Team Home Run Kings: 2026 Opening Day Update

Last summer, Pete Alonso set the Mets' career home run record. Over the winter, Alonso went to Baltimore as a free agent, and in doing so joined Giancarlo Stanton as a franchise dinger leader no longer playing for that franchise.

Stanton hit 267 home runs for the Marlins before he joined the Yankees, three more than Alonso's homer haul as a member of the Mets. Only the Rays (Evan Longoria, 261), Diamondbacks (Luis Gonzalez, 224), and Padres (Manny Machado, 194) have a lower number for their team record. The only other team under 300 is the Nationals, with Ryan Zimmerman having retired at 284 home runs.

Aside from San Diego, where Machado should soon become the first Padres slugger to reach 200 homers, each of these teams has an active home run leader who no longer plays for them. In Arizona, Ketel Marte has 168 home runs, which is 56 behind Gonzalez's team record, and 41 away from matching Paul Goldschmidt (also the Cardinals' active leader with 153 home runs despite not playing there anymore, either).

The Diamondbacks' situation is virtually the same as last summer, when we first looked at the team homer records. Yandy Diaz (99) replaces Brandon Lowe (157) as the Rays' "active-active" home run leader, while it's Francisco Lindor (141) picking up the mantle from Alonso in Queens. Jesus Sanchez (69) and Josh Bell (63) left Miami and Washington respectively, so the current Marlins and Nationals with the most career homers are now Kyle Stowers (27) and Luis Garcia Jr. (58). Those clubs' active leaders, however, remain Stanton (267) and Bryce Harper (184).

Player movement also changed the situation elsewhere. Adolis Garcia left the Rangers after hitting 141 home runs, so Corey Seager (117) is the current Texas player with the most homers there. Texas did add Andrew McCutchen, who hit 248 homers for the Pirates and leaves Bryan Reynolds (138) as Pittsburgh's dean of slugging. Meanwhile the departures of Nolan Arenado (118) from St. Louis, Luis Robert Jr. (102) from Chicago, and Wilmer Flores (92) from San Francisco mean that Nolan Gorman (74), Andrew Benintendi (45), and Matt Chapman (48) are the Cardinals, White Sox, and Giants hitters actively adding to the highest home run totals for those teams.

Two teams got out of this weird situation. Byron Buxton ended last season with 168 home runs, getting past the previously departed Max Kepler (161) as the active player closest to Harmon Killebrew's 559 homers for the Twins. In Cincinnati, the Reds welcomed back Eugenio Suarez after four years away -- his 189 career homers there replace Spencer Steer (66) along the Ohio River.

Aside from Machado, the only player currently adding to a team's record is Mike Trout, with 404 homers and counting for the Angels. Salvador Perez is 14 home runs away from tying George Brett's record of 317 for Kansas City. Should that be 316? Maybe! Take it up with the American League appeals process in 1983.


Unless Jose Ramirez (52 behind Jim Thome's 337 for Cleveland) or Marte really goes off this year, Perez figures to be the only player to achieve Alonso's feat from a year ago and put his name atop a team's all-time home run list in 2026.

 

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