Tying Royals' loss mark fuels the fire for '24

KANSAS CITY -- One day after the Royals got to celebrate something no player has ever done with Kansas City, reality sunk in as the club hit a mark only one other team has done in franchise history.

One hundred and six losses.

A 5-2 loss to the Yankees on Saturday night at Kauffman Stadium gave the Royals a 55-106 record with one game to play in 2023, tying the 2005 club for the most losses in a single season.

This was a season the Royals dubbed as one to evaluate all their young players and give them opportunities to learn on the job. That meant a bid for the postseason wasn’t likely to be in their future this season.

But it was hard to imagine it ending like this.

“Truthfully, I wouldn’t have anticipated the losing to the extent we have,” first-year manager Matt Quatraro said ahead of the series opener Friday night. “But that’s where we are. That’s our reality. And we have to face that.”

The Royals are a young team, and potential flashed several times throughout the year as players made adjustments and some improved. That didn’t make the record any less disappointing, especially because it is the seventh consecutive losing season and third 100-plus loss finish in the past five full seasons.

“Losing is tough,” Quatraro said. “I don’t care if you win 100 games, the 62 you lose is going to stink. To be on the flip side of that is truly disappointing. It’s something that none of us want to have happen. We don’t think it’s good enough to play this way, and everybody in the room understands that. Now, you can talk about it all you want. But until you affect real change out there, it’s just hollow words. That’s where we have to dig down deeper and figure out what the solutions are and what went wrong.”

In other words: The evaluation season should be, needs to be and is over.

“These guys will understand, they all know already, that when they come into Spring Training next year, it’s, ‘Compete,’” Quatraro said. “Because there’s not anything that’s guaranteed to anybody. We all know we have to get better, whether it’s manager, coaches, strength department, trainers, everyone. The whole group. We’ve all talked about this -- it’s a collective effort. When we win, it’s all of us. When we lose, it’s all of us. We all have to be accountable.”

The emergence of Bobby Witt Jr. this season was perhaps the biggest win for the development of the franchise. The Royals believe they’ve identified a young core to move forward with, led by Witt along with third baseman Maikel Garcia and first baseman Vinnie Pasquantino, who is expected to be healthy next season after right shoulder surgery limited him to just 61 games.

An overhaul of the pitching department has led to some progress, though not enough in the first year. Trades made this season -- led by the acquisition of lefty Cole Ragans, as well as reliever James McArthur and outfielder Nelson Velázquez -- gave a peek into how the Royals envision building their team, an acknowledgement they must look to add externally and not always rely on homegrown players.

“We’re young, we got a lot to learn, but the fact that we’ve seen glimpses of what we can do, it’s just putting that together every day for 162,” said right-hander Alec Marsh, who allowed three runs in 4 1/3 innings as the Royals’ bulk reliever on Saturday.

For Witt, there are no more questions surrounding his Gold Glove-caliber defense at shortstop. He is an offensive threat and a baserunning threat, an all-around player the Royals can build around.

He’s the future in Kansas City -- but he can’t be the only one. Witt hates to lose more than he loves to win. And even when he clinched the first 30-homer, 30-stolen base season in franchise history Friday night in a Royals win, he brought up the losses that accumulated this year.

Frustration could certainly be felt this season in the clubhouse and in the dugout. In conversations with players, that wasn’t always a bad thing.

“Guys are working and preparing because they’re really trying to fix things,” Witt said. “Because they know we’ve got to change something. Something’s got to change, and I feel like it has to come from us as players. … It makes you a better person and better player to learn through failure. It fuels your fire. Guys are starting to feel that. Losing sucks. We don’t like doing that. So it’s really getting guys going, and I’m really excited to see what’s to come.”