ESPN’s David Schoenfield predicts the Kansas City Royals will push the Seattle Mariners out of the AL playoff bracket as the September slate starts.
The Kansas City Royals will make the playoffs. Crazy? Not so. They’ve played great in July and August. Vinnie Pasquantino is mashing home runs, Bobby Witt Jr. is red hot and the players they added at the trade deadline have chipped in to make this a good offense. The Royals also have a pretty easy schedule the rest of the way. But which team can they catch?
It might hinge on a three-game series at home against Seattle in mid-September. The Mariners have a recent history of falling just short of the postseason — including last year, when the Royals clinched a wild-card spot with 86 wins and the Mariners won 85 (the Mariners blew an 8-0 lead against Kansas City in June, which loomed large at the end of the season). Seattle has struggled on the road, so the aforementioned series can catapult the Royals back into the postseason.
Into the Foutains’ Craig Brown returns and has a realistic, yet stinging prediction for how the 2025 season ends.
While it’s fantastic that the Royals are playing meaningful baseball in September, and while I’ve been optimistic about their chances of hanging around in the race, I cannot shake the feeling that they’re just not good enough to snag that third spot. They’re better than Cleveland and they’ve shown they have the advantage over the Rangers. Maybe the Mariners continue to rediscover mediocrity. Maybe the Red Sox or Yankees hit a massive stumbling point. However this ends, I’m not sure the Royals can just get hot and sneak in. They’re going to need some help.
Baseball America’s Eli Ben-Porat calls catcher Carter Jensen’s Statcast data “breathtakingly good” following the backstop’s call to the MLB.
This is a remarkably complete profile, and it comes with a combination of plate discipline, raw power, launch angles and a lack of a platoon issue that strongly suggests future 30-home run upside, if not more. It comes as no surprise that Jensen has earned his callup. Royals fans, you’ve got a good one.
MLB.com’s Anne Rogers emphasizes the home in hometown kid for Jensen.
It was, Jensen said, one of the most electric atmospheres he’s ever seen — even in one of the highest sections at The K. A Kansas City native who went to Park Hill High School about 20 miles northwest of Kauffman Stadium, Jensen has been a Royals fan his entire life. He grew up attending games. He played for the Royals Scout Team at the Urban Youth Academy. Salvador Perez is his idol. Eleven years later, Jensen is on the field, as a Royals player, trying to help them get back to October.
“When it comes to playoff baseball in Kansas City, I feel like it turns up a notch,” Jensen said. “That’s honestly what I’m striving for, and to be on the field and not in the stands, that’s some extra motivation that I’m always keeping in the back of my head.”
Royals Data Dugout pontificates about where Jensen slots long-term in Kansas City.
Perhaps Jensen could slot in as a new era leadoff man, a la Kyle Schwarber? It would prevent three straight lefties in the lineup, giving opposing managers an easy button with their bullpens in the late innings, but without necessitating a slide all the way to sixth in the order — again, assuming Jensen hits the ground running. These are all 2027 and beyond “problems” to solve — having three highly productive bats who happen to all hit from the same side of the plate is an issue you can live with, particularly in an analytics age when no one scoffs at a power hitter leading off a game.
Bleacher Report’s Joel Reuter picks a no-brainer name for Kansas City’s best rookie during this season.
Noah Cameron made his MLB debut on April 30 and kicked off his big league career with a bang, rattling off five straight quality starts while logging a 0.85 ERA in 31.2 innings. His performance was inevitably going to level off after that red-hot start, but he has settled in as a rock-solid MLB starter, pitching to a 3.77 ERA in 76.1 innings in his next 14 starts. With Cole Ragans and Kris Bubic both missing time to injury, his emergence as a reliable option behind Seth Lugo and Michael Wacha has been invaluable for a team still fighting for a wild-card berth.
Baseball America’s J.J. Cooper thinks Royals prospect Gavin Cross still has plenty of work to do after an excellent final week of August baseball.
It was a great week for Royals prospects—as the rest of this Hot Sheet attests—but none had a better week than Cross. It was much needed, as in his second try at the Texas League, Cross has found the league to be even tougher than it was in 2024. He still has an outside shot at a 20-20 season if he stays this hot—he has a career high 16 home runs and 20 steals—but he’s also trying to get his on-base percentage above .300
Bleacher Report’s Tim Kelly looks at each team’s top pending free agent, and thinks Kansas City will retain theirs.
Mike Yastrzemski has homered seven times and posted a .976 OPS since being acquired at the trade deadline. Considering how bleak Kansas City’s outfield production was before his arrival, it stands to reason they could try to bring him back on a one-year deal for his age-35 season in 2026.
Kings of Kauffman’s Oliver Vandervoort comments on a bad slump for former Royals catcher Freddy Fermin with the San Diego Padres.
It seems the Padres are hoping his slump is about fatigue more than something that will plague Fermin the rest of the season. The reality is that the former Kansas City Royals player has always been a good, but not great, offensive force. His ability to hid for a solid mid-.200s has always been there, including now in San Diego, but he doesn’t get on-base otherwise or hit for power enough to make him any more than decent average in the lower end of the lineup.
ESPN omits Kansas City completely when looking at the AL playoff race as the Royals open a series against the visiting Los Angeles Angels.
Omaha Storm Chasers utilityman Harold Castro leads several minor-league batting metrics in red-hot August.
The Boston Red Sox extend former Royals closer Aroldis Chapman after a dominant 2025 season.
Arizona Diamondbacks announce outfielder Lourdes Gurriel Jr. suffered a torn right ACL on Monday night, impacting the pending free agent’s winter.
Could Kansas City’s pitching coaching staff find another project this offseason in the struggling Walker Buehler?
Shortstop Ha-Seong Kim joins the Atlanta Braves after being claimed off waivers amidst an injury-riddled 2025 campaign.
Los Angeles Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani records his 100th home run as a Dodger with the team’s hardest hit ball in the Statcast era.
Culture of Sport looks at how arenas and stadiums are turning from sports-forward to an overall experience.
Lance Brozdowski updates his top 40 pitching prospects in his late 2025 season update.
A trio is ejected in a benches-clearing brawl between the San Francisco Giants and the Colorado Rockies.
Red Sox outfielder Roman Anthony leaves Tuesday’s game early clutching his back.
Activists’ fight against Mexico’s soccer fans rages on ahead of next summer’s World Cup.
Kraft Heinz announces the two companies will split again after so-so decade of results and products.
Who are the new additions to Saturday Night Live after the “offseason” departures?
Actor Graham Greene, known for Dances with Wolves,” passed away at 73 years old.
Today’s song of the day is Porch Light by Josh Meloy.
