A bumpy start to the season for the reigning World Series champions took another bad turn Thursday afternoon when the team announced third baseman Mike Moustakas was making his second trip to the disabled list this season.

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The first time, Moustakas had a small fracture in his left thumb. 

This time, he has a torn right ACL. Yeah, the basketball injury. 

He was placed on the 15-day disabled list, but he won’t be back in 15 days. He won’t be back this season. When hoopsters have the surgery, they’re typically out for roughly a year. Some make it back within nine or 10 months, but for others, like Derrick Rose, it takes longer than a year.

The injury happened Sunday, when Moustakas and outfielder Alex Gordon collided — smashing knees and thighs together — while chasing a foul popup by the White Sox’s Melky Cabrera. At first, it appeared Gordon got the worst of the collision; he went on the DL with a fractured right wrist the next day and is expected to be out about a month. Moustakas’ injury was originally called a contusion. 

But Moustakas is now looking toward 2017. 

The Royals obviously haven’t given up on 2016. They’re 24-22 on the season, a couple games behind the White Sox in the AL Central standings. This team, which has been so incredibly resilient during its back-to-back runs to the World Series the past two seasons, faces its toughest regular-season challenge.

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A reminder of that resiliency:

— In the 2014 AL wild-card game against the A’s, they trailed 7-3 heading into the bottom of the eighth inning. They won that game 9-8 with two runs in the 12th. 

— In the 2015 ALDS, they were six outs from elimination in Game 4 in Houston, but they shocked the Astros with five runs in the eighth and two more in the ninth to rally from a 6-2 deficit for a 9-6 victory and extend the series to a winner-take-all Game 5. And in that one, they fell behind 2-0 before winning, 7-2.

— In wrapping up their 2015 World Series title against the Mets, they pulled off a series of near-miracles — in three of their four wins, they trailed heading into the eighth inning.

Yeah.

Epic moments. Real Monty Python not-dead-yet stuff.

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The task ahead isn’t as immediate as a playoff series, but it’s almost as daunting. 

Moustakas was a first-time All-Star in 2015, and he’s only one off the team lead in home runs with seven despite spending those previous couple weeks on the DL with the thumb injury. In the past five seasons, Gordon has four Gold Gloves and three All-Star nods. The Royals brought Gordon back to Kansas City this offseason — he was a free agent who had plenty of other options — with a four-year, $72 million deal.

Moustakas was manager Ned Yost’s No. 2 hitter in the lineup. Gordon hit fifth or sixth this year, depending on who was healthy, so, yeah, those are a couple big spots to fill, especially considering Eric Hosmer, Lorenzo Cain and Salvador Perez have been the only three hitters who have lived up to expectations so far this season. 

Certain pitchers have struggled, too. Closer Wade Davis (1.08 ERA) and setup man Kelvin Herrera (0.78 ERA) have been awesome, as always, but starters Chris Young (6.68 ERA) and Kris Medlen (7.77 ERA) were awful before landing on the DL, and Yordano Ventura (4.81 ERA, 6.1 walks per nine innings) has been all over the place. 

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So, yes, there are reasons the Royals are just a couple games over .500 at the moment. And now they’re without Gordon for probably a month and without Moustakas for the rest of the year. Yikes. 

If we’ve learned anything the past couple seasons, we’ve learned that it’s pretty darn foolish to assume the Royals can’t do something, regardless of the odds. 

Let’s see what they’ve got left in the tank.