Cole Ragans' Return Date Revealed As Royals Enter Home Stretch
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There's no telling how different the Kansas City Royals' season might have been had Cole Ragans never gotten injured.
Ragans, the Royals' opening day starter and 2024 fourth-place Cy Young finisher, made only 10 starts this season before hitting the injured list with a rotator cuff strain. He put up a 5.18 ERA in those starts, but his 14.1 K/9 and 2.47 FIP suggested that he was still among the most dominant pitchers in Major League Baseball.
Amid the Royals' ill-fated second-half playoff charge, Ragans has been slowly working his way back to the mound. And this week, we'll finally get to see him toe the slab at Kauffman Stadium for the first time in the second half of the season.
Cole Ragans starts Wednesday
On Monday, Anne Rogers of MLB.com reported that Ragans is expected to start Wednesday's game against the Seattle Mariners, the second contest of a three-game series. Michael Wacha, another crucial piece of the rotation, will start on Tuesday, making his return from the 7-day concussion injued list.
Rogers also reported that Seth Lugo, yet another injured All-Star, could start Thursday's game after missing his previous two outings with a lower back strain. Lugo has a bullpen session scheduled for Monday.
This Seattle series should have been the biggest of the season for the Royals, but now that they're six games out of the third and final wild card spot, their odds of making the playoffs have fallen below 1%.
Royals manager Matt Quatraro is excited to have his guys back, however dire the Royals' circumstances have become in the standings.
“They’re the guys we count on,” Quatraro said, per Rogers. “They’re three of our horses in the rotation, and any time you can give them the ball -- that’s why we signed them. That’s why we value them on the team. We want to get them back out there.”
Ragans is under team control for three more seasons, so fans will get to see plenty more of him, hopefully in the middle of playoff races to come.
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Jackson Roberts is a former Division III All-Region DH who now writes and talks about sports for a living. A Bay Area native and a graduate of Swarthmore College and the Newhouse School at Syracuse University, Jackson makes his home in North Jersey. He grew up rooting for the Red Sox, Patriots, and Warriors, and he recently added the Devils to his sports fandom mosaic. For all business/marketing inquiries regarding "Kansas City Royals On SI," please reach out to Scott Neville: scott@wtfsports.org
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