Royals fire manager Mike Matheny

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With the 2022 Major League Baseball regular season now concluded, and the playoffs set to begin on Friday, now is the time you see teams make decisions on the future of their managers. On Wednesday, the Kansas City Royals announced that manager Mike Matheny of Columbus, Ohio and pitching coach Cal Eldred of Cedar Rapids, Iowa were relieved of their duties.

Royals in 2022

In a season where the Cleveland Guardians, the youngest team in baseball, made significant strides in the American League Central with an amazing record of 92 wins and 70 losses, the same cannot be said for the Kansas City Royals, who were last in the division with a record of 65 wins and 97 losses. The only team that had a worse record in the American League were the Oakland Athletics, who were at 60 wins and 102 losses.

Struggles with pitching

The Royals had a team earned run average of 4.72, the worst in the American League, and the fourth worst earned run average in all of baseball. The three teams with a worse ERA were the Cincinnati Reds (4.86), the Washington Nationals (5.00) and the Colorado Rockies (5.08). The Royals also had the highest opponent batting average in the American League (.271), highest opponent on base percentage in all of Major League Baseball (.346), most hits allowed in the American League (1494), most earned runs allowed in the American League (743), most walks allowed in the American League (589), and fewest strikeouts in the American League (1191). Quite simply as a whole, it was a disastrous season for the Royals pitching staff, as 17 pitchers had an earned run average over 5.00.

Matheny career record

Matheny has spent a decade managing Major League Baseball in the state of Missouri. He was with the Cardinals from 2012 to 2018, before being with the Royals from 2020 to 2022. He has a career record of 756 wins and 693 losses, despite being 32 games below the .500 mark in 2022.

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