2020 Kansas City Royals season

The 2020 Kansas City Royals season was the 52nd season for the franchise, and their 48th at Kauffman Stadium. The 2020 season was the first under new owner John Sherman, whose purchase of the team was approved by MLB on November 21, 2019.^[1] It was also the first season under manager Mike Matheny, replacing Ned Yost after having a ten-season tenure.^[2] The team finished with a 26–34 win–loss record, landing them fourth place in the American League Central.

2020 Kansas City Royals
League	American League
Division	Central
Ballpark	Kauffman Stadium
City	Kansas City, Missouri
Record	26–34 (.433)
Divisional place	4th
Owners	John Sherman
General managers	Dayton Moore
Managers	Mike Matheny
Television	Fox Sports Kansas City (Ryan Lefebvre, Jeff Montgomery, Rex Hudler, Steve Physioc)
Radio	KCSP 610 AM (Denny Matthews, Steve Stewart, Rex Hudler, Ryan Lefebvre, Steve Physioc, Jeff Montgomery)
← 2019 Seasons 2021 →

On March 12, 2020, MLB announced that because of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the start of the regular season would be delayed by at least two weeks in addition to the remainder of spring training being cancelled.^[3] Four days later, it was announced that the start of the season would be pushed back indefinitely due to the recommendation made by the CDC to restrict events of more than 50 people for eight weeks.^[4] On June 23, commissioner Rob Manfred unilaterally implemented a 60-game season. Players reported to training camps on July 1 in order to resume spring training and prepare for a July 24 Opening Day.^[5]

Offseason

• November 2, 2019: Alex Gordon (OF) elected free agency.^[6]
• November 5, 2019: Trevor Oaks (P) claimed off waivers by San Francisco.^[7]
• November 6, 2019: Jacob Barnes (P) released.^[8]
• November 20, 2019: Jorge Bonifacio (OF) (released 11/25), Nick Dini (C), Conner Greene (P), and Arnaldo Hernandez (P) designated for assignment.^[9][10]
• November 20, 2019: Foster Griffin (P), Carlos Hernandez (P), Nick Heath (OF), and Jeison Guzmán (SS) added to 40-man roster.^[11]
• December 2, 2019: Cheslor Cuthbert (1B/3B), Humberto Arteaga (INF), Jesse Hahn (P), and Erick Mejia (INF) elected free agency.^[12][13]
• December 12, 2019: Selected Stephen Woods from the Tampa Bay Rays in the Rule 5 draft.^[14]
• December 13, 2019: Signed free agent Jesse Hahn (P) to a major league contract.^[15]
• December 23, 2019: Traded Cristian Perez (INF) to the New York Yankees for Chance Adams (P).^[16]
• December 27, 2019: Finalized signing of free agent Maikel Franco.^[17]
• January 22, 2020: Signed free agent Alex Gordon (OF) and designated Heath Fillmyer (P) for assignment.^[18]
• March 25, 2020: Selected the contract of Trevor Rosenthal (P) and designated Eric Skoglund (P) for assignment.^[19]

Season standings

American League Central

• v
• t
• e

AL Central

Team	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
Minnesota Twins	36	24	.600	—	24‍–‍7	12‍–‍17
Cleveland Indians	35	25	.583	1	18‍–‍12	17‍–‍13
Chicago White Sox	35	25	.583	1	18‍–‍12	17‍–‍13
Kansas City Royals	26	34	.433	10	15‍–‍15	11‍–‍19
Detroit Tigers	23	35	.397	12	12‍–‍15	11‍–‍20

American League Wild Card

• v
• t
• e

Division leaders

Team	W	L	Pct.
Tampa Bay Rays	40	20	.667
Oakland Athletics	36	24	.600
Minnesota Twins	36	24	.600

• v
• t
• e

Division 2nd place

Team	W	L	Pct.
Cleveland Indians	35	25	.583
New York Yankees	33	27	.550
Houston Astros	29	31	.483

• v
• t
• e

Wild Card teams
(Top 2 teams qualify for postseason)

Team	W	L	Pct.	GB
Chicago White Sox	35	25	.583	+3
Toronto Blue Jays	32	28	.533	—
Seattle Mariners	27	33	.450	5
Los Angeles Angels	26	34	.433	6
Kansas City Royals	26	34	.433	6
Baltimore Orioles	25	35	.417	7
Boston Red Sox	24	36	.400	8
Detroit Tigers	23	35	.397	8
Texas Rangers	22	38	.367	10

Record against opponents

2020 American League record Source: MLB Standings Grid – 2020 v t e
Team	CWS	CLE	DET	KC	MIN	NL
Chicago	—	2–8	9–1	9–1	5–5	10–10
Cleveland	8–2	—	7–3	5–5	3–7	12–8
Detroit	1–9	3–7	—	4–6	4–6	11–7
Kansas City	1–9	5–5	6–4	—	5–5	9–11
Minnesota	5–5	7–3	6–4	5–5	—	13–7

Game log

2020 game log: 26–34 (Home: 15–15; Away: 11–19)
July: 3–5 (Home: 0–1; Away: 3–4) # Date Opponent Score Win Loss Save Record Streak 1 July 24 @ Indians 0–2 Bieber (1–0) Duffy (0–1) Hand (1) 0–1 L1 2 July 25 @ Indians 3–2 (10) Barlow (1–0) Karinchak (0–1) Holland (1) 1–1 W1 3 July 26 @ Indians 2–9 Carrasco (1–0) Bolaños (0–1) — 1–2 L1 4 July 27 @ Tigers 14–6 Griffin (1–0) Funkhouser (0–1) — 2–2 W1 5 July 28 @ Tigers 3–4 Alexander (1–0) Zuber (0–1) Jiménez (3) 2–3 L1 6 July 29 @ Tigers 4–5 Garcia (1–0) Kennedy (0–1) Jiménez (4) 2–4 L2 7 July 30 @ Tigers 5–3 Holland (1–0) Cisnero (1–1) Rosenthal (1) 3–4 W1 8 July 31 White Sox 2–3 Keuchel (2–0) Bubic (0–1) Colomé (1) 3–5 L1
August: 11–16 (Home: 7–6; Away: 4–10) # Date Opponent Score Win Loss Save Record Streak 9 August 1 White Sox 5–11 Foster (1–0) Bolaños (0–2) Heuer (1) 3–6 L2 10 August 2 White Sox 2–9 Cease (1–1) Barlow (1–1) — 3–7 L3 11 August 3 @ Cubs 0–2 Mills (2–0) Duffy (0–2) Wick (2) 3–8 L4 12 August 4 @ Cubs 4–5 Hendricks (2–1) Singer (0–1) Ryan (1) 3–9 L5 13 August 5 Cubs 1–6 Darvish (2–1) Bubic (0–2) — 3–10 L6 14 August 6 Cubs 13–2 Keller (1–0) Chatwood (2–1) — 4–10 W1 15 August 7 Twins 3–2 Holland (2–0) Wisler (0–1) Rosenthal (2) 5–10 W2 16 August 8 Twins 9–6 Zuber (1–1) Thorpe (0–1) Rosenthal (3) 6–10 W3 17 August 9 Twins 4–2 Singer (1–1) Berríos (1–2) Barlow (1) 7–10 W4 18 August 11 @ Reds 5–6 (10) Sims (1–0) Staumont (0–1) — 7–11 L1 19 August 12 @ Reds 5–4 Keller (2–0) Miley (0–2) Rosenthal (4) 8–11 W1 — August 14 @ Twins Postponed (inclement weather). Rescheduled to August 15. 20 August 15 (1) @ Twins 2–4 (7) Duffey (1–0) Speier (0–1) Rogers (5) 8–12 L1 21 August 15 (2) @ Twins 4–2 (7) Duffy (1–2) Berríos (1–3) Rosenthal (5) 9–12 W1 22 August 16 @ Twins 2–4 Dobnak (4–1) Singer (1–2) Romo (3) 9–13 L1 23 August 17 @ Twins 1–4 Smeltzer (2–0) Bubic (0–3) — 9–14 L2 — August 18 Reds Postponed (COVID-19). Rescheduled to August 19. 24 August 19 (1) Reds 4–0 (7) Keller (3–0) Castillo (0–3) Rosenthal (6) 10–14 W1 25 August 19 (2) Reds 0–5 (7) Bauer (3–0) Harvey (0–1) — 10–15 L1 26 August 21 Twins 7–2 Duffy (2–2) Odorizzi (0–1) — 11–15 W1 27 August 22 Twins 2–7 Dobnak (5–1) Singer (1–3) — 11–16 L1 28 August 23 Twins 4–5 Clippard (1–0 Bubic (0–4) Rogers (6) 11–17 L2 29 August 24 @ Cardinals 3–9 Flaherty (2–0) Keller (3–1) — 11–18 L3 30 August 25 @ Cardinals 5–4 Staumont (1–1) Gant (0–1) Rosenthal (7) 12–18 W1 31 August 26 @ Cardinals 5–6 Reyes (1–0) Rosario (0–1) — 12–19 L1 32 August 28 @ White Sox 5–6 Colomé (1–0) Kennedy (0–2) — 12–20 L2 33 August 29 @ White Sox 9–6 Newberry (1–0) Burdi (0–1) Hahn (1) 13–20 W1 34 August 30 @ White Sox 2–5 (10) Foster (3–0) Zuber (1–2) — 13–21 L1 35 August 31 Indians 2–1 Barlow (2–1) Karinchak (0–2) Holland (2) 14–21 W1
September: 12–13 (Home: 8–8; Away: 4–5) # Date Opponent Score Win Loss Save Record Streak 36 September 1 Indians 1–10 Plesac (2–1) Harvey (0–2) — 14–22 L1 37 September 2 Indians 0–5 McKenzie (2–0) Junis (0–1) — 14–23 L2 38 September 3 White Sox 6–11 Cease (5–2) Duffy (2–3) — 14–24 L3 39 September 4 White Sox 4–7 Heuer (2–0) Singer (1–4) Colomé (8) 14–25 L4 40 September 5 White Sox 3–5 Giolito (4–2) Bubic (0–5) Colomé (9) 14–26 L5 41 September 6 White Sox 2–8 Keuchel (6–2) Harvey (0–3) — 14–27 L6 42 September 7 @ Indians 2–5 Plesac (3–1) Keller (3–2) Hand (12) 14–28 L7 43 September 8 @ Indians 8–5 Holland (3–0) Cimber (0–1) Barlow (2) 15–28 W1 44 September 9 @ Indians 3–0 Duffy (3–3) Carrasco (2–4) Holland (3) 16–28 W2 45 September 10 @ Indians 11–1 Singer (2–4) Civale (3–5) — 17–28 W3 46 September 11 Pirates 4–3 Bubic (1–5) Brault (0–3) Holland (4) 18–28 W4 47 September 12 Pirates 7–4 Zimmer (1–0) Williams (1–7) Holland (5) 19–28 W5 48 September 13 Pirates 11–0 Keller (4–2) Kuhl (1–2) — 20–28 W6 49 September 15 @ Tigers 0–6 Boyd (2–6) Junis (0–2) — 20–29 L1 50 September 16 @ Tigers 4–0 Singer (3–4) Skubal (1–3) — 21–29 W1 51 September 18 @ Brewers 5–9 Rasmussen (1–0) Duffy (3–4) — 21–30 L1 52 September 19 @ Brewers 0–5 Burnes (4–0) Bubic (1–6) — 21–31 L2 53 September 20 @ Brewers 3–5 Lindblom (2–3) Keller (4–3) Hader (10) 21–32 L3 54 September 21 Cardinals 4–1 Staumont (2–1) Wainwright (5–2) Holland (6) 22–32 W1 55 September 22 Cardinals 0–5 Gomber (1–1) Singer (3–5) — 22–33 L1 56 September 23 Cardinals 12–3 Duffy (4–4) Martínez (0–3) — 23–33 W1 57 September 24 Tigers 8–7 Hahn (1–0) Alexander (2–3) Newberry (1) 24–33 W2 58 September 25 Tigers 3–2 Keller (5–3) Turnbull (4–4) Hahn (2) 25–33 W3 59 September 26 Tigers 3–4 Boyd (3–7) Hernández (0–1) Garcia (4) 25–34 L1 60 September 27 Tigers 3–1 Singer (4–5) Skubal (1–4) Hahn (3) 26–34 W1
Legend:        = Win        = Loss        = Postponement Bold = Royals team member

Roster

2020 Kansas City Royals
Roster
Pitchers 48 Chance Adams 58 Scott Barlow 64 Scott Blewett 54 Ronald Bolaños 50 Kris Bubic 41 Danny Duffy 60 Foster Griffin 32 Jesse Hahn 33 Matt Harvey 71 Carlos Hernández 35 Greg Holland 65 Jake Junis 56 Brad Keller 31 Ian Kennedy 28 Jorge López 55 Richard Lovelady 61 Kevin McCarthy 21 Mike Montgomery 68 Jake Newberry 43 Randy Rosario 40 Trevor Rosenthal 51 Brady Singer 57 Glenn Sparkman 67 Gabe Speier 63 Josh Staumont 45 Kyle Zimmer 53 Tyler Zuber		Catchers 36 Cam Gallagher 18 Oscar Hernández 13 Salvador Pérez 72 Meibrys Viloria Infielders 17 Hunter Dozier  7 Maikel Franco 16 Kelvin Gutiérrez  1 Nicky Lopez  9 Ryan McBroom 26 Erick Mejia 27 Adalberto Mondesí 66 Ryan O'Hearn 46 Matt Reynolds		Outfielders 19 Franchy Cordero  4 Alex Gordon  0 Nick Heath 15 Whit Merrifield 14 Edward Olivares 14 Brett Phillips 12 Jorge Soler 11 Bubba Starling		Manager 22 Mike Matheny Coaches  8 Rafael Belliard (infield) 44 Terry Bradshaw (hitting) 34 Larry Carter (bullpen) 80 Ryan Eigsti (bullpen catcher) 23 Cal Eldred (pitching)  6 Pedro Grifol (bench) 39 Damon Hollins (first base) 47 John Mabry (coach) 25 Vance Wilson (third base)

Player stats

Batting

Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; R = Runs; H = Hits; 2B = Doubles; 3B = Triples; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in; SB = Stolen bases; BB = Walks; AVG = Batting average; SLG = Slugging average

Player	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SB	BB	AVG	SLG
Whit Merrifield	60	248	38	70	12	0	9	30	12	12	.282	.440
Maikel Franco	60	223	23	62	16	0	8	38	1	16	.278	.457
Adalberto Mondesí	59	219	33	56	11	3	6	22	24	11	.256	.416
Nicky Lopez	56	169	15	34	8	0	1	13	0	18	.201	.266
Alex Gordon	50	163	15	34	4	0	4	11	0	18	.209	.307
Hunter Dozier	44	158	29	36	4	2	6	12	4	27	.228	.392
Salvador Pérez	37	150	22	50	12	0	11	32	1	3	.333	.633
Jorge Soler	43	149	17	34	8	0	8	24	0	19	.228	.443
Ryan O'Hearn	42	113	7	22	6	0	2	18	0	18	.195	.301
Ryan McBroom	36	81	8	20	3	0	6	10	0	4	.247	.506
Edward Olivares	18	62	5	17	1	1	2	7	0	2	.274	.419
Bubba Starling	35	59	5	10	1	0	1	5	0	4	.169	.237
Cam Gallagher	25	53	10	15	5	0	1	3	0	6	.283	.434
Franchy Cordero	16	38	7	8	3	0	2	7	1	4	.211	.447
Brett Phillips	18	31	8	7	0	1	1	2	3	3	.226	.387
Meibrys Viloria	15	21	1	4	1	0	0	0	0	2	.190	.238
Erick Mejia	8	14	1	1	1	0	0	0	1	0	.071	.143
Nick Heath	15	13	2	2	1	0	0	3	2	2	.154	.231
Matt Reynolds	3	11	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	.000
Kelvin Gutiérrez	4	9	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	3	.111	.111
Oscar Hernández	4	4	1	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	.500	.500
Team Totals	60	1988	248	485	97	7	68	237	49	172	.244	.402

Source:

Pitching

Note: W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; G = Games pitched; GS = Games started; SV = Saves; IP = Innings pitched; H = Hits allowed; R = Runs allowed; ER = Earned runs allowed; BB = Walks allowed; SO = Strikeouts

Player	W	L	ERA	G	GS	SV	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO
Brady Singer	4	5	4.06	12	12	0	64.1	52	29	29	23	61
Danny Duffy	4	4	4.95	12	11	0	56.1	53	33	31	22	57
Brad Keller	5	3	2.47	9	9	0	54.2	39	16	15	17	35
Kris Bubic	1	6	4.32	10	10	0	50.0	52	29	24	22	49
Scott Barlow	2	1	4.20	32	0	2	30.0	27	14	14	9	39
Greg Holland	3	0	1.91	28	0	6	28.1	20	8	6	7	31
Josh Staumont	2	1	2.45	26	0	0	25.2	20	8	7	16	37
Jakob Junis	0	2	6.39	8	6	0	25.1	35	18	18	6	19
Kyle Zimmer	1	0	1.57	16	1	0	23.0	14	4	4	10	26
Tyler Zuber	1	2	4.09	23	0	0	22.0	15	11	10	20	30
Jake Newberry	1	0	4.09	20	0	1	22.0	20	12	10	12	24
Jesse Hahn	1	0	0.52	18	0	3	17.1	4	1	1	8	19
Carlos Hernández	0	1	4.91	5	3	0	14.2	19	9	8	6	13
Ian Kennedy	0	2	9.00	15	1	0	14.0	20	17	14	5	15
Trevor Rosenthal	0	0	3.29	14	0	7	13.2	9	5	5	7	21
Matt Harvey	0	3	11.57	7	4	0	11.2	27	15	15	5	10
Chance Adams	0	0	9.35	6	0	0	8.2	15	9	9	0	6
Kevin McCarthy	0	0	4.50	5	0	0	6.0	10	3	3	2	2
Gabe Speier	0	1	7.94	8	0	0	5.2	9	5	5	4	6
Mike Montgomery	0	0	5.06	3	1	0	5.1	6	5	3	1	4
Glen Sparkman	0	0	5.40	4	0	0	5.0	9	6	3	1	2
Ronald Bolaños	0	2	12.27	2	2	0	3.2	8	7	5	3	2
Randy Rosario	0	1	8.10	4	0	0	3.1	7	3	3	3	4
Scott Blewett	0	0	6.00	2	0	0	3.0	6	2	2	1	4
Foster Griffin	1	0	0.00	1	0	0	1.2	0	0	0	0	1
Richard Lovelady	0	0	9.00	1	0	0	1.0	1	1	1	1	0
Jorge López	0	0	27.00	1	0	0	0.2	3	2	2	0	0
Team Totals	26	34	4.30	60	60	19	517.0	500	272	247	211	517

Source:

Farm system

See also: Minor League Baseball

On June 30, 2020, Minor League Baseball announced that the 2020 season would not be played due to the COVID-19 pandemic.^[20]

Level	Team	League	Manager
AAA	Omaha Storm Chasers	Pacific Coast League
AA	Northwest Arkansas Naturals	Texas League
A-Advanced	Wilmington Blue Rocks	Carolina League
A	Lexington Legends	South Atlantic League
Rookie	Burlington Royals	Appalachian League
Rookie	Idaho Falls Chukars	Pioneer League
Rookie	AZL Royals	Arizona League
Rookie	DSL Royals	Dominican Summer League