New York Yankees hit 250th HR, join elite group of six teams

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An Aaron Hicks home run put the New York Yankees in elite company as one of just six teams in MLB history with 250 or more homers in a season.

When Aaron Hicks launched his 26^th home run of the season off David Hess in the second inning of Saturday’s game, the New York Yankees had their 250^th home run in 2018. Two batters later, Luke Voit hit number 251. Hicks’ homer pushed the Yankees past the 2000 Astros, who were tied for sixth on the list for most home runs by a team in a single season. Voit’s homer put the Yankees two behind the 2016 Baltimore Orioles, who hit the fifth-most home runs in MLB history.

Even before this season started, the Yankees were predicted by some to challenge the single-season team home run record. They led baseball in home runs last year and added the MLB home run leader, Giancarlo Stanton, who had a career-high 59 big flies in 2017.

Stanton won’t come close to 59 home runs this year. He’s sitting at 35. Aaron Judge, who hit 52 homers in 2017, has 26 this year. With Stanton and Judge dropping from a combined 111 home runs last year to 61 this year, it’s surprising to see the Yankees challenging for the all-time single-season home run record.

The key has been the sheer number of double-digit home run guys the Yankees have employed this season. Luke Voit recently joined the double-digit homer club, giving the team a record 12 players with 10 or more long balls. Six of these ten have 20 or more home runs. Along with Stanton and Judge, mentioned above, they are Didi Gregorius (27), Aaron Hicks (26), and the two AL Rookie of the Year candidates, Miguel Andujar (25) and Gleyber Torres (23).

The Yankees have eight games left and need 13 home runs to tie the record for most home runs in a season. They’ve averaged 1.63 home runs per game so far. At that pace, they are projected to hit 264 in a 162-game season. This would put them in a tie for first with the 1997 Seattle Mariners. The Yankees finish this season with a three-game series in Boston. They may not have anything to play for as far as the postseason is concerned, but will likely be eyeing the all-time home run record in that final series at Fenway Park.

Let’s look at the other five teams to hit 250 or more home runs in a season.

Mandatory Credit: Tomasso Derosa /Allsport /

1997 Seattle Mariners, 264 HR

~Finished 1^st in NL West (90-72), lost in LDS

~5.7 percent of MLB total HR hit that season

~109 more HR than the average team

~9 players with double-digit dongs

It may be surprising to learn that the Seattle Mariners hit more home runs than any team in baseball in the decade of the 1990s. They started slowly in 1990 and 1991, finishing 19^th and 15^th in baseball in dingers, but would finish in the top 10 in home runs each of the next eight years.

From 1996 to 1999, the Mariners led the league in home runs three times and finished second once. During this stretch, they averaged nearly 247 home runs per season. Balls were flying out of the park with regularity at the old Kingdome.

Their home run peak was the record-setting 1997 season, when they launched 264 round-trippers. Nine players had 11 or more home runs, with Ken Griffey, Jr. leading the way with 56 bombs, including two on Opening Day. This was peak power Griffey. He would hit 56 again the next season.

Griffey’s partner in crime, Jay Buhner, hit 40 home runs in 1997. It was one of three straight 40-HR seasons for Bone. Paul Sorrento hit 31, which was a career high. Edgar Martinez (28), Alex Rodriguez (23) and Russ Davis (20) all launched 20 or more.

Catcher Dan Wilson wasn’t known for his power, but he hit 15 this season after hitting 18 the year before. Rookie Jose Cruz, Jr. hit 12 homers in just 198 plate appearances before being traded to the Toronto Blue Jays for relief pitchers Paul Spoljaric and Mike Timlin. Cruz would hit another 14 in 244 plate appearances that year with the Blue Jays. Finally, little Joey Cora had the best home run season of his career, with 11 taters. The most he hit in any other season was six.

After leading the league again in 1998 and 1999, the Mariners dropped to 12^th in baseball in home runs in 2000 and 18^th in 2001. A big part of the drop was their move to pitcher-friendly Safeco Field in July of 1999. After leading baseball in home runs in the 1990s, the Mariners were 26^th in home runs in the 2000s.

2005 Texas Rangers, 260 HR

~Finished 3^rd in NL West (79-83)

~5.2 percent of MLB total HR hit that season

~93 more than the average team

~9 players with double-digit dongs

The Texas Rangers hit plenty of home runs in the decade of the 2000s. They finished second in baseball with 2155 dingers. Only the Yankees hit more (2167). This 2005 team was the most powerful of them all, falling just four big blasts short of the all-time record.

Like the 1997 Mariners, the 2005 Rangers had nine players with double-digit dingers. Mark Teixeira led the way, with a career-high 43. Tex was in just his third season in the big leagues and already in the midst of a run of 10 straight seasons with 20 or more home runs to start his career.

Alfonso Soriano was in his second season in Texas after five seasons with the Yankees. He hit 36 homers in 2005. He also had 30 steals, making him a 30-30 guy for the third time in his career. He would take it up a notch in 2006, when he hit 46 homers and stole 41 bases for the Washington Nationals.

Along with big power from Teixeira and Soriano, the Rangers had five guys hit between 21 and 29 homers. Some of these were surprising sources of power. David Dellucci hit 29 long balls this season, which was 12 more than he would hit in any other season of his career. Kevin Mench and Hank Blalock both launched 25 bombs and Michael Young hit 24. Rod Barajas had his only 20-plus homer season. He hit 21.

Rounding out the double-digit homer guys were Gary Matthews, Jr., with 17, and Richard Hidalgo, with 16. Hidalgo hit 16 in 88 games, but an ugly .289 OBP made him a well below average hitter (80 wRC+). This would be his final year in the big leagues.

Mandatory Credit: Doug Pensinger /Allsport /

1996 Baltimore Orioles, 257 HR

~Finished 2^nd in AL East (88-74-1), AL wild card team, lost in ALCS

~5.2 percent of MLB total HR hit that season

~92 more than the average team

~8 players with double-digit dongs

While the Seattle Mariners were leading baseball in home runs in the 1990s, the Baltimore Orioles were also near the top of the list, finishing third in baseball in home runs during the decade. When this 1996 team hit 257 homers, they were in just their fifth season in Camden Yards.

The leading home run hitter on the 1996 Orioles was Brady Anderson, who had one of the most unexpected 50-homer seasons ever. It is likely the single flukiest 50-homer season ever. Leading up to this one-year breakout, Anderson had hit 21, 13, 12, and 16 home runs. He was a consistent .360-.370 OBP guy, who slugged between .420 and .450.

After hitting 50 in 1996, Brady returned to his previous self, hitting 18, 18, 24, and 19 over the next four years. He slugged .637 in 1996 and never higher than .477 in any other season. In case you’re wondering, his big home run year wasn’t a product of his ballpark either. He hit 31 of his 50 homers on the road, where he slugged .713.

Along with Brady’s 50, the Orioles got 39 from Rafael Palmeiro and 28 from Bobby Bonilla. This was the last of Bonilla’s seven seasons with 20 or more home runs. Cal Ripken, Jr. hit 26 dingers and Chris Hoiles hit 25. This was the last time Ripken or Hoiles would hit 20 or more homers in a season.

Roberto Alomar was in his first season with the Orioles after signing a free agent deal. He hit 22 home runs, which was one of three 20-homer seasons in his career. Another newly-signed free agent, B.J. Surhoff, hit 21 home runs.

One other player on the 1996 Orioles hit double-digit home runs. It was Eddie Murray, who was one of the top players in franchise history. Murray had debuted with the O’s in 1977 and left after the 1988 season. He started the 1996 season with Cleveland before being traded to the Orioles for Kent Mercker in July. He hit 10 home runs in 64 games with Baltimore, helping the Orioles to the third-most home runs in MLB history.

2010 Toronto Blue Jays, 257 HR

~Finished 4^th in AL East (85-77)

~5.6 percent of MLB total HR hit that season

~103 more than the average team

~9 players with double-digit dongs

The Blue Jays were smack dab in the middle of five straight seasons finishing fourth in the AL East when they hit the fourth-most home runs in MLB history. This team had nine players with 14 or more home runs, including seven with 20 or more.

The team leader was Jose Bautista, with 54. This, of course, was Bautista’s breakout season. In six previous seasons of mostly part-time play, Bautisa had hit 59 homer runs in 2038 plate appearances, which is an average of one home run every 34.5 times up. In 2010, Bautista hit one home run every 12.6 times up. It wasn’t a fluke, though. Bautista would go on to hit 43 home runs the next season and would have seasons of 35 and 40 later in his career.

Beyond Bautista, the top home run hitters on the Jays were Vernon Wells, with 31, Aaron Hill, with 26, and Adam Lind, with 23. This was Wells’ last good season. He was worth 3.6 WAR in 2010 and would be worth just 0.2 WAR combined over the next three seasons. Hill hit 26 homers, but they came with a .271 OBP. Despite the dingers, he was a well below average hitter (77 wRC+). It was a similar story for Lind (.287 OBP, 89 wRC+).

Edwin Encarnacion had come to the Blue Jays in a trade with the Reds during the 2009 season. He hit 21 wallops in his first full season in Toronto. Two years later he would begin a stretch of seven straight 30-plus homer seasons that continues with the 2018 season.

The final 20-homer guy was Lyle Overbay, who was in his last season with more than 500 plate appearances. Alex Gonzalez hit 17 home runs in 85 games with the Blue Jays before being traded to the Braves in July. This was the shortstop named Alex Gonzalez who played from 1998 to 2014 not the shortstop named Alex Gonzalez who played from 1994 to 2006. The last double-digit home run guy was Travis Snider, who hit 14.

2016 Baltimore Orioles, 253 HR

~Finished 2^nd in AL East (89-73), AL wild card team, lost in ALWC

~4.5 percent of MLB total HR hit that season

~66 more than the average team

~7 players with double-digit dongs

More from Call to the Pen

The last season before the Orioles sunk to the depths of the AL East, they were a power-hitting team with five players who hit at least 25 homers. The team leader was Mark Trumbo, who had come over from the Mariners with C.J. Riefenhauser in a trade for catcher Steve Clevenger. Trumbo’s 47 dingers in 2016 is a career high. His previous best was 34 dongs in 2013.

Second on the 2016 Orioles with 38 four-baggers was Chris Davis in his last above-average season. Davis hit .221/.332/.459 that season, good for a 112 wRC+. He was worth 2.8 WAR. That was the first season of a seven-year, $161 million contract. Davis has hit a combined .192/.278/.360 over the last two seasons, making him well below replacement level. Only four more years and $92 million left on that contract, Orioles fans.

Manny Machado hit 37 home runs and Adam Jones hit 29. Machado’s 37-dinger season was the second of four straight seasons with 33 or more that Machado currently has going. The 29 jacks that Jones hit made it six seasons in a row with 25 or more. He made it seven straight last year, but the streak will end this season.

With 25 big flies, Jonathan Schoop was just coming into his own. He followed that up with 32 last year and 21 this year. Pedro Alvarez, on the other hand, was 29 years old and about to see a precipitous decline in playing time. He hit 22 home runs in 2016, but only played 14 games in the big leagues last year and has played just 45 this year.

The only other double-digit homer guy on the 2016 Orioles was Matt Wieters. This was his last season with the Orioles. He was granted free agency and signed with the Washington Nationals, where he’s straddled the replacement level line.

Next. Yankees set franchise home run record. dark

The five teams with the most home runs in a single season have a combined record of 431-379, a .532 winning percentage. That’s about 86 wins in a 162-game season. Four of the five teams with 250 homers in a season were above .500 and three of the five made the playoffs. One lost the wild card game, another lost in the divisional series, and the last lost in the ALCS. The Yankees already have more wins than any of these five teams. We’ll have to see how they fare in the playoffs.

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