Buddy Bell’s iconic quote feels all too relevant for the 2026 Royals
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- Royals lost 10-9 to Tigers in April after leading into the ninth and were walked off.
- Kansas City entered June with three separate six-game losing streaks and a 22-37 record.
- Royals have the AL’s worst run differential and have scored the fewest runs in MLB.
In a season of difficult defeats, the Royals’ 10-9 loss to the Tigers in April really stung.
Trailing by four runs after six innings in Detroit, the Royals scored six times in the seventh before a long rain delay hit. KC carried a two-run lead into the ninth inning only to get walked-off when the Tigers scored three runs.
A fan with the X account Nick Loftin protector wrote at the time: “This has to be rock bottom, right?”
It wasn’t.
That fan quoted his own tweet on Saturday after the Royals coughed up a ninth-inning lead to the Rangers and wrote: “You ... idiot.”
Another fan wrote in response: “Every time I think its rock bottom...they move a little bit and find a new spot to dig.”
The pulse of Royals fans is despair as the season has gone off the rails. It brings to mind one of the most famous sports quotes in KC history, uttered by former Royals manager Buddy Bell.
“I never say it can’t get worse,” Bell said after the Royals had lost to the White Sox 4-0 in April 2006. “This game is too hard to play. There’s always something lurking around the corner.”
It’s an oft-repeated phrase among Kansas City sports fans, and it unfortunately resonates today. Not only did the Royals lose that game Saturday, but third baseman Maikel Garcia, the WBC MVP, left with a hamstring injury.
And things just seem to be getting worse for the Royals.
They lost again on Sunday and have dropped six straight games. It’s the Royals’ third six-game losing streak of the season and they somehow managed to do it before the calendar flipped to June, as noted by one of the team’s best-known fans, Rany Jazayerli.
Guess when else the Royals did that? Yep, it was 2006 under Bell. To be fair, two of those six-game losing streaks were part of double-digit skids that season (13 games and 11 games). That’s worse than what we’ve seen this season.
With a 22-37 record, the Royals are on pace to lose 102 games this season. During this most-recent six-game losing streak, the Royals were outscored 48-14.
Their negative-59 run differential is the worst in the American League and ahead of only the Colorado Rockies, who also have won just 22 games. KC and Colorado are tied with the Tigers for the fewest victories in the majors.
The Royals have lost 16 of their last 19 games and their relief pitchers have a 5.14 ERA, second-worst in baseball ahead of the Astros (5.16). The 2006 Royals had the worst bullpen ERA in baseball and blew 31 saves. This year’s team has blown 11 saves.
The Royals’ offense has sputtered this year, scoring just 221 runs, the fewest in the majors.
Fans want something to change because as bad as things have been, the Royals are only 6 games back in the loss column in the wild-card race.
Can they turn it around? A friend texted me the other day and said, “this feels like the Ken Harvey getting hit in the back Royals teams.” That happened in 2004 before Bell took over as manager.
There was a lot of bad Royals baseball in the early 2000s and this year’s team seems to be on the precipice. Many have expressed their displeasure on social media.
“It’s grocery bag time at Kauffman,” a fan wrote on Facebook.
Another shared this: “I have always been, am now and will always be a Royals fan!! It’s just terribly disappointing to see that much talent and the wins keep slipping away!! They fight so hard every game!! I cannot imagine what it would be like to be one of these talented players and have it go South. I’m afraid we’re going to lose really good players instead of the ones who need to go. I will watch the game today and cheer for the ‘Team’!!”
A fan on Reddit lamented: “it’s the same old song and dance. All I ask is to be 500 through the summer and like clockwork we are so bad in Spring that it’s almost impossible to dig our selves out.”
Another shared this: “I just laugh. Don’t even get upset anymore because I expect a loss every night. This is not on the coaching. This is on the players. They have no clue how to win. They panic when runners are on base whether they are at the plate, in the field or pitching in a high leverage situation. They are not professional. Unfortunately they can’t send down the whole team. But almost everyone on this team should be. How many times will Goldberg do a post game saying ‘this might be the worst loss of the season.’”
