MLB's home run record was set on Tuesday night, already – total number of homers hit by everyone – and whether the feat is a sign of player evolution or something fishy may depend on which side of the outfield fence you sit on.
Kansas City Royals' left fielder Alex Gordon hit Major League Baseball's 5,694th home run this season off Toronto Blue Jays right-hander Ryan Tepera in the eighth inning, beating the old record set in 2000, The Washington Post said for the record.
Funny, it was just 2014 when the talk in the Major Leagues was much different as hitters suffered through a 22-year low in overall home runs that season, the Post noted.
And there are two more weeks left in the regular season.
The evolution theory: Washington Nationals' pitcher Max Scherzer told the Post he thinks the spike is the marriage of hard-throwing 99-mile per hour relievers risking down-the-plate heaters for strikeouts against hard-hitting go-for-broke batters who will shrug off a few strikeouts for dingers.
"The only way you're doing damage against some of these (hard-throwers) is to keep aiming for the fences, keep going for the home run," Scherzer told the Post in July. “ … That's why they're more willing to sell out for the home run, and they're okay with their strikeouts."
The fishy theory: Detroit Tigers pitcher Justin Verlander, though, suggested something more sinister earlier this year. Verlander brought up the "juiced ball" theory while responding to a tweet by ESPN’s Buster Olney, who pointed out that 75 players so far this year have hit 20 or more home runs while there were 57 batters to do so in all of 2014.
USA Today said there has been an average of 2.53 homers hit per game this season, a nine percent increase over 2016, and if the current pace continues, players will hit 6,139 by season's end, a mind-blogging 47 percent more than the MLB's recent low in 2014.
The Post pointed out another amazing statistic. There are 149 MLB players with enough at-bats to qualify for the batting title, and 110 players have 20 or more home runs this season. In short, just about everyone has been a home run hitter this season.
Maybe that’s what it’s evolving to, everyone gets a trophy.
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