Miami Marlins at Kansas City Royals

KANSAS CITY – After Wednesday night’s multihomer game, Carter Jensen approached Jac Caglianone in the Royals' clubhouse with a grin. Two more, he told his friend and teammate, referring to his home run total being just two behind Caglianone’s for the season. Now make it one more after Jensen’s Statcast-projected 440-foot home run Thursday night, his third in the last two games and the go-ahead two-run blast in the Royals’ eventual 7-3 win over the Marlins at Kauffman Stadium. It gave Jensen 22 homers on the year compared to Caglianone’s 23 – and it matched Bo Jackson (1987) and Carlos Beltran (‘99) for second-most by a Royals rookie behind Bob Hamelin’s 24 in ‘94. Jensen and Caglianone are competitors in just about everything, and that can be a good thing for the Royals as the 23-year-old sluggers keep getting better with 2026 nearing an end. They certainly feed off each other, and it’s not just in homers, either. They’re nearly neck-and-neck in RBIs. Three from Jensen on Thursday with his triple and two-run homer put him at 67 for the year, while Caglianone pushed ahead with two of his own on Thursday – thanks to a double and single – to give him 69 on the year. “I’ve got to freaking start hitting homers,” Caglianone said. “I can’t let him pass me or tie me. I’m glad I got that last RBI, because that puts me ahead of him.” While the season itself has been unsatisfactory for Kansas City and its 63-78 record with 21 games left, enough can’t be said about how important this year was to see the development and establishment of Caglianone and Jensen as premier hitters not just in the Royals’ lineup, but also in the league. There was optimism that both would emerge as key pieces for the Royals in ‘26. Now at the end of the season, with both having surpassed 500 plate appearances, it’s no longer just hope and optimism: It’s reality. They’ll be counted on in 2027. “For them to know who they are, I think is huge,” shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. said. “I think that was the biggest thing for me becoming a big leaguer. Knowing who I am and what I need to do for the team. They’ve both improved, they both ask questions, and they both have gotten better every day.”