This story was excerpted from Anne Rogers’ Royals Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

KANSAS CITY -- Happy June.

It’s summertime, and the Royals are playing winning baseball, with a 35-25 record entering Sunday. It’s been a while since we could say that in Kansas City as the summer heats up.

The Royals went 17-11 last month to tie for the third-most wins in May in franchise history, trailing only their 18 wins in May 1987 and their 20-win May in ‘76. They entered June 11 games over .500, their highest mark entering June in franchise history, ahead of ‘15 when they entered the month 10 games over .500 (29-19).

Even after losing five of their last six games to end May and losing Saturday to begin the new month, the Royals have shown themselves to be one of the top teams in the American League through the first 60 games, which is an incredible turnaround from their 106-loss 2023 season. Kansas City has tons of questions to answer the rest of the way, but many of the offseason additions are paying off, particularly with Seth Lugo and Michael Wacha -- although he landed on the 15-day IL on Sunday with a left foot fracture -- contributing to a reliable rotation. Bobby Witt Jr. is playing like an MVP, and Salvador Perez is surging again. The offense's .758 OPS in May ranked second in the Majors, trailing only the Yankees (.798).

“The fight’s real,” Witt said. “Never quit, and pass the baton to the next guy. That’s just kind of how we roll. We’re trying to show teams that we’re never out of the fight and we’re just going to keep doing it.

Along with warmer weather, June brings us two other things: a big enough sample size to know which teams are contenders, and ramping up of Trade Deadline talk surrounding buyers and sellers.

Which camp are the Royals in? Right now, they’re searching for ways to upgrade.

But it’s going to be interesting to see where Kansas City stands at the end of this month -- because its schedule is a gauntlet. After the Royals finish up this series with the Padres, who entered Sunday 32-29, here’s who's next (all records entering Sunday):

Tuesday-Thursday: at Guardians (39-19)
Next weekend: vs. Mariners (33-27)
June 10-13: vs. Yankees (41-19)
June 14-16: at Dodgers (37-23)
June 18-20: at A’s (24-36)
June 21-23: at Rangers (28-30)
June 24-26: vs. Marlins (21-38)
June 27-30: vs. Guardians (39-19)

Including the three this weekend against San Diego, that’s 20 games against teams currently over .500. Seven come against Cleveland -- the team the Royals are chasing in the AL Central. The Royals also only have two off-days this month (Monday and June 17).

In the clubhouse, there’s still a one-day-at-a-time approach despite the looming schedule. The Royals have been through stretches against tough opponents before and proven themselves.

“That was something I reminded the guys of [Friday], just one game at a time,” utility player Adam Frazier said. “These next couple of weeks, we have a really tough schedule. But there are still 100 games left. You don’t want to get ahead of yourself.

“If you start counting your chickens before they hatch, they usually don’t hatch. So it’s been a learning curve for a lot of these young guys, but we’re in a good position.”

Outside of the clubhouse, though, June does have big implications. Remaining in contention after this month means the urgency will increase ahead of the July 30 Trade Deadline.

“We go through June and we’re competing, now you’re thinking about the Trade Deadline even more and how that impacts your farm system,” general manager J.J. Picollo said. “Long term sustainability is our goal. At the same time, we have a lot of players here who committed to Kansas City as free agents. When a team is playing well, you know you have to add to the club somehow. From that respect, June can have a great impact on what we do. Not only in ‘24, but what our farm system looks like in ‘25 and ‘26.”

The Royals are already searching for ways to upgrade. They believe the success seen over the first two months of the season is real -- and indicative of how the next four (or five) months could go. But the front office is not blind to the holes on the roster.

A reliever to fortify the middle and back end of the bullpen -- one who can take pressure off John Schreiber and James McArthur and maybe bring some strikeouts back there -- and an outfield bat to lengthen the lineup are the obvious targets.

How much and how aggressive they’ll be remains to be seen. It’ll depend on how June goes. And it’ll depend on what the market looks like. As they were this offseason, the Royals would prefer to be aggressive; conversations have already started internally and externally.

“The thing that makes the Trade Deadline very difficult is there’s a lot of competition,” Picollo said. “If we’re looking at a reliever, you can guarantee that 12 other teams are looking at that same reliever. So how much are you willing to give up to get that extra bullpen arm? Or is our approach more, ‘Let’s try to win some of these deals on the margins.’ It may not be the marquee closer, but maybe two additional arms where we’re saving our farm system but we’re making our bullpen deeper is the way to go.”