Minnesota Twins home run record illustrates juiced ball concerns

The calendar had not yet flipped to September, but that did not stop the Minnesota Twins from setting a new Major League Baseball home run record.

On Saturday, Minnesota Twins catcher Mitch Garver took Detroit Tigers reliever Joe Jimenez deep for his second home run of the game. That blast cut the Twins deficit to three, providing the final run of their 10-7 loss. But that is not where the story ends.

That home run, while coming in a loss, set a major league record. The Twins had hit their 268th home run of the season, breaking the record set by the New York Yankees back in…2018. Minnesota had already set the record for the most home runs hit in a season on the road two days prior, and are on pace to hit over 300 homers on the season, an astronomic number.

What makes this feat all the more remarkable is not that the record fell, but that it took the Twins only five months to set a new bar for power. Eleven players on the Twins roster have hit over ten homers this season, with Byron Buxton being the only primary starter who has not reached the 20 home run threshold.

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It is notable that the home run record has been annihilated this reason for more than the historical aspect. Major League Baseball has gone out of their way to claim that the balls are not juiced, saying that they are at a loss for the increase in home runs, both at the major league and AAA levels. But is there another explanation?

Presumably, the sport is clean. After the outrage and righteous twaddle that the Steroid Era produced, PEDs have been banned. The harshest penalties in the four major sports have been implemented. So, it has to be the ball, right?

Therein lies the problem. When players like Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa, and the like were turning themselves into cartoon characters, there was a great deal of outcry over the sanctity of the record books. A segment of the population still considers Roger Maris to be the single season home run leader, and Hank Aaron to have the all time home run crown. Barry Bonds? McGwire? Sosa? Their numbers do not count because they cheated.

So now, we have elevated offensive numbers once again. Over the past two seasons, the ball has flown out of major league stadiums around the country, even in the most stringent pitching parks. While the individual single season record has not been challenged, there are more players hitting home runs than before.

Back when McGwire and Sosa were chasing down Maris, their accomplishments were celebrated. Chicks Dig the Long Ball was a popular tag line. Major League Baseball, which had just come out of a disastrous strike that led to the cancellation of the 1994 World Series, desperately needed the positive attention. They certainly received it in spades at that time.

This year, there has been some outcry, mainly from the pitchers. Justin Verlander, in particular, has been vocal about his thoughts that the ball is juiced. And yet, no one really seems to care. And why would they? Home runs are entertaining and exciting. Just ask the Minnesota Twins.

The biggest question about this recent era of offense may come a few years down the line. Just as the Great Home Run Chase of 1998 has become a controversial point, the home run record set by the Minnesota Twins could become one as well, especially considering that the record has fallen with a month left in the season.

The Minnesota Twins 2019 squad has slugged their way into the Major League Baseball record books. Given the Juiced Ball Era, their place could be just as controversial as those from those players of the Steroid Era.