Late Wednesday night, Jonathan Villar hit a three-run home run to give the Orioles a 5-2 lead over the Dodgers. Baltimore would go on to win the game 7-3; however, that was hardly the biggest story around that particular home run.
Villar’s blast was the 6,106th home run hit in Major League Baseball this season, setting a record for most homers hit in a single season. The previous record of 6,105 was set in 2017 and still remains as the only other season where at least 6,000 home runs were hit.
“That’s not every day that happens, that only happens one time,” Villar said. “I feel excited because that’s very important, not only for me but for the team. My bat is going to the Hall of Fame. I am going to have that my whole career. That’s unbelievable!”
Royals outfielder Alex Gordon can relate to the excitement that Villar feels. In 2017, Gordon hit the previous record-setting home run, passing the record of 5,693 set in the 2000 season. Marcus Semien tied that original record about 16 minutes earlier.
Other Records
As you would expect, there have been lots of record-setting home run marks this season on both an individual and team level. The long balls go back all the way to the first game of the season in Japan, where the Mariners homered against the Athletics and would go on to homer in 20 straight games to open the season.
To put it into perspective, the previous record was 14 straight games, set by the 2002 Indians to begin the season.
As far as total home run streaks, the 2019 Yankees now own that claim. Starting with Gleyber Torres homering on May 26, New York went deep in 31 straight games, launching past the previous mark of 27 consecutive games.
The Yankees also find themselves in a battle with the Twins to hit the most home runs of any team in a single season. Going into Thursday’s action, Minnesota had hit 277 homers to New York’s 276 in a race that will likely go down to the wire.
While the Yankees and Twins are setting all-time records, other clubs are setting franchise marks as well. The Dodgers, Astros and Padres have all set their franchises’ single-season home run record this season, with the Braves four homers away from passing their previous record.
From an individual standpoint, rookie Pete Alonso is having a first season to remember. He broke the Mets’ record of 42 dingers and the NL rookie record of 39, and is now up to 47, leading all of Major League Baseball. Royals outfielder Jorge Soler also broke Kansas City’s record of 39 and is now up to 43 long balls on the season.
Both L.A. teams may also have a player setting new home run records before the season is done. Dodgers outfielder Cody Bellinger has 44 home runs, four shy of Shawn Green’s team record, while Mike Trout trails Troy Glaus’ 47 home runs by two for the Angels record.
How High Will It Go?
As a league, the biggest story is obviously the total home run count, which will continue to grow over the final couple of weeks. But another huge story this season is the record for home runs hit in a calendar month, which seems to be broken on a monthly basis.
In May, all 30 clubs combined to hit 1,136 home runs. That edged the previous record of 1,119 set in August 2017. But a month later, MLB hit 1,142 homers for June.
Then in August, the league broke that record with a whopping 1,228 dingers. In total, we’ve seen all five complete calendar months this season have 1,000 or more homers, the most in a season. Chances are, September sees another one.
The race to the playoffs will be a fun one, with several spots still up for grabs. But one thing is for sure. Balls will be flying out of the ballpark during this journey to October.
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