The Kansas City Royals opened a three-game series against the New York Mets at Citi Field in Flushing, NY on July 7, with Seth Lugo scheduled to start for Kansas City. The opener arrived with both clubs below.500, and the Royals came in at 37-54 while the Mets sat at 38-53.
That is why the Royals are the search now. They had just won their previous two games against the Phillies, including a 15-1 rout that featured 22 hits, and they were trying to turn that momentum into a series win before the All-Star Break. A victory on July 7 would give Kansas City the series, which is about as much as either club has been able to claim in a first half defined by disappointment.
The numbers behind the game are hard to miss. The Mets entered with the second-highest payroll in Major baseball at $369 million, outspending their New York brethren by $35 million, yet they still carried a 38-53 record. Their offense had flashes in Juan Soto, who led the National League in on-base percentage, slugging percentage and OPS, with 19 home runs, 46 runs batted in and 41 runs scored. But the rest of the lineup had not kept pace. Francisco Lindor was hitting.216/.300/.366, Brett Baty’s OPS had fallen from.748 in 2025 to.601 in 2026, and the club was still sorting through its outfield mix with A.J. Ewing at.259/.342/.400 and Carson Benge at.258/.316/.405. Bo Bichette and Benge were tied for the team lead with 47 runs scored.
The pitching picture was just as unsettled. The Mets had not yet named a starter for the opener, with Kodai Senga listed as a possible option, while Fangraphs had Christian Scott lined up for the following night and Sean Manaea in Thursday’s matinee finale. Manaea, already 34 and making just his sixth start of the season, had thrown 68 innings with a 5.18 ERA and a 4.01 FIP. Devin Williams handled the ninth inning, but the club’s bigger problem was not the back end of games; it was finding enough dependable innings to keep the season from slipping further away.
For Kansas City, Lugo was the clean answer. Stephen Kolek and Michael Wacha were next in the series, which gave the Royals a chance to keep pressure on a Mets team still carrying October expectations into a July schedule that has not matched them. The gap between payroll and results was already big enough to define the day. What remained open was whether the Mets would settle on Senga or make one more late change before first pitch.
