The Kansas City Royals finished the 2025 season with an 82-80 record, marking their second straight year with a winning record. However, the record was not enough to get them into the playoffs, leaving fans disappointed after entering the season with high expectations. So, what exactly went wrong for Kansas City?
Dominant Pitching
The pitching was undeniably great, leading the team throughout the season with repeated quality starts and incredible performances. Starting pitchers Seth Lugo, Kris Bubic and Michael Wacha led the team’s strongest position group.
Those three, among many others, made up an extremely talented pitching staff that spearheaded Kansas City to a team ERA of 3.50 at the All-Star Break, the second-best mark in the entire league.
Unfortunately, injuries began to nip at the Royals. Bubic was the first to be knocked out, suffering a left rotator cuff strain in late July that kept him out for the rest of the season. Things only got worse from there, as fellow starter Ryan Bergert and reliever Lucas Erceg were also shut down for the rest of the season in mid-September. The final nail in the coffin was Seth Lugo sustaining a lower back strain near the end of September that ended his season.
These unfortunate circumstances forced the Royals to stretch their pitching staff thin, and only one of their pitchers ended up breaking the 162 inning mark. Of the team’s 11 pitchers who broke the 60 inning mark, four of them had an ERA under 2.65 and seven of them had an ERA under 3.87. The talent was clearly there, but injuries proved to be too much for the Royals to handle.
In the end, the biggest highlight of the banged-up but immensely skilled Kansas City pitching staff was closing pitcher Carlos Estévez. Estévez ended the season with an ERA of 2.45 and a league-leading 42 saves.
Dim Offense, but Some Bright Spots
The offense, which had much hype behind it thanks to superstar shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. among other rising players such as Maikel García and Vinnie Pasquantino, disappointed many and ended up holding the team back in a big way.
The team finished the season scoring 4.02 runs a game, the fifth-lowest mark in the league. Of players who are still with the team and had 60 or more at bats, only five of them had a batting average over .255. They did not make up for this lack of hitting in other ways, as their on base percentage sat at just .309, a bottom-ten mark in the majors.
There were still some positives, with players like third baseman Maikel García emerging as a potential star with a batting average of .286 along with first baseman Vinnie Pasquantino and C Salvador Perez hammering a combined total of 62 home runs. This was all on top of Witt Jr.’s numbers that continued to impress despite some slight step backs from last season. Witt Jr. still led the team in batting average at .295, tied with Los Angeles Dodgers first baseman Freddie Freeman for the ninth-highest average in the league.
Witt Jr. finished the season with 38 steals, the fourth-most in the league, while continuing to make excellent fielding plays throughout the season.
Midseason Acquisitions Add Spark to Struggling Offense
The Royals sat at a lackluster 47-50 at the trade deadline, causing many to write the team off and assume that they would shift focus to building for the future. General Manager J.J. Picollo decided to take a different route, trading for a number of talented players that helped the team make a push for the postseason. While this push ultimately ended up falling just a few games short of succeeding, these players’ massive effect could not be ignored.
Outfielder Mike Yastrzemski and second baseman Adam Frazier had the most positive effect on the team, as Yastrzemski has posted a solid average of .237, an on-base percentage of .339 and a great slugging percentage of .500 since joining the team. This early success resulted in the former San Francisco Giant becoming a regular contributor in the batting order.
Frazier had a similar effect, finding himself in the lineup quite often and posting a very good average of .283 along with an on-base percentage of .320 and a solid slugging percentage of .402. These two acquisitions proved to be much needed in the long run, as their offensive contributions helped give Kansas City at least a shot at the postseason. This extra production could be much needed next season if Kansas City wants another shot at the postseason in 2026.
The Future
Not only will the Royals look to bolster their roster in free agency, but they’re also going to have to do some spending to make sure that they can keep their current talent. Four players are set to be free agents during the offseason — a list which includes Yastrzemski and Frazier. The two midseason acquisitions greatly helped out the offense, so it is likely that Picollo will try to keep them around.
The Royals will also have to deal with a lot of salary arbitration, with nearly 37% of the payroll in the arbitration process. Nine of the 14 total arbitration salaries come from the bullpen, including standouts like Erceg who was paid $776,750 in 2025 and Daniel Lynch IV who was paid $782,500 in 2025.
As for the starting pitchers, many of them are pre-arbitration or still locked into a contract, with the only player reaching the arbitration phase being Bubic in his fourth year of arbitration. There is no real news on what Kansas City plans to do with his contract, but it would be safe to assume that a decent amount of money will be used to try and keep him around.
Nine-time All-Star and franchise legend, Salvador Perez, has a contract option this offseason but is expected to stay in Kansas City. His current base contract is $13,500,000 and per the Associated Press, Picollo has stated that he will stay with the club in 2026.
Witt Jr. is locked into his contract until at least 2030, but other franchise cornerstones in García and Pasquantino have reached arbitrations in their contracts. These are two key contracts that Picollo and his staff will likely make sure to handle quickly — considering their 2025 performances, though, one could expect a pay raise for the both of them.
Outlook on the Team
The Royals, a small-market team, are not typically big spenders in the offseason. This is not expected to change this offseason. The Royals’ payroll sits right in the middle of the league, but because of a number of contracts that the club is already obligated to pay and a number of contracts still to be negotiated, the Royals won’t have much wiggle room.
Due to their current status as on-the-bubble playoff contenders, the Royals will likely try and improve the batting lineup before the spring. They will have to be rather conservative about their approach when doing so with so much talent already with the club needing to be paid.
The team will look to take the next step behind their stars and many skilled players next year while also making little additions like they did halfway through this year with glue guys like Yastrzemski and Frazier. With the conclusion of this season, one thing remains clear: this is a crucial offseason for Kansas City if they want to stay in contention for many years to come.