Royals' stellar starting rotation is being wasted by a shaky bullpen

The bullpen, on the other hand, is struggling to shut the door. They hold a 6.29 ERA, which is the highest across MLB. Their struggles have led Bleacher Report's Zachary D. Rymer to become very critical of them.

"Pitching is supposed to be the backbone of this Royals team. The rotation has been doing its job with a perfectly respectable 3.76 ERA. They also rank sixth in innings, so the bullpen isn't even being asked to do much. It just plain sucks anyway. Harsh language like that isn't always appropriate, but it becomes unavoidable when a bullpen owns a 6.29 ERA and is walking 5.6 batters per nine innings."

It's a bit of a headscratcher as to why the bullpen is struggling so badly. They're not being used at an unreasonable clip, but they are letting runs in by the bunches and can't stop walking batters.

If the Royals want to turn things around, it's got to start with the bullpen.

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