Every so often, a player says the quiet part out loud. It’s that rare, pure moment of honesty that makes fans spit out their coffee. So when a quote from Kansas City Royals megastar Bobby Witt Jr. began to circulate — a quote that essentially would confirm every Royals fan’s most primal fears when it comes to the New York Yankees — the whole thing read like the plotline from a sports tragicomedy. It was raw, it was harsh, and it was the sort of quote that makes you ask whether you applaud the honesty or dial for a team therapist.
The timing for such a confession couldn’t have been more poetic. It came on the heels of the Yankees breezing into Kansas City and rolling to a three-game sweep with almost casual ease. The Bronx Bombers outscored the Royals 1-0, completing a perfect 6-0 regular season series sweep. The Royals’ bats, meanwhile, went into hibernation. Even the mighty Witt Jr. was going 0-for-4. This “systematic dismantling” created the perfect backdrop for a quote about getting your ass kicked.
And then, like a punchline to a very long joke, the tweet appeared. An account called ‘The Yankee Report‘ posted a picture of Witt Jr., looking pensive. Underneath him was the quote that lit up the internet: “This is not a rivalry… They always kick our ass.” It was perfect. It was blunt. And it was… completely fake. That’s right, there is absolutely no evidence that Witt Jr., the Royals’ fierce on-field leader, ever said this.
— The Yankee Report (@YankeeReport_) June 13, 2025
The quote was a clever forgery, a piece of fan fiction that felt so real because, well, have you been watching the games? So, who is the ghostwriter behind this masterpiece of misery? For that, you have to switch sports entirely. The iconic quote actually belongs to Philadelphia 76ers superstar Joel Embiid. Back in 2018, after yet another drubbing by the Boston Celtics, a fed-up Embiid famously declared, “This is not a rivalry… They always kick our ass.” His shocking frankness was so legendary that it immediately became the gold standard of sporting surrender.
The funniest irony of all this is that the meme was about the one guy who apparently never got the memo about rolling over for New York. While his team struggles, Witt Jr. becomes a Yankee-killer. For his career, his batting average is a blistering .322 with a phenomenal .918 OPS against them. He’s the Royal who not only makes an appearance but often shows out. Attaching a quote about surrender to him is like saying Patrick Mahomes is afraid of a fourth-quarter comeback. And yes, Mahomes is the co-owner of the Royals, btw.
That’s what makes the meme’s use in this context so striking—it flips the script, applying a symbol of surrender to the very player who refuses to back down.
Yankees-Royals: A “rivalry” more like domination
From that moment on, Embiid’s lament became the internet’s favorite white flag. It’s a versatile, plug-and-play meme for any fanbase suffering at the hands of a relentless opponent. It has been spotted in discussions about everything from League of Legends to Major League Soccer. It’s the universal shorthand for “we are tired of losing to these guys,” which is precisely why it was so easy to slap onto a picture of a Royals player.
Let’s be witty and honest here: calling the Yankees-Royals matchup a “rivalry” is like calling a hammer’s relationship with a nail a “spirited debate.” The most recent history is hilariously one-sided. In their last 20 series against each other, the Yankees have won 19. That’s not a typo. The Royals have not won a single series in that span, a level of dominance one usually sees in video games on rookie mode.
If you zoom out, the picture gets even uglier for Kansas City. The Yankees lead in all-time wins, 323 to 206 for the Royals. Since 1993, the Pinstripes have more than doubled the Royals in wins, 105 to 50. The historical record doesn’t just suggest the Yankees win; it screams it from the bleachers. The fake quote felt true because, for decades, the results have been the same.
A glance at the 2025 statistics for each team explains the one-sided results. The Yankees are an offensive team, leading the league in home runs and on-base percentage. The Royals, by contrast, are 30th in home runs and 28th in runs scored. The Yankees are playing chess in the owner’s box; the Royals are trying to remember where they put the checkers.
The post Fact Check: Did Bobby Witt Jr. Just Snub the Royals for the Yankees? Exploring the Viral Tweet appeared first on EssentiallySports.
