It’s no surprise, considering the juiced balls in play this season, that the Minnesota Twins became the first team in MLB history to hit 300 home runs in a single season.
On Thursday afternoon, Jonathan Schoop smacked a two-run homer against the Detroit Tigers for Twins homer number 300 on the season. The Twins weren’t finished, though. They added another dinger when Willians Astudillo hit a solo homer. The Twins have 301 home runs and counting.
“It’s great that I got to hit the 300th homer,” said Schoop. “But this record is about more than me. We’ve got a lot of guys with a ton of homers, but so many other guys have hit big ones when we needed it.”
Nelson Cruz leads the Twins with 40 home runs. He’d hit 50 if he didn’t miss over 40 games. At least five players crushed 30-plus home runs, including Max Kepler, Miguel Sano, Eddie Rosario, and Mitch Garver.
At least 11 players hit 10 or more homers for the Twins. A total of 17 players contributed to pushing the team over the 300 home run mark.
MINNESOTA TWINS HRs:
Nelson Cruz 40
Max Kepler 36
Miguel Sano 33
Eddie Rosario 32
Mitch Garver 31
CJ Cron 24
Jonathan Schoop 23
Jorge Polanco 22
Marwin Gonzalez 15
Jason Castro 12
Byron Buxton 10
The Minnesota Twins jumped out to a hot start of the season, primarily due to the long ball. And they didn’t stop. The Twins currently hold the MLB record for most home runs in a season by passing a record held by the 2018 NY Yankees. Last season, the Yankees lived up to their Bronx Bombers moniker by slugging 267 home runs in 162 games.
Banged-Up Bronx Bombers at 299
Despite a slew of injuries, the 2019 Yankees aren’t far behind the Twins, with 299 home runs of their own. Heading into the final weekend, the Bronx Bombers will have to wake up their bats if they want to reclaim the season home run record.
Earlier this season, the Yankees set a franchise and MLB record by hitting a home run in 28 consecutive games.
The Yanks passed last season’s homer total, and the current squad set a new franchise record. The Yanks are chasing the Minnesota Twins to become the second team in MLB history to hit 300 home runs in a season.
At least seven Yankees hit 20 home runs or more. Gleyber Torres leads the Yanks with 38 home runs, followed by the Kraken. Gary Sanchez hit 35 home runs, but could have had more if the Yankees didn’t shut him down for the rest of the season after he tweaked his groin.
Veteran OF Brett Gardner has displayed some pop in his bat this season with 27 home runs. Aaron Judge smacked 26 homers in only 100 games of action after he missed nearly two months with an oblique injury.
Edwin Encarnacion hit 34 on the season, but only 13 with the Yankees after the Seattle Mariners traded the “Parrot Man” to the Bronx.
At least 14 members of the Yankees hit double digits in home runs.