After more than 1,800 games played in a Royals uniform, Salvador Perez now stands alone atop Kansas City’s all-time home run leaderboard, his 318th career blast breaking a tie with George Brett.

As Kansas City faced the Detroit Tigers at Comerica Park on Saturday afternoon, Perez took an 84-mph slider deep to left for his history-making homer. The solo shot, off right-hander Kyle Finnegan, came in the seventh inning of an eventual 3-2 Royals win.

“It’s a lot of emotion right now,” Perez said in a postgame interview. “I thank God for everything, my family, my mom, my wife, my kids, all the people helped me. I didn’t know if we were going to make it to this part in my career.”

Perez, who was signed out of Venezuela when he was 16 years old, has played 15 seasons in Kansas City, going from an unheralded prospect to a franchise icon, becoming the club’s captain in 2023. His franchise-record 318th home run is just one of several accolades Perez has achieved.

A nine-time All-Star, five-time Gold Glove winner, five-time Silver Slugger and one-time Roberto Clemente Award winner, Perez helped lead the Royals to their second World Series title in 2015 and first since 1985. His .846 OPS, coupled with catching all but one of every inning of the five-game series earned him World Series MVP honors. Perez is just one of seven catchers to take home MVP honors for the Fall Classic.

“The guy’s a Hall of Famer, and you’re getting to witness it,” manager Matt Quatraro told reporters after Perez tied Brett.

A backstop by trade, Perez has shifted more to a primary DH role, with some added responsibilities at first and occasional catching duties. He has one year remaining on the two-year, $25 million pact he signed with Kansas City in November 2025. That deal replaced a club option the organization had on Perez and ensures that he will be a career Royal.

Next season, Perez will turn 37.

Quatraro on Saturday lauded Perez’s commitment to both the Royals and the Kansas City community.

“It goes the other way too, the city, the fans, how much they support him,” he said. “It’s just an honor to be part of it and it’s an honor to see him perform. He just keeps coming through in big spots.”

Although he has been mired in the worst offensive season of his career, Perez has found himself a beneficiary of the introduction of the Automated Ball-Strike challenge system. Among players with at least 40 overturned calls, Perez’s win percentage ranks second.

Earlier this season, Perez helped guide his native Venezuela to its first World Baseball Classic title. The catcher received the starting nod from manager Omar Lopez, and unlike the 2015 World Series, was on hand to catch the final inning of the win.

“The World Series is one of the most important championships in the major leagues,” Perez said in Spanish, “but when you fight for your country, that goes beyond. That feeling, the country where you were born and raised, the sacrifices made by our parents, those people that helped us — that’s why this means a lot to me and to Venezuela.”

Hello, basketball fans! Welcome to The Athletic’s live coverage of the 2026 WNBA All-Star Game at the United Center in Chicago.

The league’s best and brightest have converged on the Windy City for the league’s showcase weekend, and tonight is the main event as Team Coop faces Team Spoon, paying homage to the WNBA’s 30th anniversary.

Headlined by big names such as Caitlin Clark, Paige Bueckers, A’ja Wilson and Breanna Stewart, tonight’s intriguing contest should set the stage for a strong close to the WNBA regular season.

Stay tuned for the latest news, analysis, reaction, play-by-play and more from our team of reporters at The Athletic.

LOS ANGELES — The final of this year’s first-round NFL Draft picks is under contract.

Los Angeles Rams quarterback Ty Simpson signed his rookie deal on the day players reported to training camp Saturday, a team source confirmed to The Athletic. The deal is for four years and $25.4 million, fully guaranteed. It includes a fifth-year option as well as a $14.9 million signing bonus as determined by his No. 13 draft slot.

The Rams selected Simpson out of Alabama this spring with the highest draft pick they’ve owned in a decade. In doing so, they locked in an heir to Matthew Stafford, who is entering his 18th NFL season after winning his first league MVP award.

Rams coach Sean McVay and general manager Les Snead have made it clear that Stafford will control how much longer he has to play. Stafford began this offseason with one year left on his contract but added a second season for $55 million to keep him through the 2027 season, if he chooses to keep playing then.

The plan for Simpson is to sit and learn behind Stafford for as long as the reigning MVP continues to play. The Rams feel as if he could use that learning after starting just one season at Alabama, when he led the Crimson Tide to the second round of the College Football Playoff and finished with 28 touchdown passes and five interceptions.

Simpson was a surprising pick to some at the time, given the Rams’ stated goals to win a Super Bowl after a narrow loss in the NFC Championship Game. But that selection freed up their 2027 draft picks in trades, and they then traded that 2027 first-round pick along with Pro Bowl edge rusher Jared Verse, a 2028 second-round pick and a 2029 third-round pick to the Cleveland Browns for reigning Defensive Player of the Year Myles Garrett.

Simpson will see some reps this summer as Stafford manages a degenerative back issue. The Rams have broken training camp into four-day blocks where Stafford will practice on the second and third days while resting on the first and fourth days. Stafford will not participate in the team’s first practice on Sunday.

Simpson will use this training camp, as well as three preseason games, to try to beat out Stetson Bennett for the No. 2 quarterback role. Jimmy Garoppolo had held that spot for the past two seasons but is a free agent considering retirement.

“The quarterback position is obviously an incredibly important position with the way that this game is played, and you’ll see that reflected,” McVay said. “As Matthew gets a chance to take some of those days off, I think that’s when you’ll really see (the other quarterbacks) get more reps than they would otherwise. We want to create as many competitive situations so we’re good-on-good basically every period.”