2016 Kansas City Royals season

The Kansas City Royals entered the 2016 season as the defending World Series champions, hoping to reach the World Series for the third consecutive season. Before the season, the team signed free agents Ian Kennedy (a starting pitcher) and Joakim Soria (a reliever) and re-signed star Alex Gordon. However, several players from the previous year's team departed in free agency, including right fielder Alex Rios, second baseman/outfielder Ben Zobrist, and pitchers Greg Holland, Ryan Madson, and Franklin Morales.

The 2016 Royals team was adversely affected by injuries to Gordon, center fielder Lorenzo Cain, closer Wade Davis, and third baseman Mike Moustakas. The team was eliminated from postseason contention with four games left in the season, becoming the fourth consecutive World Series winner to miss the playoffs the following year. However, the Royals were the most successful team in the league at challenging umpire calls via instant replay thanks to the work of replay coordinator Bill Duplissea. The Royals ended the season with an 81–81 record, finishing in third place in the Central Division.

Game log

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 * Legend:      = Win       = Loss       = Postponement Bold = Royals team member

Batting
Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; R = Runs; H = Hits; 2B = Doubles; 3B = Triples; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in; SB = Stolen bases; BB = Walks; AVG = Batting average; SLG = Slugging average Source:

Pitching
Note: W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; G = Games pitched; GS = Games started; SV = Saves; IP = Innings pitched; H = Hits allowed; R = Runs allowed; ER = Earned runs allowed; BB = Walks allowed; SO = Strikeouts Source: