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Royals drop season series to White Sox as AL rivals secure playoff berth at The K
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- Royals drop season series to White Sox as AL rivals secure playoff berth at The K
As the Kansas City Royals look toward next season, there will be a lot of conversation around their offseason plans.
The Royals need pitching. It's been a topic of discussion within the front office and around local water coolers.
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The club's injury list is quite long.
Pitchers Cole Ragans , Luinder Avila and Stephen Kolek ? They aren't close to returning. And the Royals have few replacements to fill those voids in their starting rotation.
That's why this offseason is paramount. And why the Royals' final four games are important as they continue to evaluate their pitching staff for 2027.
Royals starter Randy Dobnak received one last opportunity to impress on Thursday. He made his final start of the 2026 season against the Chicago White Sox at Kauffman Stadium.
It wasn't what he expected.
Dobnak was chased after retiring four batters. He allowed six runs (four earned) in just 1 1/3 innings and the White Sox went on to win 9-1 on Thursday afternoon.
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With the win Chicago clinched a postseason berth at The K. The White Sox will return to the playoffs for the first time since 2021.
"They played well," Royals manager Matt Quatraro said. "Certainly beat us soundly today to clinch it and leaving no doubt for them. So congratulations to the White Sox."
The Royals lost nine of 13 games against their American League Central rival White Sox in 2026. For his part, Dobnak just didn't have his best stuff Thursday afternoon.
Royals starter Randy Dobnak throws a pitch during a game against the Chicago White Sox on Thursday, Sept. 24, 2026 at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City.
Dobnak couldn't stay out of the strike zone. He also accounted for two errors — including a bad pickoff attempt in the second inning .
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"We go to second, not first," Dobnak said of the designed pickoff. "As far as I'm aware, I don't know if I've even practiced that with the Royals yet. But that's on me, I got to know what to do."
The White Sox peppered him with four hits to begin the game. Miguel Vargas recorded an RBI single to give Chicago an early lead. From there, Andrew Benintendi and Tristan Peters drove in runs.
The trio finished with two RBIs apiece.
"Yeah, I just wasn't really able to kind of locate when I needed to, and they just put some good swings on some balls," Dobnak said.
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After Dobnak departed, the Royals turned to their bullpen. The Royals relief unit surrendered an additional three runs. Kyle Teel hit his fifth homer of the year and the White Sox never lost the lead.
The Royals also didn't do much offensively. White Sox right-hander David Sandlin pitched well against his former organization. He allowed one run over six innings with seven strikeouts.
KC had opportunities but couldn't keep pace. In the fourth inning, Salvador Perez accounted for the Royals' lone run with a solo homer — his 20th of the year.
"Don't count him out, right?" Quatraro said. "I mean, he had a tough start to the year. You believe in the person and you believe in the player. Obviously, he's got power to hit home runs. Interestingly enough, they threw him a ton of breaking balls, and he's still ready to hit the fastball when he got it."
Perez now has 10 seasons with 20 or more homers. He joins Giancarlo Stanton , Mike Trout , Bryce Harper , Freddie Freeman , Manny Machado and Paul Goldschmidt as active major-leaguers who have achieved that feat.
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The Royals collected seven hits Thursday but were 0-for-5 with runners in scoring position and left six men on base.
Chicago (82-77) is still in contention for the AL Central Division crown. There is still a chance they could even play host to a postseason game next week.
"I want to say congratulations to the White Sox," Perez said. "Been an amazing year for them. You know, hopefully, we can do some things right and try to make it next year."
The Royals, meanwhile, dropped to 68-91. They have lost nine of their last 11 games.
What's next:The Royals will begin their final series of the 2026 season on Friday night. Left-hander Noah Cameron (9-8, 3.92 ERA) will start Friday's game against the Cleveland Guardians at Kauffman Stadium. First pitch is set for 6:40 p.m. Central Time.
