Kansas City Royals' Offense Won't Stay Cold For Long

The 6-2 Kansas City Royals are the defending World Series champions, and through the first two weeks of April, they look the part. Their supposedly subpar starting rotation has pitched at least five innings while allowing just two runs or less in all but one game. Only four teams have committed fewer errors, and perhaps no defense has covered as much ground as effectively as KC. Despite their clearly successful strategies for winning, the Royals need their offense to pick it up to keep pace in a competitive American League Central.

Eric Hosmer is the only Royal with more than three at-bats and a current OPS above .750. Only Omar Infante and Salvador Perez have an OPS higher than their numbers from last season. Altogether, the Royals rank 16th in batting average and slugging percentage, 25th in on-base percentage and 18th in team OPS.

Last year, the World Series-winning Royals finished the regular season with a .734 OPS that was the league’s 10th- highest. A team that finished with the seventh-highest run total in 2015, which averages out to about 4.47 runs per game, now averages only 3.5 through their first eight games of 2016. It may be disconcerting, but this kind of dip in offensive production is predictable for clubs based in cities with less-than-ideal weather.

After batters spent a month in balmy Arizona facing pitching that was often a notch below big-league effectiveness, the Royals’ lineup returned to the Midwest and understandably struggled. KC’s lineup didn’t exactly have blizzards to worry about, but facing legit pitching in imperfect conditions still sounds like a good enough excuse for stumbling out of the gates offensively. Many of KC’s most prominent sluggers still have room to grow, so expect the offense to heat up soon and be more consistent throughout the season. This lineup is too balanced and talented to stay cold for long.