And you thought the Royals bullpen was terrible...

In a season full of disappointment and unmet expectations, the Royals bullpen has been public enemy number one. It's prevented the team from going on any kind of extended winning streak and resulted in a summer of frustration. Thirty-six times this year, the Royals have blown a lead. Twenty-three times the Royals bullpen has squandered a save situation.

As bad as the Royals bullpen is in 2026, we've finally found one worse.

That would be the Sacramento A's.

While the Royals season was torpedoed from the jump with this bullpen, the A's imploded in the middle of the season. On June 18, the A's were down to the Los Angeles Angels 11-4 in the seventh inning, staged a rally to tie the game at 11 and then walked it off in the tenth. After their 12-11 victory, they stood at 38-38 on the year and were just a half game out of first in the AL West. That would be the apex of their season.

Since then, the A's have gone 11-40, an abysmal .216 winning percentage. When a collapse is this total...this complete...there is never just one reason. Although, without following the Athletics full time, I feel fairly confident when I state that their bullpen is a massive issue.

In the month of July, the A's bullpen posted a 7.73 ERA in 106 innings of work. Yikes. They've been better in August only because it's difficult to be worse than that. This month, they've worked to a 5.90 ERA in 61 innings. That was before Wednesday night against the Royals.

In the eighth inning against the Sacramento bullpen, the Royals sent 11 batters to the plate and scored seven of them.

I don't think I've ever seen an inning like this before...where the hitters were on it.

Of the eight balls the Royals put in play, seven of them were Hard-Hit. Six of them were above triple-digits. Two of them were absolutely crushed. Poor Carter Jensen. He hit the ball harder than anyone and had an amazingly high expected batting average and all he got for his trouble was an out. Them's the breaks, I guess. The softest batted ball, from leadoff man Maikel Garcia, went for a triple. It was grossly misplayed by right fielder Lawrence Butler, but sure...a triple.

I think the sound of ball hitting lumber is still echoing around Kauffman Stadium as you read this.

After the Garcia "triple," Vinnie Pasquantino turned on an elevated cut fastball to bring him home with a single. It was the seventh pitch of the PA on a full count and Pasquantino—who had homered earlier in the game for his 500th career hit—was all over it. The Royals were down 5-3.

For me, the key PA was the next one: Salvador Perez.

Typical Perez where he looks at strike one and then chases a slider down and away to fall behind 0-2. The Royals are down 5-3 at this point and have six outs in the bank. The worst-case scenario is Perez hits a ground ball and rolls into two of those six outs. You're probably thinking at this point the best-case scenario is just a strikeout. Yet, Perez dug in and battled. He spit on an elevated fastball that was meant to chase and did the same on a slider a little bit further down and away from the one he previously offered at. With the count 2-2, he fouls off two in the zone and looks at a pair of heaters off the plate. A walk? A walk!

Perez has now drawn just 17 walks this season (plus two intentional passes). That works out to a 3.7 percent walk rate which is low, even for him. For The Captain to hang in there and make that happen...that was something.

That was it for reliever Hayden Juenger. Drew Rom was in to pitch. It did not matter.

After the Jensen fly out (which was deep enough for Pasquantino to tag up and go to third), Tyler Tolbert walked to load the bases. Kyle Isbel then took a 91 mph elevated sinker the other way to move everyone up 90 feet and it was a one-run game.

Isbel was 1-4 and is hitting .229/.297/.332 this year, good for a 68 wRC+ which is his second-worst offensive season since becoming a semi-regular back in 2022. Yet he's a guy I don't mind seeing down in the nine spot in the batting order. He seems to do the little things correctly. This was one of those little things.

Perez was on second in that moment and obviously did not score on the Isbel single. Did the situation call for a pinch-runner? Michael Massey was still on the bench and Perez was the designated hitter. At that point in the game, it was unlikely Perez's spot would come up again, unless it went extra innings. And even then, I'd probably prefer Massey to Perez. Ultimately, it didn't matter. The Isbel single was hit at 101 mph and fielded in shallow-ish left field. I don't think any runner is going to try to get home on that, not with one out.

And it worked out. That's because Isaac Collins lofted a deep fly ball to dead center. Even Salvy could tag up and walk home. And just like that, the Royals had erased a three-run deficit and the game was tied.

This brought up John Rave. Rave was in the game only because starter Jac Caglianone exited with what the Royals said was right ankle soreness. There could not be a larger contrast between the two players. Cags...a first-round pick, a top prospect, a guy who flew through the minor leagues. Then there's Rave...a guy who's been in the organization since 2019 when he was a fifth-round selection. He made it to the show last summer and was pretty much overmatched. Injuries meant he got another chance this year. He's done better, but still profiles as a deep bench guy.

With the lefty Rom throwing for the A's, I knew who I wished was coming to the plate in this situation.

Sometimes, you think you know...

Rave got an elevated fastball on a favorable count. He turned on it and...

That's a bases-clearing triple. A three-run deficit was not a three-run lead. Comeback achievement unlocked.

After a season full of reliever agita, it sure is nice when the script is flipped. When the Sacramento starter is pulled from the game and you think, now the fun can really start. While there's still a fourth game to be played in this series, the Royals have scored 14 runs in 14 innings against the A's bullpen thus far. With 13 of those runs earned, that works out to a 8.36 ERA. Yeah...that's about what they did last month. It tracks.

One night after Tolbert hit a two-run single to tie the game, setting the stage for a Bobby Witt Jr. walkoff that looked like this...

Wednesday's Win Probability chart was almost as steep, but with a softer landing.

I like 'em both.

There's a bit of poetry in the winning pitcher of Wednesday's tilt being Craig Kimbrel. The oft-traveled veteran wouldn't even be in Kansas City if the Royals had anything close to a competent bullpen. He's here because the Royals needed arms and Kimbrel has one. He's fortunate he answered his phone before the A's called. Pitching a clean eighth inning just before the Royals bats went on the attack against the Sacramento bullpen, he picked up his first victory since 2024. As a Royal, he's made three appearances, thrown 3.1 innings with one strikeout, one walk and one hit allowed without surrendering a run. If you keep expectations low, you can be pleasantly surprised from time to time.

Steven Cruz was on to finish the game. Of course he allowed a two-out single that was followed by a home run. Of course! At least, as you can see from the Win Expectancy chart above, that agita that we're so used to never really materialized.