PECOTA projects Royals to win 71 games

Photo by Morris MacMatzen/Getty ImagesToday is PECOTA projection day, a day that usually draws ire from Royals fans for how few wins the algorithm predicts for our team (BET AGAINST US!) This year, however, expectations are already low, so perhaps Royals fans will be a bit pleased that the projection shows the Royals with 71 wins, good enough for third-best in the Central. In fact, due to so many tanking teams, the Royals project to be better than five other teams in baseball (Tigers, White Sox, Rangers, Orioles, and Marlins).

PECOTA projects the Royals to score 707 runs, which would be a 10% increase from last year’s run total. It also projects the Royals to improve slightly at run…