Game thread XL – Tigers at Royals

May 8, 2026; Kansas City, Missouri, USA; The Kansas City Royals celebrate a walk off win in the ninth inning against the Detroit Tigers at Kauffman Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Peter Aiken-Imagn Images | Peter Aiken-Imagn Images One of my favorite things that happens on Royals Review is Suff76’s Path to 90 wins. Now that we’re at the quarter-point of the season, I wanted to check in on that.

If the Royals were following that path, they’d have been 19-19 entering this series, and would want to be 21-20 exiting it. Instead, they entered it 17-21 and are now 18-21. If they at least split tonight’s game and tomorrow’s, they’ll be 19-22, only two games off the pace they’d need for 90 wins, assuming they can follow the path the rest of the way.

Especially considering the 8-game losing streak, they’ve made up a TON of ground already. One of the things I preach but don’t always practice is trying to view the season in homestand/away trip chunks rather than on a game-by-game basis. Going game by game, that Cleveland series was disappointing, but looked at from a series perspective, it was solid.

Going series by series, the Oakland series was disappointing, while the Mariners series was terrific; from a road trip standpoint, a 4-2 trip was fantastic. If we look at it from a homestand perspective, after the Royals take at least two out of three from the Tigers, that would be a good homestand. Win more games on a homestand/road trip than you lose, and you’re always making up ground, even if you lose individual games or even individual series.