Unstoppable

It originated in California and swept through Kansas City. Now, the Royals winning streak has gone international. The Royals crossed the border into Canada on Monday and, in their series opener against the Blue Jays, came out on top 5-3. Never in doubt, it was their ninth consecutive victory.

I may write "never in doubt" and it did kind of feel that way, but with the Royals bullpen in the mix, it's rarely a soft landing. The Royals grabbed the lead in the middle innings but needed to find their way out of the usual trap—a ninth inning, two-out rally from the opposition. Steven Cruz was the man summoned to close out the game with a four-run lead and quickly got the first two outs. Back-to-back singles and a little defensive indifference meant the Jays had runners on second and third.

Nathan Lukes put an inside-out swing on a 1-0 fastball that caught the inner half of the dish. The ball was searching for the gap in left-center but left fielder Isaac Collins was swift. And then...well, let's just let the GIF tell the story.

There is so much to like about this game-ending TOOTBLAN from the Royals side. So much. It is simply flawless execution in all aspects. First, you have Collins gliding over with urgency to cut off the ball from getting through the gap and to the wall. He gets a good bounce off the Toronto turf and is able to make a perfect pirouette to uncork a seed to Bobby Witt Jr. You can really see how Collins seems to slow down his actions just enough to keep his movements under control so he can deliver that strike.

Then, you have Witt. The throw is a good one, but the shortstop has to move ever so slightly to his right so he can make the catch and the transfer in one motion. Again, this is key. If he is slow getting the ball out of the glove, the out is in jeopardy. Like Collins, Witt turns and fires a strike. This throw had a little more mustard on it.

Actually, calling Witt's throw a strike is probably underselling it. It was perfect. Capital-P Perfect. Placed perfectly to the left of Tyler Tolbert at second so he can catch and then drop the glove to apply the tag. I imagine Tolbert is at the bag screaming, "TWO, TWO, TWO!" to alert Witt that they have a play. And Tolbert is just quick enough to get the glove down to apply the tag.

That's a lot of movement required just to get one out. And not just any out. The final out of the game, securing that ninth consecutive win for the Royals.

All of this was possible through an absolutely boneheaded baserunning decision from Nathan Lukes. Two runs had come across on his hit. The Jays were down by two. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. was walking to the plate. Sure, Vladito hasn't hit a home run at Rodgers Centre all season long (how is that even possible?) but the tying run is the tying run. Plus, against this Royals bullpen there is a feeling of despair when something like this is playing out in front of us. So Lukes decides to gamble with a run that doesn't do that much for his team's chances and comes up with the TOOTBLAN-iest TOOTBLAN you'll ever see.

And we have one of my favorite moments from this broken season.

Once more with emphasis...that's nine in a row.

In many ways, the season of the Blue Jays mirrors that of the Royals. Both teams have suffered through underperformance from key players and have had their rotations beset with injury. Both had expectations coming into 2026. The Jays, falling just short of a championship last fall, had loftier aims perhaps, but both teams are going to be on the sidelines come October. Toronto is still somewhat on the periphery because just about every American League team is on the periphery so you could argue they have something to play for. They have a relatively easy schedule for their final thirty games but if they're going to sleepwalk through the majority of the game and then run into the final out, the quality of opposition matters not. It was as if the Jays watched Ernie Clement writhing in pain after he fouled off a ball that ricocheted into his groin and said, "We'll take some of that."

Toronto went 1-11 with runners in scoring position, their lone hit coming from Lukes just before his brain freeze. Meanwhile, the Royals were just 2-13 with RISP. The evening started in promising fashion when the Royals loaded the bases in the first when the top third of the order reached against veteran Max Scherzer. Carter Jensen ambushed and drew a single. Witt walked and then Vinnie Pasquantino accepted a four-pitch free pass. That brought up Salvador Perez. Perez laid off one slider, but bit on another and squibbed a grounder to short. Double play.

Michael Massey then walked to keep the pressure on, but Scherzer recovered and got Nick Loftin to bite on a curve that bounced just behind the plate. It's good to get a run early but when you get three walks and a single, you're set up for a little more.

The Jays countered immediately with back-to-back singles against Royals starter Seth Lugo. After he got Guerrero to fly out, Lugo walked Kazuma Okamoto to load the bases. A sac fly brought home the tying run, but that was all the Jays could muster.

Neither club could've been satisfied with their opening salvo.

When things are going good, you can sort of let the game unfold while you chip away to uncover some runs. And things are most definitely going good for the Royals right now.

They got to Scherzer for another run, this one coming in the fifth as a tidy two-out rally. Jensen walked with one out and Witt grounded into a fielders choice. He motored to third on a Pasquantino single and then touched home when Perez punched a line drive down the left field line. The Perez single was the culmination of an eight-pitch battle where Scherzer tried his best to get a swing and miss to put something of an exclamation point on his outing.

After Scherzer got that second strike on the slider in the middle of the plate, he went for the kill, first down with a slider and then with a four-seamer. Perez fouled off both. After a spiked changeup in the dirt moved the count full, Scherzer frisbee'd a belt-high slider that didn't move enough off the plate. Thank you very much.

The Royals added two more an inning later. With runners on the corners and one out, Kyle Isbel was intent on getting down a bunt. He tipped his hand when reliever Mason Fluharty threw over to first and then, undaunted, proceeded to foul off the first two pitches he saw. Everyone should be confident in some skill the way Isbel is about bunting. With two strikes, he squared again and got it down. Loftin, the runner at third, was holding, though. It was not a squeeze play, safety or otherwise. Guerrero fielded and had time to get the out at first but threw past the bag that allowed Loftin to trot home with the third run of the night and John Rave, the runner at first, to advance to third. Rave scored a batter later on a sacrifice fly.

I'm not sure why Isbel was bunting in that situation if Loftin was going to hold. But it's funny how baseball so often comes down to the fundamentals. The Royals with their relay throw in the ninth executed their test flawlessly. The Jays, in the sixth, flunked theirs.

Nine wins in a row. There's no way I thought this team had that kind of run in them. Credit to the players and the staff who are still grinding out the games. According to Elias, keeper of all things baseball facts, The Royals are the first team in 11 years to be 20 games under .500 to begin a winning streak of at least eight games. They were 50-74 when the streak began. Their record now stands at 59-74. Still disappointing, but a little more respectable. And something to hold our attention as the season winds down. I'll take it.