It was only a matter of time. With all of the home runs in Major League Baseball this season, all of the records that have fallen — the AL record to the Minnesota Twins, the NL record to the Los Angeles Dodgers, the New York Mets’ Pete Alonso threatening the rookie record — of course baseball’s overall record was going to fall. And it was the lowly Baltimore Orioles, specifically shortstop Jonathan Villar, who did the trick.
Villar hit the 6,106th home run of the MLB season on Wednesday night, breaking the league’s overall record set in 2017.
Oh, yeah. There are still 18 days left in the regular season.
There it is. A home run by Jonathan Villar.
That’s home run number 6,106 this season.
That sets the all-time single season record.
— Sarah Langs (@SlangsOnSports) September 12, 2019
An ironic source
There is some delicious irony in a Baltimore Oriole breaking the record. The Orioles, after all, are mired in last place for the third straight season and have smashed the record for most home runs allowed by a team in a single season.
But it’s not quite as ironic if the record-breaker had come from, say, Chris Davis, whose hitless streak made headlines in April and who embodies the Orioles’ struggles more than anyone.
Villar, on the other hand, quietly has had a good season in moribund Baltimore. The record-breaking home run was his 21st of the season to go with a .277 batting average, .800 OPS and 33 stolen bases.
Jonathan Villar’s three-run homer broke the MLB single-season home run record with No. 6,106!
(via @Orioles) pic.twitter.com/mphugmqxh6
— SI MLB (@si_mlb) September 12, 2019
What about the baseballs?
Throughout this home run-happy season, of course, there have been calls, studies and accusations that Major League Baseball has done something to make the baseball fly farther.
MLB denies it, but the same baseball was used in Triple-A this season for the first time, and home runs skyrocketed there, too. Meanwhile, the lower levels of the minors used the same baseballs and the home runs stayed stagnant, even dropping a bit in some places.
The 2019 record will go hundreds beyond 2017 and perhaps close to 1,000 beyond the year 2000, which is now in third place with 5,693 home runs.
If MLB continues using the same balls, however, this record might not last long.
The @mlb record for home runs was set tonight at 6106 and climbing…. Here’s an animation of every home run hit this year colored by exit velocity pic.twitter.com/6eapW6VUUd
— Daren Willman (@darenw) September 12, 2019
