Welcome to the final Thursday for the 2026 Kansas City Royals. It’s an afternoon home game against the playoff-hopeful Chicago White Sox. After today, the Royals will host the equally playoff-hopeful Cleveland Guardians to finish out the season.
And oh boy what a season it’s been. If you haven’t already paid heed to my boy Dante’s warning, Abandon all hope, ye who enter here.
What’s the best-case scenario for the Royals in these final four games? To play spoiler? They won’t spoil the season for both
the White Sox and Guardians—at least one of them is going to win the Central. Probably both of them will make the playoffs. That third Wild Card spot, between whoever doesn’t win the Central, the Texas Rangers (three back) and Baltimore Orioles (three-and-a-half back), is still up in the air, but time’s running out.
With that being the case, the Royals can turn their attention to acquiring the best odds for next year’s draft. Except…well, they don’t really have anywhere to go in that race (to the bottom), either. They won’t catch the Angels or Rockies for the worst record, the Athletics have five more losses with just four to go, and the Giants already have 94 losses. Next up is Kansas City with 90 defeats followed by…the Mets, Reds, and Tigers are 85.
The Royals, then, seemingly have locked up that fifth-worst record, which gives them the fourth-best odds at the top pick thanks to the Giants being ineligible for the lottery. Regardless of outcome these final four games, the Royals won’t move from their 11.57% chance at the No. 1 pick and 73% chance at a pick in the top six.
Boy howdy.
Let’s shift our focus to the today’s matinee.
No Jac Caglianone in the lineup today so the outfield looks as putrid as ever. Maikel Garcia, who played hero last night, also gets the day off with Nick Loftin replacing him at the hot corner. The first five batters will probably be everyday guys next year, barring injury. I don’t see the Royals outright replacing Salvador Perez or, for that matter, Michael Massey.
They’ll face right-handed pitcher David Sandlin, recently recalled from Triple-A Charlotte. Since then, he’s started two games, going 5-and-2/3 against the Cardinals while allowing three runs (none earned) on two hits and zero walks with five strikeouts. He didn’t perform as well his next outing against the Tigers. He went four innings, allowed five earned runs on seven hits and one walk while striking out four.
Among active Royals, Carter Jensen has the most at-bats against Sandlin—with three.
Chicago’s putting out the same lineup as last night. It’s hard for me to believe that this is a playoff-caliber lineup, but here we are. Miguel Vargas and Munetaka Murakami are tied for the team lead in home runs with 33. Colson Montgomery is right behind them with 31. No one else in the lineup has more than 16. Only two White Sox players have an OPS over .800—Vargas (.841) and Murakami (.817).
They’ll face Randy Dobnak, who’s come back to earth a bit after a stellar string of starts. His ERA, which once upon a time sat at 1.04 after five appearances, has jumped to 3.08. It’s 5.91 in the month of September, which includes four starts against the Marlins, Blue Jays, Red Sox, and Pirates. Most recently, Dobnak, never one to be mistaken as an innings eater, didn’t even make it out of the fourth inning against Pittsburgh.
If the Royals need to count on him for much in 2027, I fear the year will be similar to this one.
First pitch is 1:10 p.m.
