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If Craig Brown was calling Monday’s loss “dumb” and “ugly”, his words will largely ring true about Tuesday night’s loss.
Welcome to the pennant races. Even though the Royals are some ways back in the Wild Card, they signaled their intentions to go for October at the trade deadline. That, and some inspried ball from their offense especially in the last half of July mean these games in August mean something. That’s why Monday night’s 8-5 to the Red Sox felt like a missed opportunity. It feels a bit insane to write that. Even a bit more nuts to even think that. After all, the Royals trailed 6-0 through three innings and then 8-1 going into the eighth. After that third inning, the Red Sox never had a win expectancy less than 90 percent.
Royals utilityman Nick Loftin confirms to MLB.com that he ran through a stop sign from third base coach Vance Wilson in Monday’s rally-killing out.
“Hit the bag, kept my head down because that’s usually what I do with two outs and [was] trying to score on a base hit,” Loftin told MLB.com. “Looked up, saw him put his hand up, and at that point, I just kind of kept going.”
Jaylon Thompson writes about the baserunning gaffe that cost the Royals in the eighth inning.
“They made a great throw to the plate, and we are going to challenge that every time based on the blocking the plate rule,” Royals manager Matt Quatraro said postgame via FanDuel Sports Network Kansas City. “You never know what they are going to come back with. The ball was up the line and I didn’t think we would get it. But then, when I saw the replay, I thought it was a better chance than it was prior.”
When asked why Loftin missed the stop sign, Quatraro said he felt Loftin was trying to make a play and was a little too aggressive in the moment. Red Sox right fielder Wilyer Abreu threw the baseball up the line and catcher Connor Wong applied the tag.
Jaylon also writes about an unsuccessful debut by Bailey Falter.
“I thought I made some pretty good pitches tonight but I felt like they were just all over it,” Falter told reporters postgame via FanDuel Sports Network Kansas City. “A couple of sliders got away from me and they were hit pretty well. Just overall, I didn’t do my job tonight.”
Pete Grathoff with the Kansas City Star talks with former Royals pitcher Brad Keller on how stint with Chicago Cubs righted his MLB career and love of the game.
“It was probably like the lowest of lows,” Keller said of his 2023 season. “It was my first year I was not playing the whole year. Didn’t really know much about TOS. Didn’t even know if I had it or not. Trying to not accept that I had it. Thinking it was something else, just because you don’t really know the success rate of that surgery. And so there were plenty of doubts. Tons of them.
“There were times where I was like, I didn’t want to do this anymore. I lost my love for the game.”
Jeff Passan writes about winners and losers at the trade deadline.
So, yeah, if the price isn’t prohibitive, why not try to win? Kansas City got outfielders Mike Yastrzemski and Randal Grichuk along with pitchers Bailey Falter, Ryan Bergert and Stephen Kolek without giving up a top prospect. The best player the Royals dealt was catcher Freddy Fermin, and considering their top two prospects are catchers Carter Jensen and Blake Mitchell, they moved from a position of strength. The Royals telegraphed this tack when they signed right-hander Seth Lugo to a two-year, $46 million extension, but it still caught some in the industry off-guard.
Perhaps it shouldn’t have. The desire to win is easy to talk about and far tougher to prove through action. The Royals remain a long shot to make the postseason, but inside the clubhouse, the players are appreciative of that shot, and it’s the sort of goodwill that, while immeasurable, is absent in the clubhouses of the teams that closed the deadline with a whimper.
Kansas City star Bobby Witt Jr. named the team’s 2025 Heart and Hustle Award, after winning the league-wide award in 2024.
Columbia Fireflies catcher Hyungchan Um lands on MiLB’s Prospect Team of the Week. Kansas City’s 30th-ranked prospect slashed .615/.667/.846 in for games of the Fireflies in what has been a career year for the former international free agent.
Kings of Kauffman’s Caleb Moody reacts to the Brady Singer-Jonathan India trade after the Royals DFA’d outfielder Joey Wiemer.
“While the Royals may not exactly be devastated that they lost Wiemer to the Marlins, it’s undoubtedly somewhat of a black eye on this trade to no longer have him within their system,” Moody wrote. “While the Reds may not exactly be winning this deal, as Singer is throwing to just a 4.36 ERA, 1.31 WHIP and .243 BAA in 2025, it means India is all that’s left to show for this deal on KC’s end.”
Bleacher Report’s Zachary D. Rymer labels Kansas City’s trade deadline approach as “determined” in pursuit of another playoff berth.
All this is in service of what FanGraphs has as a 14.1 percent chance of playing in October, but it would have been overly cynical if Kansas City had gone in the other direction. This team is only 4.0 games off the pace in the AL wild card race, and is due to get some real help off the injured list in August.
Yardbarker names Kansas City acquisition of pitcher Johnny Cueto at the 2015 trade deadline as one of the AL’s best moves in the past decade.
FanGraphs’ latest power rankings still have Kansas City below the league’s Mendoza line, sitting at 16th out of 30 teams.
Once he saw a firesale, Twins reliever Griffin Jax requested a trade.
Byron Buxton wouldn’t waive his no-trade clause for a deal out of Minnesota.
Astros third baseman Isaac Paredes will forgo surgery in the hopes of returning from a hamstring injury.
Braves third baseman Austin Riley is back on the Injured List.
Baseball has a lot of parity when it comes to best record in the league.
The Twins are interested in former Cubs reliever Ryan Pressly.
The White Sox release Noah Syndergaard from their Triple-A team.
Former Royals pitcher Anthony Veneziano is claimed off waivers by the Cardinals
Eric Longenhagen at Fangraphs ranks the prospects traded at the deadline.
Jacob deGrom becomes the fastest pitcher to 1,800 career strikeouts.
Catchers across baseball are hitting again.
A fan is pulled from the stands to hit at a Portland Pickles game, and smacks a home run.
Baseball America’s Seth Mates recounts their time at the National Sports Collectors Convention in Chicago.
How are players and teams handling the late-season fatigue and workload for starting pitchers?
ESPN and the NFL are in agreement to sell NFL Network, NFL Fantasy, and more to the sports broadcasting giant.
The NCAA rejects a proposal to expand the college basketball tournaments.
The NHL’s Seattle Kraken mascot had a “Close encounter” with nature in Alaska.
Hank Hill returns to a changed world in a King of the Hill reboot.
How to stop snoring.
Did the Metropolitan Museum of Art steal a guitar from former Rolling Stones guitarist Mick Taylor?
Your song of the day is Guns N’ Roses with Patience.
