The Year of the Home Run Reaches October

This Major League Baseball regular season has been, by virtually unanimous agreement, the Year of the Home Run. There were 6,776 hit across the majors this year, clearing the previous record by 671. Fourteen teams set new franchise marks for homers. Four of those—the Minnesota Twins, the Los Angeles Dodgers, the New York Yankees, and the Houston Astros—bested the previous record total for any one team. During one summer stretch, 37 straight days passed with at least one player hitting two home runs in a game; in the middle of that period, one or another player hit three home runs for four straight days.

Other numbers abound. The 48 Opening Day home runs hit back in March were, no lent the year a bit of characteristic baseball whimsy; the 54–108 Orioles ended up surrendering 305 homers this year, another record. Thirteen of those were given up to the New York Yankees infielder Gleyber Torres. It was the a player has hit against a team in one season in the divisional era.