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ROYALS HEADLINES
Royals finish with winning record; head into offseason with some uncertainty

By artoodeetoo
09/29/2025

[9/26 -- Roster moves made ahead of final 2025 series: With the Royals' postseason fate all but assured, they announced the release of three veterans in infielders DJ LeMahieu and Jorge Mateo, along with veteran catcher Luke Maile. LeMahieu was a minor league signing back in mid-August, while Mateo was a waiver wire pickup just prior to the September 1st deadline, making him postseason-eligible.

Maile was in the midst of his second stint with the Royals this season, having been designated off the roster earlier in the season, only to be brought back once Freddy Fermin was traded to the Padres. The move also frees up three 40-man roster slots, which at least two of those that will likely be filled by Kris Bubic and Alec Marsh, as the latter has missed the entirety of the 2025 season.

James McArthur, another contributing pitcher from the 2024 season who missed all of the year, could also fill the other spot; but he's arbitration-eligible and could be in line for a non-tender. Jonathan Bowlan and Tyler Tolbert, also both on the 60-day currently, seem much more likely to be possibilities for that final 40-man slot.

Outfielders Dairon Blanco and John Rave were re-called from Triple-A, along with utilty player Nick Loftin to fill out the bench. While Massey and Rave have had multiple stints with varying levels of success with the Royals this season, Blanco hasn't been with the parent club since the end of May. He has just eight plate appearances and three steals in five tries this season, both far cries from last season in which he stole thirty-one bases in just eighty-eight games, mainly as a reserve and spot starter.

Despite his lack of extra-base power and average on-base skills, Blanco has managed to maintain a better-than-league-average offensive profile (104 OPS+) in his MLB career to-date. Manager Matt Quatraro also noted that he's been playing through several nagging injuries this season, but has managed to stay off the injured list minus a short stint on the 7-day IL in the minors. He also has strong Triple-A numbers (115 OPS+), so it stands to reason he's an excellent depth piece going forward that still has an option year left after this one.

9/26 -- Ragans reaches milestone in Royals' loss: Despite missing much of the season due to injury, Cole Ragans reached a season milestone in the Royals' 4-1 loss to the Athletics, falling to .500 on the season at 80-80. His strikeout of Zack Gelof in the seventh inning pushed him to the 100-strikeout mark for the 2025 season, which is an impressive feat despite making only fourteen starts, pitching just seventy-three innings.

"It really wasn't the intention to try and get him to that point, as that's how it just worked out," said pitching coach Brian Sweeney of Ragans, who took questions from reporters while Matt Quatraro attended to a brief personal matter. "It just so happened that he was turning the lineup over for the third time and he was over a hundred pitches at that point. But it's a great milestone for him to get to despite missing so much time, and it's a testament to his talent."

Ragans' one-hundred strikeouts through seventy-three innings would have put him on a faster pace than last year, in which he fanned 29.2% of his hitters faced last season. This season, he was on a 31.7% pace, which over a full season would be 242 strikeouts. That mark would have tied him with Zack Greinke for the second-most in a season all-time in team history.

However, homeruns were a problem for Ragans, especially in the latter half of the season. In each of his last eight starts, which includes three rehab appearances in the minors, Ragans allowed eight homeruns. That might not seem like a ton, but most of his outings, including his rehab starts, were shortened to three or four innings. Over 39 2/3 innings since May 31st, Ragans' HR/9 number was nearly 2.0.

"We're hoping next season after a full offseason program and further recovery, he'll be the same guy that he's been the last few yeras," said Sweeney later on. "He's also been hurt by some bad luck this season, so perhaps the worm will turn back the other way some, as well."

As far as the game itself, the Athletics took a 2-0 lead after five innings, but the Royals only had one baserunner reach second base through the first six innings against Luis Severino, and that runner (Carter Jensen) doubled and had to be pulled with what was termed as a shoulder injury. He's listed as day-to-day. He was replaced by Dairon Blanco, who moved to the outfield, while Salvador Perez moved behind the plate from first base, while Jac Caglianone came in to play first base from the outfield.

"Severino was tough out there, keeping the ball down and getting guys to hit into weak contact," manager Matt Quatraro said, returning from his brief personal matter later on in the press conference. "Carter's double, he really squared that one up, but that was the only big contact that I remember, regardless of it was a hit or not. That's tough to do and still win games."

9/27 -- Melendez re-called; Rave optioned: With Carter Jensen (shoulder) being listed as day-to-day, the Royals have re-called MJ Melendez from the minors to serve as an emergency catcher in case Jensen is unable to go at any time over the final two games.

With Luke Maile on the way out in recent days, the Royals are down a backup catcher. They also had other pure catching options in the minors with veteran Ali Sanchez and youngster Luca Tresh, but opted for another lefty bat.

It's been a tough year for MJ, who has gone just 5-for-58 this season (.086) with the Royals, hitting a pair of homeruns and a double. However, he is still putting up strong numbers in Triple-A, as he has an OPS of .893 in Omaha, which comes out to a 125 OPS+ at that level.

"Carter is day-to-day, so if Salvy gets hurt, at least we have someone back there who can handle the duties and knows most of these pitchers pretty well," said manager Matt Quatraro. "Hopefully, we won't have to use him in that capacity, but he's there just in case."

[b]9/27 -- Isbel, Blanco power Royals win: With the Royals now squarely out of the playoff hunt, a couple of unlikely sources provided the bulk of the offensive production as they took a 9-2 victory over the Athletics. Kyle Isbel went 4-for-4 with a season-high four RBI and a walk; while fellow outfielder Dairon Blanco, who was called up after the Royals released three veteran players prior to the start of the series, went 2-for-3 with a double and three RBI, also a season and career-high.

They were also backed up by a strong start from rookie Ryan Bergert, who didn't allow a run over 5 1/3 innings to pick up his second win as a Royal. He scattered just three hits and three walks, fanning six.

"This was a great win to get us to at least .500 for the season, depending on tomorrow," said manager Matt Quatraro. "I think the key is now to finish strong and get that win tomorrow to get us over .500 for the season. It's not what we originally wanted out of this season, but it would be a huge lift to go into 2026 coming off a winning season."

The offense knocked Athletics starter Jeffrey Springs out with two out in the third, tagging him for six earned runs. Former Royal Aaron Brooks, who made a handful of appearances in their 2024 and 2025 World Series runs, didn't fare much better with three earned runs over a pair of innings.

Maikel Garcia collected three hits in the win, scoring a pair of runs in the process. Jonathan India also scored twice, while Vinnie Pasquantino collected a pair of hits in the decisive victory.

9/28 -- Season ends on winning note: The Royals may not be going to the postseason, but they secured a winning record for the second straight season with a 4-2 win in ten innings over the Athletics, headlined by seven innings of two-run ball from Stephen Kolek. The Royals broke a 2-2 tie in the top of the 10th with Maikel Garcia's two-run homerun, his 17th of the season.

Carlos Estevez pitched a scoreless 10th for his 38th save of the year; as he finishes the season in second place for the most saves in the AL, second to only Josh Hader and his forty-four saves. Angel Zerpa moved to 5-2 on the season with a scoreless ninth inning, striking out one.

"Good way to end the season on a high note," said manager Matt Quatraro, wrapping up his third season as the team's skipper. "Let's be honest, it's not the way we envisioned ending our season, but there's a lot of positives to take away, and of course some things that we need to fix and work on in the offseason and hopefully come back and get back to the postseason in 2026."

One of those positive developments is Garcia, who finished ranked in the top three in most major offensive categories amongst qualifying AL third basemen, including average (.288, 2nd), OBP (.346, 2nd), slugging (.463, 3rd), OPS (.809, 2nd), fWAR (4.4, 2nd), at-bats (591, 3rd), hits (169, 2nd), runs scores (81, 2nd), doubles (42, 1st), triples (5, 1st), steals (28, 2nd), and walks (55, 2nd).

He's also a likely contender for the Gold Glove at third base in the American League, as he's the leader in UZR (+12), and is in the top three in DRS at +13.

Another positive is that the Royals appear to have established more pitching depth than originally thought heading into the season. The acquisitions of Kolek and Ryan Bergert from the Padres also help that, but even with mainstays like Seth Lugo, Michael Lorenzen, Cole Ragans, and Kris Bubic all missing some extended periods of time at different points in the season, the Royals still managed to the second-best starters' ERA (3.57), and also the second-best team ERA in the AL (3.58).

In most other seasons, Noah Cameron would be a top two or three contender for the AL Rookie of the Year, but it was a very deep and talented rookie class in the AL this season with players like Nick Kurtz, Roman Anthony, Cam Smith, and Carlos Narvaez all playing major roles on their respective teams. Instead, he finished second on the team in wins (9, tied with Michael Wacha), and posted a 2.90 ERA as a rookie, which is a Royals' rookie record.

His 0.99 WHIP also would have finished fifth in the entire league had he pitched another 16 1/3 innings to reach enough innings to qualify as a starting pitcher.

"It's a real credit to Brian (Sweeney) and his staff that he has working under him," Quatraro said of his pitching coach. "He's also been a big reason why we've been able to re-sign Michael (Wacha) and Seth (Lugo) to extensions, because they believe so heavily in what we're doing on the pitching side of things."

Kansas City now enters the offseason with some things to build on, but also some uncertainty. Salvador Perez has a team option of $13.5 million for 2026, but do they scrap that in favor of an extension? Will they pursue the big outfield bat that they've talked about seemingly for years? Do they decide to overhaul the hitting coaching staff, or decide to part ways with Alec Zumwalt entirely?