There. We've now fulfilled our quota for the day.
I kid, of course. Stanton is an exceedingly fun topic right now even having not hit a home run on Wednesday. He still sits with the MLB lead at 51. He still has tied the record for the most home runs ever in an August with 18 and he's still hit 30 homers in his last 49 games. Imagine if he started the season on that kind of kick. Hoo boy.
Let's focus on the former stat, though, as far as Stanton leading the majors. That's no surprise because it's not even close. Here's the top five:
- Stanton, Marlins, 51
- Aaron Judge, Yankees, 37
- Khris Davis, Athletics, 36
Justin Smoak, Blue Jays, 36
Joey Gallo, Rangers, 36
It's a menacing lead for Stanton and he's not going to lose it. What if he maintains a lead of that size, though? We rarely see such a huge gap between first and second in home runs. In fact:
Giancarlo Stanton 14 HR ahead of Aaron Judge for MLB lead (51 to 37)
— Christopher Kamka (@ckamka) August 30, 2017
Here are all the times MLB leader had 14+ more than next player pic.twitter.com/b6Z5RHahtj
OK, so we never see that size of a gap any more. We haven't seen a home run leader finish with a 14-bomb lead since the game was integrated.
Just look at that list. Babe Ruth was a freak of nature when he stormed onto the scene, lapping the field, sometimes out-homering teams. We've never going to see that again. Then Jimmie Foxx is a Hall of Famer who had two giant homer seasons in the early 1930s and that's it for the rest of baseball history.
Even when Barry Bonds hit 73 homers, Sammy Sosa had 64. When Mark McGwire hit 70, Sosa had 66. The next year McGwire had 65, but Sosa hit 63. When Roger Maris hit 61 home runs, Mickey Mantle had 54.
Even seasons in the 50s usually have had company. In 2006, Ryan Howard hit 58 homers, but David Ortiz had 54. Hank Greenberg's 58 in 1930 was followed by Foxx's 50. The last NL player to hit 50 homers in a season -- before Stanton this year, of course -- was Prince Fielder in 2006. He didn't lead the majors, though, as A-Rod had 54.
We could keep going here, but you get the point. To see a player with 51 home runs while no one else has more than 37, against the historical backdrop, is unbelievable.
Stanton's pursuit of 60-plus home runs is outrageously fun, but an added wrinkle is seeing if he can join a group that's only comprised of two pre-integration players who were among the greatest sluggers in history in Ruth and Foxx.
