Game thread XXXII – Royals at Mariners

KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI - APRIL 25: Starting pitcher Cole Ragans #55 of the Kansas City Royals pitches during the 1st inning of the game against the Los Angeles Angelsat Kauffman Stadium on April 25, 2026 in Kansas City, Missouri. (Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images) | Getty Images

The Royals obviously had a very rough month of April, finishing 12-19. They’re still only 3.5 games back of their division leader, though, so if April showers bring May Flowers and the Royals’ talent that many expected would carry them to a competitive season started blossoming, now would be a great time for that to start. Believe it or not, it was a road trip to Seattle at the start of July last year that got them going on their significantly improved second half. They lost the first game on April 30, but won two of the next three in Seattle to split the series before going 15-9 in July. Now, this isn’t July, but it is a road trip to Seattle. So let’s do some positive thinking.

Cole Ragans gets the start in this one for the Royals, and he had one of his most impressive starts ever his last time out, striking out 11 and walking none in a win over the Angels. Now the Angels are a worse team than the Mariners, and they have a worse run differential, but they’ve scored more runs than their Pacific Northwest rivals. So it’s not out of the realm of possibility that he could somewhat duplicate his efforts. Though, like most of his teammates, he’s been significantly worse on the road than at home this year. But maybe that’s just because he still wasn’t completely right in Detroit and New York after getting hit by a comebacker in Cleveland.

He has started against Cleveland twice in his career, once was a 6-inning, 9-strikeout performance in 2024, and the other was during his return-to-the-big-leagues party late last season. That was his first game back from the IL, and he struck out 4 and walked 2 in a 3.2-inning start against Seattle’s finest.

The Mariners will send out Bryan Woo. Woo was one of the 20 best starters in MLB last year, but he seems to have forgotten how to strike people out this year. He’s also giving up a lot more contact in the air and not stranding as many runners. He’s as vulnerable as he’s ever been, meaning that both he and the Royals offense are looking at this like a get-right opportunity.

Lineups

The bottom of the Mariners’ order is unlikely to scare anyone, but that could be said about practically the entire Royals lineup, I guess.

Vinnie Pasquantino makes his return to the lineup after missing the last two games with back tightness. He was taking some really good at-bats before he left Tuesday night’s game, so hopefully he’ll be able to continue that. Jac Caglianone has been promoted above both Isaac Collins and Michael Massey for the night. It might be really fun to watch him and Carter Jensen batting back-to-back, especially if they take some better at-bats than they did in the Athletics series.

Don’t forget that tonight’s game is an Apple.TV Friday Night game, so you won’t be able to watch it without a subscription. There are tons of free trial offers out there, so pick one and then cancel it after the game. But while it’s active, I recommend you give Ted Lasso, Shrinking, Schmigadoon, Slow Horses, and/or The Silo a try. I promise no one is paying me to say that, it really does have a lot of high-quality TV shows!