Some Royals seasons suck. When a team is expected to be bad and finishes with a bad record, there isn’t much mystery to it. When Scott Elarton pitches on Opening Day, what do you expect?
But the truly painful seasons are the ones that begin with optimism, only for things to go terribly, terribly wrong. Injuries. Underperformance. Everyone hopes the team will turn the corner. Maybe it is the series they can get back on track? Then you look up and it’s late July and the team is a seller at the trade
deadline.
This year has been that kind of gut-punch season. The team was hoping to be contenders, but everything just fell apart. How does this bad season compare with other miserable disappointments? Let’s be sadists and immerse ourselves in the pain.
10. 1997 (67-94)
The Royals began a rebuild after the work stoppage ended in 1995, banking on young hitters like Johnny Damon, Michael Tucker, and Joe Vitiello to lead them back to contention. They won 75 games in 1996, but finished dead last in runs scored. That winter, they found offense through some shrewd trades, acquiring veterans Jay Bell and Jeff King from the Pirates, designated hitter Chili Davis from the Angels, and young postseason hero Jermaine Dye from the Braves. Kansas City Star columnist Jason Whitlock called the team a “legitimate contender.”
By late June, the team was 36-38, just three games out of first place, and might have been even better had their awful bullpen not blown so many leads. But the team hit a wall, losing 12 in a row, part of a stretch where they dropped 18 of 20. Not even firing manager Bob Boone at the All-Star break would stop the losing. The team went 31-48 under new skipper Tony Muser after the All-Star break, the third-worst record in baseball. They finished with 94 losses, at the time, the second-worst record in club history.
9. 2001 (65-97)
The 2000 Royals had perhaps the best offense in club history. They scored a club-record 879 runs with a stable of dynamic young hitters like Johnny Damon, Jermaine Dye, Carlos Beltrán, Mike Sweeney, Mark Quinn, and Joe Randa. They won 77 games despite an awful bullpen that finished with 26 blown saves. So the Royals figured, the solution was to trade some of that offensive depth for an established closer. With Damon nearing free agency, they shipped him to Oakland in a three-team trade that netted them former All-Star closer Roberto Hernández from Tampa Bay.
Hernández did stabilize the bullpen, but there weren’t many leads for him to protect. The starting pitching was hideous with All-Star José Rosado out the entire year after shoulder surgery. And without Damon setting the table, the offense took a huge step back. Dye was dealt away at the deadline, and the team lost 97 games, tying the franchise record and killing any momentum generated in 2000.
8. 2009 (65-97)
The Royals finished the 2008 season strong with an 18-8 September under first-year manager Trey Hillman. They won 75 games overall, the second year in a row the team had improved its win total. The team added veteran outfielder Coco Crisp and slugging first baseman Mike Jacobs to bolster the lineup, made improvements to the bullpen and finalized a four-year contract extension for star Zack Greinke.
The vibes were especially strong when the team got off to an uncharacteristically strong start. A week into May, they were 18-11, with a three-game lead in the division. But they quickly fell back to earth, losing 22 of their next 28. They went 7-19 in July, pushing them even further back in the standings. They even lost 9 of their last 11 games of the season, making that hot start a distant memory.
7. 2007 (69-93)
Dayton Moore was hired in the summer of 2006, tasked with turning around the worst team in baseball. He made a flurry of trades that July, and in the winter, signed free agent Gil Meche to a five-year, $55 million deal, the largest free agent signing in club history. The Royals were also expecting the debut of third baseman Alex Gordon, who was named Baseball America’s Minor League Player of the Year the previous season.
The team had a thrilling 7-1 win in a nationally televised Opening Day win over Boston in which Meche left the game to a standing ovation. But Moore would soon discover the rebuild would not be immediate. The team lost 10 of 12 after the first win and soon fell to the cellar. They would end up with 93 losses, the sixth time in seven seasons they had lost 90+ games.
6. 2017 (80-82)
The Royals knew the 2017 season was their “last hurrah” with the championship core. Mike Moustakas, Eric Hosmer, Lorenzo Cain, and Alcides Escobar were all eligible for free agency at the end of the season, and it seemed unlikely the team would retain them all. After a 7-16 start, it seemed like the “last hurrah” would be a dud. But as that core so often did, they got hot in the summer. The team went 33-18 in June and July and were in a Wild Card spot, just two games out of first by the trade deadline.
Then the team went into a funk. The pitching staff posted an ugly 5.89 ERA in August, and three pitchers acquired from the Padres at the deadline – Trevor Cahill, Brandon Maurer, and Travis Wood – were a big part of the problem. As late as August 23, they were just a half game out of a playoff spot, but a five-game losing streak where they went 45 innings in a row without scoring a run sealed their fate. The World Series stars were given an ovation in their last regular season home game, but it was disappointing their last time together in a Royals uniform couldn’t come in the postseason.
5. 2004 (58-104)
The Royals made a surprise run in 2003 with a hot 9-0 start that propelled them into first place for much of the summer. Although they fell short of the playoffs, it gave the team hope that the youth movement had arrived and that adding a few veterans could put the team into contention. GM Allard Baird added veterans Juan Gonzalez, Benito Santiago, and Matt Stairs, while bringing back Joe Randa, Brian Anderson, and Curtis Leskanic.
The team had a thrilling comeback walk-off win on Opening Day against the White Sox. But the pitching turned out to be just dreadful. Juan Gonzalez was injured in mid-May and never returned. By the end of the month, they had the worst record in the American League and were shopping star outfielder Carlos Beltrán. He was traded two weeks later. The team lost a then-franchise record 104 games.
4. 1983 (79-83-1)
The 1982 Royals won 90 games – fifth-most in baseball – but missed the playoffs for just the second time in seven years. They brought back much of the roster. The lineup featured four All-Stars from the previous season – George Brett, Frank White, Willie Wilson, and Hal McRae. The rotation was a very veteran staff with four starters all age 30 or older – Larry Gura, Paul Splittorff, Dennis Leonard, and former AL MVP Vida Blue. Dan Quisenberry had led the league in saves the previous season and earned Cy Young votes. According to Washington Post columnist Thomas Boswell, the team had “legitimate pennant hopes.”
But Father Time is undefeated and the pitching soon showed its age. Leonard got hurt, Gura was ineffective, and Blue completely fell apart and was released that summer. The team hovered around .500 and was only 1.5 games out of first in late July. But the White Sox caught fire, going 48-16 down the stretch to win the division, while the Royals finished under .500. To make matters worse, after the season Blue, Willie Wilson, Willie Aikens and Jerry Martin were arrested in an FBI drug investigation, eventually receiving jail sentences and suspensions from Major League Baseball.
3. 2026 (65-82, so far)
The season isn’t technically over, but the Royals’ playoff hopes are. And that’s enough to make this one of the biggest disappointments in franchise history. The Royals were coming off back-to-back winning seasons and featured one of the best players in the game in Bobby Witt Jr., plus a very solid starting rotation and the AL saves leader returning in Carlos Estévez.
But the offense struggled to begin the year, with Vinnie Pasquantino and Salvador Perez both in a funk. By the end of May, the team was already far out of it with a record of 22-37. Then the injuries hit. Cole Ragans. Kris Bubic. Vinnie Pasquantino. Maikel Garcia. Even Bobby Witt Jr. hit the Injured List for the first time in his career. Estévez has missed virtually the entire season, and the rest of the bullpen has been a complete mess. The Royals had hoped to contend this year, instead they’ll try to avoid hitting the 90 loss mark.
2. 1986 (76-86)
The Royals returned most of the 1985 championship team, and many figured that was good enough to make a serious run at a repeat. The Sporting News picked the Royals to repeat as division champs, and itssurvey of 210 baseball writers found a consensus on that prediction. But early injuries to Bret Saberhagen and Mark Gubicza and ineffectiveness by closer Dan Quisenberry caused the team to hover around .500 for the first three months. George Brett had been holding up an otherwise thin offense, and when he missed significant time in July, the team collapsed.
Players had also been noticing manager Dick Howser was acting differently, and was frequently suffering from headaches and neck pain. When he managed the American League in the All-Star Game that summer, his mental gaffes became apparent when he sent second baseman Lou Whitaker to left field, and called catcher Jim Sundberg “Sabes.”
It would be the last game Howser ever managed. Following the All-Star break, third-base coach Mike Ferraro took over the team. The next day, the Royals announced that Howser had been diagnosed with a tumor in his left frontal lobe. The diagnosis cast a pall over the team that it never really emerged from.
1. 1990 (75-86)
The 1989 Royals had finished tied for the third-best record in baseball, but because they were stuck in the same division as the “Bash Brothers” Oakland Athletics, they missed the playoffs by a good margin. They had a talented pitching staff led by reigning Cy Young winner Bret Saberhagen, and decided to double down on pitching by signing the A’s 19-game winner Storm Davis. When free agent talks for Mark Davis fell apart with other clubs, the Royals swooped in and signed the reigning National League Cy Young winner.
Many publications thought they could challenge the Athletics. General manager John Schuerholz called them a “legitimate championship team.” The fans were excited about the $19 million plunge into free agency. “The anticipation of this season by our fans was more than I’ve ever seen before,” said manager John Wathan.
But the “Davis boys” turned out to be a bust. Storm put up a 4.74 ERA and taught everyone how run support impacts wins. Mark showed how volatile reliever performance can be by losing his closer’s job in May and ending with a 5.11 ERA. The Royals lost 86 games and finished in sixth place, their lowest finish ever in the standings.
