Total domination
The Royals brush off the White Sox in comprehensive fashion.
After three days of landing light jabs, the Royals threw a steady barrage of haymakers on Thursday afternoon at The K. No more one-run victories. No more comebacks. No more letting their opponents think that they can hang. No more.
The Royals plated a two-out run in the first on a what is now a trademarked Salvador Perez double. They scored another in the third after Bobby Witt Jr. swiped a bag and Perez knocked him in with a two-out single.
Two more came across in the fifth on a two-out triple from Maikel Garcia. Another pair scored in the sixth on back-to-back two-out doubles from Jonathan India and Witt.
They finished off the hapless Chicago White Sox with a flurry of hits in the eighth, bringing eight men to the plate and scoring four.
By the time Steven Cruz set the Sox down in order in the ninth, they had long thrown in the towel…Victims of a comprehensive 10-0 beatdown. Not even a newly elected Pope (and White Sox fan) could find mercy for this wretched ballclub.
I feel as though I’ve been writing about this for over a week, but the Royals remain one of the hottest (if not the hottest) teams in baseball. Remember how, after that disastrous road trip to Cleveland, New York and Detroit they rolled up nine victories in 10 games? (The first of those wins came in that final game of the road trip when the Royals won in 10 innings in a game that Tarik Skubal started for the Tigers.) They have won nine of 10. Well, they have once again won nine of their last 10.
Overall, the Royals have now gone 15-2 over their last 17 games.
This is a remarkable run, anyway you look at it. In franchise history, this appears to be just the fifth time the team has gone on such a tear. They last did it back in 2013. Prior to that, you have to go all the way back to 1989. Before that, it was last done in 1978 and in a remarkable stretch late in 1977 that pushed them to a club record 102 wins on the season. That remains a Royals record.
This 2025 Royals team has put together one of the most dominant stretches of baseball in franchise history.
This Wikipedia entry remains valid:
Want some more superlatives? The Royals are now riding a six-game winning streak. It’s the second time this year they’ve rolled off six in a row. They’re the only team in the majors with two winning streaks this long to their credit this season.
Their overall record stands at 23-16, which is exactly where they were after 39 games last season.
The Royals had some strong starting pitching in this series (and for this entire season), but Thursday’s starter Kris Bubic was next-level fantastic. He recorded 16 swings and misses and had the Sox chasing at 41 percent of his pitches outside the strike zone. The changeup was particularly devastating, resulting in weak contact for much of the afternoon.
On a team with an outstanding rotation, Bubic has stood out this entire season. His 1.4 fWAR ranks him fifth in the majors. He has become the pitcher we were dreaming on at the start of the 2023 season, before he had the Tommy John surgery.
The Royals entire starting rotation has pitched to a 2.93 ERA, the second-best mark in the majors. Their collective 4.4 fWAR is the third-best. Only the Phillies and the Mets can make a claim their starters are better than the rotation that’s been assembled in Kansas City.
The Chicago White Sox may be the new Pope’s team, but this group needs so much at the moment that not even divine intervention can help them. Is Pope Leo XIV TrueSABR?
I made note of this at various times last season when Kansas City won 12 of 13 from Chicago, it is always incumbent upon the Royals to take care of business. Baseball is baseball and sometimes, the inferior team can scratch out two of three in a short series. Nothing is assured. If the Royals are going to stake a claim as one of the better teams in the American League, they have to dispense of the weaker teams. In other words, they have to treat the White Sox the way the Yankees have treated the Royals over the past decade…with disdain and annoyance.
The Royals did this last year and while that wasn’t the only reason they qualified for the postseason tournament, it certainly didn’t help. It looks as though the Royals are ready to do it again in 2025. That’s a very good thing.
Does it seem like all Perez does these days is hit doubles? That’s because he pretty much does. His first inning double on Thursday was his ninth in his last 12 games. The last Royal to go on a doubles spree like that was Alex Gordon back in 2019.
How about Witt? Oh, he just went 4-5 at the plate on Thursday with a pair of stolen bases. It was the seventh time Witt has gone off for four hits in a game.
These guys are good.
I’m going to leave it there for today. A brief issue, but a few non-baseball things are going on and deadlines are creeping. I will take a moment to note that the entire AL Central is on a tear at the moment (except for Chicago, of course.)
The Tigers swept a doubleheader in Colorado yesterday, outscoring the Rockies by a combined score of 21-3. So pretty much the same thing I wrote about the Royals dominating the White Sox applies to the Tigers (and the Royals previously) crushing the Rockies.
This is shaping up to be another fun summer.
As a long-time KC sports fan, this idiot typist had become accustomed to disappointment. Then Mahomes showed up and gave us hope and, dare I say, pride; the city was becoming recognized.
As I watch the Royals progress, I can't help but wonder if Bobby Baseball COULD do the same thing for our baseball team.
Still, being let down for so long by both teams, I keep waiting for the other shoe to drop.
I smh and smile at the success of our Boys, but I can't help but be on the listen for that shoe. Sorry.
In the meantime I believe in this team like I haven't for years and, more importantly, I have confidence in ownership and management that this franchise has a very bright future.
I didn't realize--at this moment in time--the Royals are playing at the same pace this year as last year (23-16). That's significant to me since I remember their torrid start to last year led to some immediate press on the turn-around from a 100 loss season...and tends to validate what they are doing again (at least to me). The difference this time around is: I think they can/will actually get better from this point on given the talent on the IL (pitching) and in the minors (hitting).