The 20 most amazing and astounding facts from the Year of the Home Run
Miguel Sano rewards the Twins with a pinch-hit, walk-off two-run home run to beat the Braves 5-3. (1:10)
We’re almost three-quarters of the way through the 2019 MLB season, and by now you’ve probably heard that this is the Year of the Home Run.
Whether it’s the ball itself, the launch angle revolution, a generation of historic young sluggers or some combination of the three, home runs have had us buzzing all season. But even as baseballs keep leaving the yard at record rates — the single-season mark, set in 2017, is certain to fall in the coming months — it’s hard to grasp the magnitude of it.
We challenged researcher Evan Wildstein and the rest of our friends at ESPN Stats & Information to mix math with the madness and present the most amazing home run-related stats of the season.
Here’s how amazing the Year of the Home Run has gotten in several categories — and where it could end up by the time it’s over.
Jump to …
The teams doing (and allowing) damage
The most surprising individual feats
The most amazing leaguewide numbers
1. The Minnesota Twins are on pace to break baseball’s single-season home run record of 267.
Why it’s so amazing: The record was set by the 2018 Yankees in 162 games. The Twins, who are on pace for 316 home runs, aren’t the only team this season with a higher home run/game rate than those Yankees. The 2019 Yankees and Dodgers all have higher HR/G rates than the 2018 Yankees and the Astros are even with the pace, which means at this rate, the four highest team home run totals in MLB history could all come this season.
2. There are 14 teams on pace to break their single-season home run marks.
Why it’s so amazing: If you thought the Year of the Home Run belonged to only the power-packed lineups at the top of the standings, this shows that nearly everyone is getting in on the fun. Beyond those 14 teams, there are another four with at least a shot at a new franchise record. That means 60 percent of the league could be crossing out its previous all-time team home run mark and writing 2019’s final tally in the record book this offseason.
3. The Mariners hit or allowed a home run in 107 straight games.
Why it’s so amazing: That’s 38 more than the previous record, per Elias Sports Bureau research. On the other end of the scale, the 1913 Red Sox went a record 55 straight games without hitting or allowing a home run. The longest such streak this year is three games.
4. The Yankees hit a home run in 91 games through July 31.
Why it’s so amazing: That’s the most by a team before Aug. 1 in MLB history, eclipsing the previous record of 90 games held by the 2000 Blue Jays.
Earlier in the season, the Yankees became the first team in MLB history to hit a home run in 28 consecutive games, breaking the previous record of 27 set by the 2002 Rangers. The streak came to an end after three more games, setting the new mark at 31 straight contests.
What makes New York’s bit of history here even more impressive is that 22 players have gone deep as the Yankees have battled injuries up and down their roster all season.
5. The Minnesota Twins are five home runs away from setting their franchise record — with 50 games left to play.
Why it’s so amazing: Yes, we started with the Twins above, but what Minnesota is doing deserves its own section. In 1963 and 1964, the Twins had Harmon Killebrew swatting 40-plus home runs for the most powerful lineup in franchise history and led the majors in total homers by a healthy margin both seasons. In fact, Minnesota had reached 200 home runs four times in franchise history before blowing past the mark in July this season.
6. The Twins are the first team in MLB history to hit 50 home runs in three calendar months within a season.
Why it’s so amazing: Pick your 2019 Minnesota Twins home run factoid, and chances are it will be amazing. This number emphasizes that Minnesota, like the rest of baseball’s premier slugging teams, is doing it day in and day out for the duration of a season — not riding one hot streak to franchise history.
7. When the Twins hosted the Yankees last month, the teams combined to hit 20 home runs in the series, and the balls traveled a total of 7,875 feet.
Why it’s so amazing: Wondering what October is going to look like in the Year of the Home Run? This recent series between baseball’s two most powerful lineups gave us a glimpse of a potential playoff matchup and just how bonkers things could get when every player in each lineup is a threat to leave the yard.
According to Elias research, the three-game series was the sixth in MLB history in which at least 20 home runs were hit. There were also a combined 57 runs and 80 hits in the series, the most by any two teams in a three-game series this season.
8. The Orioles have already allowed 223 home runs this year.
Why it’s so amazing: If franchise records for hitting home runs are falling, it stands to reason that franchise records for giving up long balls are falling too — and the Orioles have managed to distance themselves from everyone else when it comes to allowing gopher balls. The all-time record for home runs allowed by a pitching staff is 258 by the 2016 Reds, a number the O’s should shatter this month.
One amazing fact that sums up the long ball problem for Baltimore’s pitching staff: O’s pitchers have given up five or more home runs in a game 15 times already this season, an MLB record.
9. The Orioles are yielding 3.15 home runs per game when they face the Yankees.
Why it’s so amazing: There is a special kind of magic when baseball’s best team at serving up home runs faces one of MLB’s best at going deep. If you like home runs, you might want to tune in when the Orioles and Yankees play the final six games of their season series in the next two weeks.
10. So far this season, 207 players have hit at least 10 home runs.
Why it’s so amazing: It’s tied for the fifth-highest total in a single season, but a quick trip down the home run leaderboard shows about 20 players sitting on nine home runs and another 20 or so at eight. In other words, this number is about to take another jump soon, and it’s another example that the Year of the Home Run is about the astounding totals coming from everywhere — not just the guys at the top.
11. There were four consecutive days when a player hit three home runs from July 23 to July 26.
Why it’s so amazing: First it was Robinson Cano. Then Paul DeJong did it. After that, Nelson Cruz got in on the fun, and then it was Mookie Betts’ turn. The four-day span was the most consecutive days with a three-homer game by a player in MLB history.
12. There have already been 16 three-homer games so far in 2019.
Why it’s so amazing: The mark of most three-homer games in one season, 22 in 2001, is well within reach. Just last week, Cruz went deep three times in a game for the second time in a nine-day span and helped the 2019 total climb higher.
Of all the facts around this year’s three-homer performances, Cruz becoming the first player to do it twice at age 39 stands out, especially when you add this to it: Ted Williams is the only player to have a pair of such games at age 38.
13. Three players had 30-plus home runs … at the All-Star break.
Why it’s so amazing: Although Christian Yelich, Pete Alonso and Cody Bellinger have all slowed a bit in the second half, they still have legitimate shots to reach the 50-homer mark this season — as does Mike Trout, fresh off the first 13-homer month of his career. No matter where they finish the season, that trio of Yelich, Alonso and Bellinger became the first since 1998 to each hit 30 bombs by the break.
14. Ronald Acuna Jr. became the fourth-youngest player to reach 50 career home runs.
Why it’s so amazing: Take a close look at this list of the youngest players at the time of their 50th career homers:
Mel Ott: 20 years, 166 days (Aug. 15, 1929)
Tony Conigliaro: 20 years, 238 days (Sept. 2, 1965)
Andruw Jones: 21 years, 136 days (Sept. 6, 1998)
Ronald Acuna: 21 years, 215 days (July 21, 2019)
Al Kaline: 21 years, 227 days (Aug. 2, 1956)
Ken Griffey Jr.: 21 years, 251 days (July 30, 1991)
Eddie Mathews: 21 years, 267 days (July 7, 1953)
Mickey Mantle: 21 years, 279 days (July 26, 1953)
Giancarlo Stanton: 21 years, 281 days (Aug. 16, 2011)
Frank Robinson: 21 years, 295 days (June 22, 1957)
This list is full of Hall of Famers and baseball icons, but what’s also noteworthy is that every player on it except Stanton and Acuna debuted last century. In fact, Andruw Jones is the only player in the past 50 seasons to reach the milestone at a younger age than Acuna.
15. Gleyber Torres is three home runs away from becoming the third Yankees player with at least 50 homers through his age-22 season.
Why it’s so amazing: General baseball rule: If you are on a list of all the Yankees to accomplish something, and Mickey Mantle and Joe DiMaggio are the only two players ranked ahead of you, you’ve done something pretty amazing. Torres isn’t going to catch either of the Hall of Famers ahead of him, but he is certainly in elite company here.
16. There already have been more home runs this year (4,677) than in the entire 2014 season (4,186) or 2011 season (4,552).
Why it’s so amazing: It’s Aug. 6! The fact that we’re already eclipsing full-season numbers from just a few years ago shows just how much has changed in a short amount of time.
17. There have been 1,000-plus home runs in every full month of the season so far.
Why it’s so amazing: MLB has rewritten the record book for homers every month so far this season, and every time we thought there was no way this home run pace could keep up, it has.
18. We’ve had more five-homer games by a team this season than in any full season before this.
Why it’s so amazing: Of all of the numbers here, this one might be the most bonkers. It’s not just that the record for five-homer games by teams in a season has fallen. It’s that it was set on July 17, just after the halfway point of the season.
19. There have been 131 home runs of at least 450 feet this season. There were just 82 of those all of the past season.
Why it’s so amazing: Baseballs aren’t just clearing fences — we’ve seen a big spike in the number of really long home runs as well. On June 21, Rangers OF Nomar Mazara hit a 505-foot homer, by far the longest hit this season. We have seen five 480-plus-foot home runs this season, which surpasses the total from the previous season (four).
20. 2019 is on pace to smash the all-time home run record of 6,105 home runs.
Why it’s so amazing: This is the big one. Just two years after the record-setting 2017 season, numbers are way, way up overall. In 2,430 games that year, an average of 2.51 home runs were hit per game. This season, through 1,689 games, a total of 4,677 homers have been hit — a rate of 2.77 per game.
The question isn’t if the home run record will fall in the coming months. It’s just how high the new record will be by the time the Year of the Home Run comes to an end.