With the Kansas City Royals on track for the second overall pick in the MLB draft for the second year in a row, all it took was one week after the All-Star break to put that into jeopardy. As the teams around them kept losing, the Royals kept winning. Kansas City won six of their seven games on that first homestand. By the end of it, they found themselves as the third-worst team in baeball, with three teams—the Toronto Blue Jays, Miami Marlins, and Seattle Mariners—within three games of the Royals.
It isn’t that big of a deal if the Royals don’t end up with the second pick in the draft, or even the first, barring a generational or can’t-miss talent, which don’t happen in every draft.