Can Royals make playoff return in 2026? These areas will be determining factor
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Royals closed 2025 at 82-80, missing playoffs despite late-season push.
- Injuries forced rookie pitchers to step up; Ragans finished season strong.
- Garcia, Pasquantino led offense with career highs and consistent production.
There’s a lot to unpack with the Kansas City Royals.
It’s clear the 2025 season did not go as planned. The Royals entered spring training with high expectations to win the American League Central and make a deep postseason run.
Well, the Royals fell just short of the playoffs with an 82-80 record — ending with a bittersweet realization.
“We’re obviously disappointed that we’re not playing tonight and into October,” Royals general manager J.J. Picollo said Tuesday. “But there were still some positives that happened this season. And we’ve got to learn from it, build on it and move on from here.”
Let’s start with the good.
The Royals clawed their way back from suboptimal play to make the final weeks interesting. The club hovered around the .500 mark and was still in contention until the final Monday of the regular season.
A lot of credit goes to Royals manager Matt Quatraro and his coaching staff. While every team deals with injuries, the Royals were hit hard in their starting rotation. Guys such as Cole Ragans, Seth Lugo and Kris Bubic missed significant chunks of the season.
As a result, the Royals had to rely on their young starters. Rookies Noah Cameron and Ryan Bergert stepped up in a big way. They posted exceptional debut campaigns and will be in consideration for rotation spots.
Ragans also looked dominant in his final three starts. His velocity returned and his fastball looked as devastating as before. Ragans allowed four earned runs and recorded 22 strikeouts in his last 13 innings.
“We saw how much Cole Ragans can change a game for us in the last three starts,” Picollo said. “It’s dominant type stuff.”
Offensively, the Royals got career seasons from infielders Maikel Garcia and Vinnie Pasquantino. Garcia was named to his first All-Star team and emerged as a core member of the lineup moving forward.
Pasquantino also proved he could remain healthy. He played in 160 games and led the Royals with 32 home runs and 113 RBIs.
It’s clear the Royals will depend on both players — alongside Bobby Witt Jr. and Salvador Perez — to fuel their offense once again in 2026.
However, will their offensive production be enough? That was the question that loomed over the Royals’ end-of-year news conference Tuesday.
Picollo alluded to the Royals needing more consistency. Far too many times, the Royals’ offense was bogged down with inactivity. The lineup would go through stretches where scoring a critical run seemed like a difficult proposition.
“We scored 84 less runs this year than we did last year,” Picollo said. “But if you look at our slugging percentage or on-base percentage, our home runs were down 10 or 11 but our doubles were up quite a bit. … You know, clearly we made too many unforced errors this year. When we get a guy on second base and there’s no outs, for a team like our team, we’ve got to score that run. We’ve got to get them over and get them in.”
The Royals are likely to address their offensive needs this offseason. For starters, the club decided to retain hitting coach Alec Zumwalt. However, they will still evaluate other areas in the hitting department.
If Picollo looks to the free-agent market, there are some quality names that are expected to be available. Guys like Kyle Tucker, Kyle Schwarber and Trent Grisham will command attention on the open market.
Still, the Royals might not have the ability to chase the high-priced free agents. Picollo expects the payroll to remain around $140 million. As a result, the club could look to the trade market for potential upgrades.
One area that will be addressed is left field. The Royals need more outfield production to further complement the lineup. This season, the club received good production from center fielder Kyle Isbel. Top rookie Jac Caglianone is still developing in his own right.
However, the Royals scrambled all year to plug left field. It started with Michael Massey and Jonathan India experimenting at the position. Then the club pivoted to Adam Frazier, Randal Grichuk and even Mike Yastrzemski.
A platoon setup is not out of the question in 2026. The club has interest in retaining Yastrzemski and Frazier given their veteran presence. They are viable options, but an everyday left fielder could unlock the offense moving forward.
“We have to improve our ability to get those runs in,” Picollo said. “Be opportunistic when you have a chance to score. Now that being said, it’s easier said than done. This is the same group of players, for the most part, that did execute last year. We just didn’t do it to the same level in 2025.”
The Royals also figure to face a difficult slate in the American League Central. Both the Cleveland Guardians and Detroit Tigers made the postseason for the second consecutive season. The Chicago White Sox are rapidly improving and the Minnesota Twins are rebuilding.
It’s important for the Royals to keep pace. Picollo mentioned that a winning record does highlight a sustainable culture. However, the Royals need to win on a consistent basis to reach an elite level.
“Consistency is the ultimate goal for this organization,” Picollo said. “I will say this, you know, in September we were still playing meaningful games. And I hope that means something to our city and our fans — that they still had something to grab onto and some sort of hope that we could pull this thing off. Now, we’ve just got to keep building on doing it every year.”
So where should the Royals set their expectations in 2026?
It’s easy to suggest another playoff push to get over the proverbial hump. However, Royals manager Matt Quatraro believes the key goal is to get better in all areas.
It takes a day-to-day approach to win in the playoffs. The Royals live by an ethos of pitching, defense, situational hitting and baserunning. Two of those areas hindered the Royals this season. Yet, Quatraro believes the team will clean it up.
“We have to make tiny little incremental improvements in a ton of different areas,” Quatraro said. “And some of them are hard to find because you believe in the process that you’ve already established. And sometimes it takes a long time to figure out, OK, what is the thing we have to tweak here?”
The Royals still face the challenge of building off their improbable 2024 playoff appearance. This offseason will be important to piecing together a well-rounded team that can win in the regular season and get to October.
“We look at the last two years, 75% of the last two years we’ve done a good job with situational hitting and scoring runs,” Picollo said. “So we can’t ignore those things. It hurt us in the beginning of the year. So that’s why we’ve got to look at our processes and how we’re going to enhance what we can do and what we’re capable of.”
