Kings of Kauffman

This may be shocking news to even the most diehard of baseball fans, but you can’t win ball games if you can’t stop your opponent from scoring runs. Okay, maybe not shocking news, but it’s a concept that the Kansas City Royals’ bullpen had a hard time wrapping their head around in 2026. It’s one reason that the team struggled so much this season. Luckily for the Royals, they have a nearly un-hittable relief pitcher in the minor leagues that could become their next breakout star.

Pitching wins championships. It sounds cliché and can certainly be annoying to hear every single season. But after every one of those seasons, that old adage is almost always proven to be true. Just ask the Kansas City Royals. After seeing the pitching staff decimated with injuries, the team experienced a real setback from its successful run in 2024 and 2025. But it’s not all doom and gloom for the young team.

It is going to be a wild offseason for baseball fans. Rumors of a potential lockout have been swirling for well over a year, and with every passing day that odds of it happening get higher and higher. Over the last few weeks, several proposed rule changes have been leaked to the media, and the most recent one from the league has an interesting provision that could benefit the Kansas City Royals (and all teams in the AL Central).

The Kansas City Royals find themselves in an interesting offseason. Most fans and analysts would say this team isn't far from competing in a weak American League Central, but after back-to-back years with winning records, they fell back to well below .500 in 2026. There certainly are positives to take away from Royals' season, though. A core of players has started to emerge around Bobby Witt Jr., which is highly encouraging.

Could the Kansas City Royals make a blockbuster trade of the offseason? Ronald Acuña Jr.'s relationship with the Atlanta Braves seems to be on the rocks. The 2023 NL MVP recently removed all Braves-related content from his social media just days after being eliminated, which spurred speculation about his potential departure from Atlanta. Adding Acuña to the Royals roster would be a major boost heading intothe 2027 season.

Carter Jensen's rookie season exceeded expectations. The 23-year-old catcher had a solid debut in 2025, but no one thought he would perform the way he did in 2026. The preseason projection models, which tend to stay conservative, were pretty far off the damage he did at the plate this season. Jensen was incredible in his rookie year, and his red-hot end to the season earned him both the American League Rookie of the Month and American League Player of the Month honors.

Two years ago, the Cincinnati Reds and Kansas City Royals made a trade that could only be considered a lose-lose deal. Cincinnati needed another starting pitcher, and Kansas City needed another proven bat in the lineup, so the two organizations agreed to swap Brady Singer and Jonathan India. Neither player worked out for their new teams. On the Royals side, India was a well-below-average bat in his first full season with the team.

The idea that the Kansas City Royals are very close to becoming contenders again is not exactly new for this team. They have consistently been one of those ball clubs that seemingly put it all together in the blink of an eye before breaking it apart just as quickly. And that usually has to do with dismantling a strong yet soon-to-be pricey roster. However, the Royals ran into the exact opposite problem during this season’s trade deadline.

When the Kansas City Royals acquired Lucas Erceg from the Athletics in 2024, it came with loud cheers from the fanbase. The righty reliever was in the midst of a breakout season and was performing well in high-leverage situations, and when he came to K.C., he got even better. Erceg was an elite setup man for Kansas City in 2025. He pitched 60 innings in 2025 with a 2.64 ERA, with over 60% of his appearances coming in the eighth inning.

The Kansas City Royals have been lucky to have one player be their primary catcher for so long. Salvador Perez has been with the Royals since he was called up in 2011 and has been the starter since 2013. Most fanbases don't get to say they've had one man behind the dish for as long as that. Now, Salvy’s career is nearing its end, and most Royals fans likely believed they would start to have a rotating cast of characters like most teams do.