the trade.

The Royals haven't gotten much production out of their outfield, so something that they could look to do in the offseason is add an outfield power bat to boost their lineup.

Their outlook for the rest of 2025 is bleak, and they could be eliminated from playoff contention as soon as Sunday. Soon, it will be time for them to focus on 2026 and how to improve the roster in the offseason.

It will certainly be interesting to see what they decide to do, but it is clear that the offense as currently constructed will not suffice if the Royals want to return to the postseason in 2026. Work needs to be done in order for the Royals to bounce back into contention.

Time will tell what the Royals end up doing to boost their lineup.

This article first appeared on Kansas City Royals on SI and was syndicated with permission.

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