Talk proclaiming Cole Ragans as the ace of the Kansas City Royals began during the impressive half-season he put together for the club in 2023 and picked up a full head of steam as he won 11 games and posted a nice 3.14 ERA to help lead the club back to the playoffs the following season.
But despite how good Ragans was in 2024, the fact of the matter is this — no Royals' starter was better that year than Seth Lugo.
Stats prove the point. Pitching in his first season with the Royals and working out of a rotation regularly for just the second time since starting 18 times for the 2017 Mets, Lugo went 16-9 with a 3.