How the Royals have become the American League’s best team post All-Star break
The hottest team in baseball’s American League is in Kansas City, and I mean that figuratively, not in an Ichiro-turned-Vinnie-Pasquantino reference this week.
The Royals took three of four from the Rangers, a 6-4 win Thursday clinching their seventh series victory out of nine since the All-Star break, which is a stretch that covers an AL-best 19-12 record.
I’m not here to tell you the Royals are playing good baseball.
I’m here to marvel at how it’s happening.
They’re hitting the ball. They’re driving the ball. And perhaps most notably: They’re taking a ball or two.
OK, one guy in particular is really hitting. Vinnie Pasquantino blasted a go-ahead home run in the fifth inning Thursday, his fourth consecutive game with a bomb, which is just one game shy of a franchise record. He has seven homers in his last 11 games.
His story is the Royals’ story.
His surge is the Royals’ surge.
A team hanging by the thread of its pitching staff has woven together a monthlong offensive powerhouse.
The Royals have transformed their offense since the All-Star break last month. They’ve gone from 29th in runs before the break to seventh afterward; from 29th in home runs to sixth; from 19th in batting average to 10th; from 26th in OPS (on-base plus slugging percentage) to fifth. And all of those numbers, mind you, come before they put 17 baserunners on the paths across eight innings Thursday.
That will win you some games.
The question is how. And that answer is short: swing decisions.
It’s the buzz in baseball, to the point of overuse, but man if it hasn’t turned around the Royals’ season and planted them back in the thick of a Wild Card race.
How are they crushing the ball?
By swinging less.
Before the break, the proverbial first half, the Royals had the sixth-highest swing rate in the majors. In and of itself, that’s not necessarily terrible, but this part of the statistic is: They also had the fourth-highest chase rate.
I analyzed all of that earlier this year, as the offense barreled toward the possibility of the lowest-scoring team in franchise history. The Royals were swinging at all the wrong pitches.
Were.
In the second half, the Royals have the fourth-lowest chase rate in baseball. That’s after the fourth-highest for the initial three-plus months. And overall, they have swung at fewer pitches than any team in the AL.
They drew eight walks Thursday afternoon in the finale of an 8-2 homestand, tying a season-high. Luke Maile, the backup catcher, drew a bases-loaded walk in the seventh to provide the back end of the bullpen a cushion it turns out they didn’t need.
That’s just the eighth time this season the Royals have walked at least six times in a game. But here’s the telling part: They did it twice in the initial 105 games. They’ve done it six times in the past 23.
When I asked Pasquantino about it after the game, he interrupted before I could complete the question.
“You guys love walks,” he said.
Well, right now, the Royals love walks.
And you know who else loves walks? Good lineups. The top-five walk rates in baseball are the Yankees, Dodgers, Braves, Mets and Brewers.
The top-three scoring teams in baseball are the Dodgers, Yankees and Brewers.
See the pattern?
But forget the rest of the league. The example is here, inside the Royals clubhouse, a collective that has transformed from free swingers (after the first pitch) to selective hitters looking for pitches to drive.
Pasquantino chased 34.9% of pitches outside the strike zone before the break. He’s dropped to 26.6% afterward. That’s significant. Jonathan India, another hot hitter in the lineup, has dipped his chase rate by 4.9%. The veteran additions of Mike Yastrzemski and Adam Frazier can’t be left out of the discussion.
There are other factors at play, even tucked into those swing decisions. Pasquantino brought up a good one — with the Royals hitting more home runs, pitchers have been a little more careful. But the Royals’ hitters, I’d point out, started to become more careful before they started driving the ball.
The egg, then the chicken.
But there’s something else that materialized Thursday. Half of the Royals’ eight walks came after a hitter fell into either an 0-2 or 1-2 count — Salvador Perez, Nick Loftin, Kyle Isbel and India.
“The decision-making is better,” manager Matt Quatraro said. “And the grit is a little more noticeable when you get down in the count. Just to understand that when you do get down (in the count), there’s an alternative result. ... Just battle and make that guy work.”
It’s provided a different flavor — and a different way to win.
Would you believe the team with the best American League record over the past five weeks has a worse ERA, worse rotation ERA, worse bullpen ERA, worse walk rate and worse strikeout rate than it did before the break?
This is how.
They’ve become tough outs — in a game. And in a playoff race, too.
This story was originally published August 22, 2025 at 6:00 AM.