The MLB baseball season is winding down. We are now in the final week of what will be a very memorable baseball season. A few months ago this did not seem possible. But here we are about to have what many expect to be a very entertaining postseason. With the format expanding to eight teams and the schedules restricted to only division opponents in each league, we have what we never seem to have anymore and that is fresh matchups. With that, the home run total for the week was 241 and the tally for the season is 2,051. So let’s take a look at this week in home runs.
Pujols Passes A Legend
Albert Pujols hit two homers this past Friday against the Texas Rangers. While the Los Angeles Angels have nothing to play for, Pujols hit his 661st and 662nd career home runs passing up Hall of Famer Willie Mays. Pujols tied Mays on September 13th for fifth on the all-time home run list. Pujols who is 40 years old has one year remaining on his contract and it is not known if the 2021 season will be his last.
Alex Rodriguez is in 4th place with 696 home runs and is 34 homers ahead of Pujols. It would be hard for Pujols to have a 34 homer season at his age and with his declining skills. Pujols is a sure-fire Hall of Famer and amazingly three players in the Top 10 of the home runs list might never make it in. Barry Bonds, Sammy Sosa, and Rodriguez all have been accused or confirmed of using PED’s.
Other Milestone Homers
Ryan Braun hit his 351st career home run. He has tied Dick Allen for 94th place on the all-time home run list. Robinson Cano hit his 333rd home run passing up Moises Alou for 108th all-time. Justin Upton hit his 305th career home run tying Raul Ibanez for 144th on the all-time home run list. Giancarlo Stanton hit his 312th career home run passing Hall-of-Famer Ivan Rodriguez for 133rd on the all-time homer list.
Bronx Bombers
The New York Yankees snapped out of a slump in a very big way. The Bronx Bombers had the bats booming during this past week. The Yankees as a team hit 22 homers which led the league. This included a three-game stretch where they hit 19 homers. Two Yankee players had multiple home run games and one had a three-homer game. Luke Voit and DJ LeMahieu had the two-homer games and Kyle Higashioka hit three homers in one game as the Yankees got back on track. Voit now leads all of baseball with 21 bombs as he is quietly putting up MVP numbers.
Multiple Homers
Sixteen players had multiple home run games which are around the average number per week. For the season there have been 128 multiple home run games this season. The National League players are Jorge Alfaro of the Miami Marlins, Bryce Harper of the Philadelphia Phillies, Ozzie Albies of the Atlanta Braves, Manny Machado of the San Diego Padres, Daniel Vogelbach of the Milwaukee Brewers, and Kole Calhoun of the Arizona Diamondbacks who had a pair of multiple home games.
In the American League, we had Byron Buxton of the Minnesota Twins, Lourdes Gurriel Jr. of the Toronto Blue Jays, Tim Anderson of the Chicago White Sox, Michael Chavis of the Boston Red Sox, Albert Pujols of the Los Angeles Angels, Luke Voit, and Yankee teammate DJ LeMahieu and Jose Ramirez of the Cleveland Indians who had two games with multiple homers.
Aside from Kyle Higashioka, we had a second player have a three-homer game. That other player is Brian Anderson from the Miami Marlins. In 2020 there have been 10 three-homer games. This is not as rare a feat as some may think. In the history of Major League Baseball. According to the baseball-almanac, there have been 626 three-homer games in regular-season history. In comparison, there have been 18 four-homer games in history.
Welcome to the Show
It was a light week for players hitting their first big league bomb. Only two players were able to make that first glorified trot around the bases. As said many times with or without fans in the stands it is still a special time for any player. Luis Torrens of the Seattle Mariners connected for his first career dinger against the Oakland A’s. Sam Huff of the Texas Rangers had his first bomb against the Los Angeles Angels. Congratulations and welcome to the show to both.
Game-Winning Homers
It was also a light week for game-winning home runs with only three. Tyler Stephenson of the Cincinnati Reds hit a walk-off two-run home run against the Pittsburgh Pirates. Luis Garcia of the Washington Nationals hit a two-run game-winning home run against the Tampa Bay Rays. Lastly, Brandon Nimmo’s solo home run gave the New York Mets a victory over the Philadelphia Phillies.
Weekly Home Run Leaders
Kole Calhoun led the league in home runs for the week with six. In second is Luke Voit who hit five bombs. Jose Ramirez, Bryon Buxton, DJ LeMahieu, and George Springer each had four. The Yankees led the league for the week comfortably with 22 round-trippers. The Milwaukee Brewers had 14. Six teams are tied with 11. Those teams are the Atlanta Braves, Minnesota Twins, Philadelphia Phillies, Cincinnati Reds, Arizona Diamondbacks, and the Chicago White Sox.
Season Home Run Leaders
This week in home runs Luke Voit leads the majors with 21 home runs. Voit has a three-homer lead over the player in second place. Could Voit be finishing up an unlikely MVP season? Jose Abreu has 18 home runs. Mookie Betts, Adam Duvall, Teoscar Hernandez, Nelson Cruz, Manny Machado, and Mike Trout are tied with 16 homers. Marcell Ozuna, Kole Calhoun, Fernando Tatis Jr., and Jose Ramirez are next with 15 homers apiece.
The Los Angeles Dodgers lead all of MLB with 100 homers as a team. The Braves are second with 93, The Yankees big week has them at third with 91. The White Sox with 89 and the Padres with 88 finalize the top 5.
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