One telling stat puts Royals among baseball’s biggest disappointments

The Kansas City Royals have struggled throughout the 2026 Major League Baseball season, ranking among the league's biggest disappointments due largely to a severely negative run differential. According to ESPN's Buster Olney, Kansas City holds one of the five worst run differentials in all of baseball.

Prior to games played on September 25, manager Matt Quatraro's team had scored 668 runs while allowing 781 runs, resulting in a minus-113 run differential. The club will aim to address these issues to mount a turnaround for the 2027 season.