The Royals hit three home runs in a 9-3 win over the Diamondbacks on July 4. They’ve been hitting home runs ever since. Including the three they hit last night, they’ve now hit 58 in their last 37 games, which just so happens to equal the total they had hit in the 88 games leading up to that Independence Day game in Arizona. You might not be too surprised to know they’ve scored 185 runs in those 37 games, which is exactly five per game. You also might not be surprised to know they’re now 23-14 in those 37 games after scoring just 3.3 runs per game to start the season.
I don’t really know exactly what happened when they got to Arizona, but the course of the season changed that night and has put the Royals in a spot I did not expect them to be in even as recently as maybe three weeks ago. But here they sit, after winning their fourth straight game and 24th out of the last 38 (they did win the night before the offense shifted), just 3.5 games out of a playoff spot with 37 to play. Last night was a game they almost definitely don’t win early July and probably a game they don’t win especially often in franchise history.