The Royals open their season tonight at Truist Park in Atlanta. Game time, 6:15 PM. On the mound, Cole Ragans v. Chris Sale.
After the weekend series in Atlanta, the Royals will play Opening Day in Kansas City on Monday, March 30. Game time: 3:10 PM. Opponent: Minnesota Twins.
Printable Schedule: For a printable schedule for the season, click here.
Royals TV Coverage: The Royals offerings on cable are the same as last year. The streaming version is via MLB and costs $99.99 for the full season. Details here on the Royals website.
Projections for 2026: The Royals won 82 games in 2025. How many games will they win in 2026? Hot Stove looked at three sources: (i) MLB gambling partners, (ii) traditional stats blogs, and (iii) Hot Stove’s Nostradamus Panel. All the numbers below (except Nostradamus) are subject to change (betting lines and blog projections move as the season progresses).
MLB Gambling Partners: MLB has two official co-exclusive sports betting partners: FanDuel and DraftKings. FanDuel is at 82.5 wins for the over/under on the Royals, and DraftKings (below) agrees.
MLB’s gaming partner is BetMGM, and its sportsbook also has 82.5.
And in a recently completed deal, Polymarket is MLB’s Official Prediction Market Exchange. Averaging its current contract range (as shown below) again gets us to 82.5.
The “official sports betting partner” for the Royals is Circa Sports which is advertised as having the largest sportsbook in Las Vegas. I did not readily find a Circa quote for Royals wins but assume it will be in line with the other gambling sites.
Traditional Sports Blogs: Two of the most-quoted sources of MLB win/loss projections are from FanGraphs and Baseball Prospectus (PECOTA). FanGraphs has predicted 82 wins for the Royals this year.
PECOTA is more optimistic, saying the Royals will win 85 games and take the AL Central.
Nostradamus Panel: Moving on from those professional sources, we arrive at the numbers from the pure amateurs. The so-called Nostradamus Panel.
In general, the members of this panel predict too high, a shameless bias in favor of our hometown team. Somewhat of an embarrassment for our namesake, the Frenchman Nostradamus.
But last year, Steve Roling predicted the correct number of wins (82). Maybe we have learned our lesson. Well, not everybody. The 2026 predictions are below, and some fanboys are still at the high end.
David Matson – 83
Bob White – 84
Steve Roling – 85
Jeb Bayer – 89
Jim Heeter – 90
Lonnie Shalton – 91
Matson, White and Roling are decently close to the professionals. Bayer, Heeter and I are looking for the Royals to run the table. The wish list: (i) the deep starting pitching staff stays healthy (lots of injuries last year); (ii) the relief staff lives up to its billing; (iii) Witt, Garcia and Pasquantino build on last year’s excellence; (iv) somebody steps up to be at least an average second baseman; (v) Carter Jensen and Jac Caglianone become new stars; (vi) Salvy Perez proves again to be ageless and hits lots of homers; and (vii) the new outfielders click and fix the biggest weak spot.
A similar sentiment was voiced in a tweet this week from KC City Councilman Wes Rogers:
Will it happen? Who knows. Undefeated so far this season.
Spring Training/WBC: The Royals had a poor won-loss record in spring training (9-21), but the core of their offense was playing in the World Baseball Classic. And they really stood out! Bobby Witt’s fielding play for Team USA gained national recognition. Vinnie and Jac cheek-kissed and poured espresso for the popular Italian team. Salvy and Maikel helped lead Venezuela to the title (their post-game hug here).
Maikel Garcia was the MVP of the Classic.
Here’s hoping the excitement and success of the Royals players in the WBC carry over to the regular season. And even if they don’t win 91 games as I predicted, I’m confident they will still be a “fun” team. Just ask Joe Posnanski…
The Most Fun Teams in Baseball: This week, Joe Posnanski published a subjective guide to the teams you will want to watch in 2026. Joe based his ranking of the 30 teams with this star system:
Five teams got five stars: Los Angeles Dodgers, Sacramento Athletics, Arizona Diamondbacks, Toronto Blue Jays and Kansas City Royals. Here is how Joe explained his ranking for the Royals.
For Joe’s delightful comments on all 30 teams, click here. Only one player got a photo in the article, so maybe Bobby Witt Jr. is the most fun player. Gets my vote.
In other Posnanski news, Joe and his co-author Michael Schur will be in Kansas City to promote their new book, Big Fan: Two Friends, 82,490 miles, and the Wild, Wild, Wonderful Sports We Love. This Rainy Day Books event will be at the Unity Temple on the Plaza on May 21. For details and tickets, click here.
Sterling Starling Stats: In the offseason, the Royals picked up veteran Starling Marte as a free agent. Marte has played 14 major league seasons for five teams, the last four seasons with the Mets.
His hitting, speed and fielding have combined to give him some special career stats. Among active players…
Marte is tied for first in triples.
First in steals.
First in outfield assists.
Go Starling!
Lonnie’s Jukebox – Heart and Soul (the movie): In a 2022 Hot Stove, one of the Lonnie’s Jukebox selections was “Heart and Soul” by the Cleftones. I included some trivia about the group that I got from a Hot Stove friend, New York Times sportswriter George Vescey (retired).
The members of the Cleftones formed their group in 1955 when they were students at Jamaica High School in the Borough of Queens. Vecsey attended Jamaica with the Cleftones and says the group “sang under-the-streetlight doo-wop for decades.” George was in chorus with members of the group and fondly remembers them harmonizing on the Coasters’ “Charlie Brown” with bass singer Warren Corbin’s deep voice asking, “Why’s everybody always pickin’ on me?”.
The Cleftones sang “doo-wop” music, a subgenre of rhythm and blues that was influencing and melding into rock ‘n’ roll during my teenage years. It was vocal harmony with simple lyrics and often nonsense syllables (such as “doo-wop”). Most of the hits came between the mid ‘50s to the early ‘60s.
In 2023, I read some good reviews about a new movie titled Heart and Soul. It was documentary about doo-wop groups, and the title was from the Cleftones’ record. Other than film festivals, I don’t think the film had a theatrical release. I checked a few times to see if it was streaming, but no luck. And then this past Monday, I checked again, and there it was on Amazon for a mere $3 to rent. Rita and I watched that night and thought it was great fun.
Check out the trailer here (2 minutes).
Kenny Vance, a member of Jay and the Americans, devoted years to the movie, including interviews with the aging singers. If you enjoy the music, you’ll love the movie. Here are some of the songs you will hear:
“Heart and Soul” by the Cleftones (1961). The link is to clips from the 1973 movie American Graffiti, which gave renewed popularity to the song.
“My True Story” by the Jive Five.
“Gee” by the Crows.
“I Only Have Eyes for You” by the Flamingos.
“In the Still of the Night” by the Five Satins.
“Speedo” by the Cadillacs.
“Sincerely” by the Moonglows.
“Maybe” by the Chantels.
“Could This Be Magic” by the Dubs.
“A Thousand Miles Away” by the Heartbeats.
“Why Do Fools Fall in Love” by Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers.
“Earth Angel” by the Penguins. This was not in the movie but is one of my favorite doo-wop songs.
Walk-Off Thought: