The New York Yankees set a major league record on the season’s penultimate day, hitting more home runs than any team in baseball history.
Yankees break MLB record for most home runs in a season
New York has hit 266 home runs in 2018
Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images
On Saturday the record blow was hit by Gleyber Torres against the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park, the 265th of the season hit by the Yankees. That surpassed the 1997 Seattle Mariners for the most in MLB history.
This record was expected from the Yankees this season, after all they have reigning American League Rookie of the Year and MVP runner-up Aaron Judge, who clubbed 52 home runs in 2017, and they added fearsome slugger Giancarlo Stanton, the reigning National League MVP after a 59-homer campaign last year.
Yankees home runs
Player | HR |
|---|---|
| Stanton | 38 |
| Gregorius | 27 |
| Andjuar | 27 |
| Hicks | 27 |
| Judge | 27 |
| Torres | 24 |
| Sanchez | 18 |
| Voit | 13 |
| Gardner | 12 |
| Bird | 11 |
| Walker | 11 |
| Romine | 10 |
| Austin | 8 |
| McCutchen | 5 |
| Higashioka | 3 |
| Hechavarria | 2 |
| Wade | 1 |
| Drury | 1 |
| Robinson | 1 |
| Total | 266 |
Things haven’t gone quite as planned for the Yankees in 2018, with Judge missing eight weeks with a chip fracture in his wrist. Gary Sanchez, who clubbed 33 home runs last year, has 18 this season, a campaign limited by a groin injury. Stanton leads the team with 38 home runs — including one on Saturday — which is fantastic but it’s a far cry from 59.
This Yankees team has received power from just about everywhere. Rookie of the Year candidates Miguel Andujar at third base (27) and Torres (24) have combined for 51 home runs, and shortstop Didi Gregorius is having his best season yet with 27 bombs.
Center fielder Aaron Hicks has more home runs this year (27) then he did in 2016-17 combined (23). Austin Romine has filled in for Sanchez at catcher and even he has 10 home runs in part-time duty.
Andrew McCutchen joined the Yankees in an August 31 trade, and though he has only been goatee-less in pinstripes for 25 games he has contributed five home runs to the cause. It all adds up.
Twenty-four times a Yankees player has hit two or more home runs in a game in 2018, matching the major league record also held by the 1961 Yankees and 1966 Atlanta Braves.
The most emblematic of the Yankees’ sluggers might be Luke Voit, a 27-year-old first baseman acquired on July 29 from the St. Louis Cardinals in a deal that netted New York international slot bonus space. Voit hit five home runs in 70 games in parts of two seasons with St. Louis, and all he’s done with the Yankees is hit 13 home runs in 38 games with a whopping .672 slugging percentage.
Voit is one of 12 different players with double-digit home runs for the Yankees this season, also a major league record. It’s a bit of a contrast from the 1997 Mariners, who got 56 home runs from AL MVP Ken Griffey Jr., 40 from right fielder Jay Buhner and 31 from first baseman Paul Sorrento.
In 1997 Seattle had 25 more home runs than the next-highest team (Colorado), and 44 more than any other American League team (Cleveland). This year’s Yankees own a 38-homer lead over the second-place team (Dodgers), and 43 more than the next-highest AL team (Oakland).
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