The Oakland Athletics beat the Los Angeles Angels on Sunday.
The Boston Red Sox did the same to the Kansas City Royals.
Why were these results relevant?
Well, because they sent the Royals to MLB’s cellar.
For months, the A’s were widely recognized as MLB’s worst team, and their place in the standings backed that up.
Now, Oakland doesn’t have the worst record in the league: Kansas City does.
The Royals opened Monday with a 42-96 record, and the A’s are at 42-95.
The Royals have fallen below the A's for the worst record in MLB pic.twitter.com/OFKwOEO5mS
— Talkin’ Baseball (@TalkinBaseball_) September 3, 2023
Both have been equally disastrous and dysfunctional franchises, but at least the A’s were truly competitive until 2021.
Kansas City hasn’t been good since the core that advanced to two consecutive World Series in 2014 and 2015 (winning the latter) was dismantled.
They don’t draft well, their player development staff is terrible, and identifying talent is an issue.
To make matters worse, the team rarely competes for the top free agents.
Overall, the future of the franchise looks bleak.
Bobby Witt Jr. is their only star, and while they have other talented players (not too many, to be honest), developing pitching has been a real issue.
Cole Ragans’ recent surge is the exception to the rule.
The rest of the pitching staff has failed to return positive results, and the progress of the prospects look stagnant.
There needs to be a major overhaul in Kansas City.
They did well to capitalize on their contention window in the mid-2010s, but since those days, they have been one of the worst organizations in MLB.
NEXT: Bobby Witt Jr. Has Tied A Historic Mark
