Royals Rumblings - News for September 26, 2024

Wow! Two wins in a row!

The Royals set a franchise record for consecutive scoreless innings pitched in last night’s win:

With another shutout in their 3-0 series-clinching win over the Nationals on Wednesday at Nationals Park, the Royals have pitched 26 consecutive scoreless innings, dating back to the third inning on Sunday. That sets a new franchise record, breaking a 24-inning scoreless streak done from June 9-12, 1976, and done again on May 17-20, 2015.

It’s that kind of pitching the Royals will need come October, which they’re inching closer and closer to after Wednesday’s victory.

Davy Andrews at FanGraphs investigates why the Royals went on their recent L7:

Six of those seven losses were decided by either one or two runs. They just kept finding a way to lose, because they were cursed. At a certain point, that’s just the simplest explanation. In order for Kansas City to break its streak, the team required the good fortune of running into a Nationals team that had lost six of its last seven, had already clinched its fifth consecutive losing season, and played as if it badly wanted to throw away a ballgame. In other words, the only thing that saved the accursed Royals was running into a team that was somehow even more despised by the movers of the universe. After all, if there’s one thing the baseball gods love, it’s whatever fits neatly into a baseball writer’s pre-existing narrative.

Keith Law makes award picks with some Royals mentioned ($):

Skubal is likely to win this one unanimously or close to it, which I guess is the story of this year — only one of the five awards has any drama that I can see, with the others all likely to be pretty obvious. The Royals putting two in the top five, one of whom was one they acquired in one of the best transactions of the offseason, is pretty notable to me. Burnes and Gilbert both get a bump for soaking up so many innings in the era of the five-and-dive starter, moving them over guys like Houston’s Framber Valdez and Ronel Blanco, who had lower ERAs but didn’t pitch as much (and in Blanco’s case probably had a lot of help from defense/luck).

The Padres turned a game-ending triple play to clinch a postseason spot on Tuesday night.

The White Sox social media team has had to get creative in the midst of constant losing.

Rowdy Tellez was cut by the Pirates just four plate appearances short of a $200k bonus.

Former A’s players ripped John Fisher for his recent letter to fans.

The remaining two games in this week’s pivotal Mets-Braves matchup will be pushed back to Monday due to Hurricane Helene.

Baltimore right-handed pitcher Grayson Rodriguez will not pitch again this season.

Yankees left-handed pitcher Nestor Cortes’s postseason status is uncertain as he deals with a flexor injury.

UNLV — ranked for the first time in program history — is losing their starting quarterback after unfulfilled NIL commitments.

As I’ve long been saying, evidence is mounting that sports gambling is a blight and legalizing it was a bad idea. ($) Sports betting will be on the ballot in Missouri this November.

PSA: Don’t give your phone to the police.

In a showdown between a Cybertruck’s windshield and a microfiber towel, the towel prevailed.

Fans of the show Bridgerton were scammed by a themed ball with ticket prices up to $1000.

Your song of the day is Blackout by Breathe Carolina.