<p>KANSAS CITY, Mo. — After winning seasons the past two years, the Royals enter a season-ending six-game homestand at 67-89 and as one of the bigger disappointments in the league.</p><p>Simultaneously, the road to the American League Central title runs through Kauffman Stadium.</p><p>Following three games against the second-place White Sox, the Royals will end their season this weekend by hosting the division-leading Guardians for another three-game set.</p><p>“We want to ruin somebody's season,” Royals catcher <b>Carter Jensen</b> told the Sun-Times. “We want to spoil it for somebody else. We’re obviously not going to be in the playoffs, but we want to be there. So if we can fill that spoiler role, I think it’s fun and we can show we’re not done fighting.”</p><p>Beset by pitching injuries that have seen both their opening day starter (<b>Cole Ragans</b>) and closer (<b>Carlos Estevez</b>) lost for the season, the Royals entered Tuesday losers of seven of their last eight. But with the emergence of young hitters like Jensen (.847 OPS since the All-Star break) and Jac Caglianone, Kansas City has an offense that’s allowed them to compile a 29-30 second-half record up to the final week.</p><p>With the Guardians entering Tuesday with a one-game lead and the Sox holding the season-series tiebreaker, the Royals can obviously affect the AL Central race, but also size up where they stand against the division’s best entering the offseason.</p><p>“Losing those pitchers, a few starting pitchers and bullpen pieces, it's been kind of a revolving door,” Jensen said. “We've done a great job this second half of not caring who all is here. We're just going to do the best with what we have.”</p><p>For their part, the Sox seem to understand that ending their season against two last-place teams does not equate to a cakewalk.</p><p>“We are so close to making a huge difference, not just for us but for the history of the organization,” said <b>Miguel Vargas</b>. “Accomplishing what we want is going to be hard. It’s not going to be easy.”</p><h3><b>Vargas is AL Player of the Week </b></h3><p>Vargas was named American League Player of the Week on Monday, after hitting .348/.500/.783 with three home runs from Sept. 14-20. It’s Vargas’ second time winning the award, with the first coming in May last year.</p><p>The timing makes the second time around sweeter.</p><p>“We treat this as a playoff game,” Vargas said. “Whatever we did in the past five months wouldn’t mean anything if we don’t make it.”</p><p>The Sox roster largely hasn’t been through a playoff chase before, but Vargas looks like he has the ability to raise his game.</p><p>“We’ve seen him increase his attention to detail,” said manager Will Venable. “He’s absolutely locked in right now. And I think it’s a response to where we’re at.”</p><h3><b>Peters at the ready</b></h3><h3></h3><p>Four days after a scary collision with a Rate Field outfield fence post, All-Star outfielder <b>Tristan Peters</b> is at “full availability,” though he was out of Tuesday’s starting lineup against a left-handed opposing starter.</p><p>“To give his body up to try and make a play like that speaks a lot to the kind of player he is, and being able to recover from that so quickly has been awesome," Venable said.</p><p>In Peters’ stead, <b>Brenton Doyle</b> homered in his first at-bat against southpaw Daniel Lynch IV on Tuesday.</p>
Facing division leaders, Royals eyeing ‘spoiler role’ in final week 2026
IUSTITIA.BG – Investigations 2009-2026 2026-09-23 00:46:27
Latest news World news Country news Most important news latest news most important latest of the day Justice Petar Nizamov Feathers Petar Nizamov- Feathers Justice bg iustitia.bg iustitia iusticia usticia investigation Burgas Bulgaria news news of the last hour news of the day news of today Bulgaria news The news from Bulgaria blitz news top news most important most commented latest news Boyko Borisov news weather coronavirus news news weather facebook youtube facebook instagram news today news of the last minutes news today today news news bg news leading news hot news bg news site for news all news news bg news of the last hour latest latest news bg news of today news today news today news of the last hour latest news today news bg news news 24 hours news vesti bg novini news world bird bg bivol bg bivol trud bg novini latest news today novinite bg news hello bulgaria political party coat of arms delyan peevski scandalous Bulgarian National Television Free Europe Television scandal exclusive live tv live right now tv tv online tv program bg live now tv news online tv online live court Burgas court Burgas district court Burgas court Burgas district court Burgas district court Burgas appellate court Burgas prosecutor Burgas prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Prosecutor General Ivan Geshev Prosecutor Geshev Tsatsarov Ministry of Internal Affairs Burgas ODMR Burgas ODPR Burgas police Burgas district police Burgas prosecutor Tsatsarov SGS cases Varna court chairman of the SGS court decisions on civil cases decisions on cases Plovdiv court decision of the court decisions cases Varna court criminal cases district district court decisions work in the court SGS chairman of the SGS judges Sofia court post judges Plovdiv court Plovdiv judges Plovdiv Supreme Court Inspectorate Supreme Court Supreme Judicial Council lawyer lawyer criminal cases lawyer civil cases lawyer marriage cases lawyer administrative criminal law criminal process civil law civil process administrative law constitutional law
