Kansas City Royals' 5 Steps to Reenter MLB Playoff Picture: Podcast

The Royals have struggled this season, and there isn’t any denying it, but what can the team do to turn that around?

Below is a five-step plan on what exactly the Royals could and should do to make the playoffs a reality.

Step one: Kansas City has to begin with making a coaching change. As of now, the seats of Matt Quatraro and Alec Zumwalt are getting hot.

If Kansas City doesn’t make a change with the coaching staff, the Royals are just implying they are okay with the team’s performance, and even worse, they are okay with losing. By firing someone, the Royals front office makes a statement and shows the team and the city that they are not okay with losing.

The team can start that statement by firing Alec Zumwalt and letting Connor Dawson take his place, which has been discussed here before.

Step two: Make a change with the closer role.

This is another topic that has been touched on here. Lucas Erceg has struggled incredibly when closing, and as of now the Royals have to capitalize on every chance of winning possible, and that starts with winning games during a save situation.

They have Carlos Estevez still on the IL, who when he comes back will go back to being the closer, but as of now the Royals have to improvise by putting dominant reliever Daniel Lynch IV in that spot.

Step three: Make trades for bullpen pieces that can help this bullpen situation now.

The bullpen has been one of the most consistent problems this season for the Royals. Coming into the season, that wasn't expected to be the case, but it is, and the Royals have to start looking to acquire some pieces to replace the struggling pieces of the bullpen.

Step four: Shake things up in the lineup, and once the lineup seems to click, stick with it.

The biggest complaint of Matt Quatraro by fans has been the fact that the Royals have not had a consistent go-to lineup that works. The Royals have changed it up a few times, but even when it does well it almost immediately gets changed. Once you find that lineup that works, it needs to stay.

As of right now, the lineup looks best when it is batting one: Carter Jensen, batting two: Bobby Witt Jr., batting three: Maikel Garcia, batting four: Jac Caglianone, batting five: Vinnie Pasquantino, batting six: Salvador Perez, batting seven: Michael Massey, batting eight: Isaac Collins/Lane Thomas, batting nine: Kyle Isbel.

Step five: String together some wins.

The Royals need to go on a stretch where they win 10 of 15 or 15 of 25. If they do that, they put themselves in a good position where they may not exactly have a playoff spot, but they will be significantly closer, and then at that point just a few smaller stretches of good baseball will get them in.

Now, of course, this seems a lot more simple than it is, but it's definitely where that start needs to happen. Now, if it actually happens, that's a matter of sitting back and watching, but if they don't do it soon, you can count them out of the playoffs this season.