Key Points
Bullet point summary by AI
- Six MLB players are currently on pace to hit 50 or more home runs this season.
- The race includes established stars and surprising rookies, making this year one of the most wide-open home run battles in recent memory.
- With 16 players projected to reach 40 home runs, the sheer depth of power could redefine how we view offensive production in 2026.
“Do you want to know the terrifying truth, or do you want to see me sock a few dingers?” -Mark McGwire, in The Simpsons.
“Dingers! Dingers!” -Everyone else.
Personally, I’m a fan of dingers. Don’t let anyone tell you that the triple is somehow the most exciting play in baseball — a triple does not echo a crack off the Rocky Mountains and send a little white orb disappearing into the night sky. Home runs are where it’s at. And in 2026, the Home Run Fan Club is in luck.
2026 already has a massive cast of volume home run hitters
Last season saw four players go yard 50 or more times: Aaron Judge, Cal Raleigh, Kyle Schwarber and Shohei Ohtani, with only Raleigh getting to 60 flat. This season, we are on pace for six 50+ home run hitters, and it’s some of the most fun names out there: Matt Olson and Byron Buxton are jacking moon shots again which is good for society, Judge is still doing his thing and teammate Ben Rice is trying to hang with him, we have Schwarbomb on pace for 66 home runs which would be something quite else and the main surprise: Munetaka Murakami slugging out of his socks in his first Major League season. What a time to be alive.
But that is just the tip of the iceberg. Last year, we had seven guys get above 40 home runs. This year, we are on pace for 16! Sixteen, 16, one-six, yes that is sixteen people are currently on pace to hit 40 or more home runs this year! That includes some young guys we all knew had it in them like James Wood and Colson Montgomery, but also an all-time great who hasn’t had the best few years: Mike Trout. There really is something for everyone.
Home run races are awesome. McGwire and Sammy Sosa’s famous battle in 1998 arguably saved Major League Baseball after the 1994 lockout threatened the health of the sport. Even I, a Red Sox fan, can admit that Judge trying to top the American League record in 2022 was cool. It’s still a small sample size, so I wouldn’t put a lot of stock in projections, but if Schwarber can actually come for the mid-60s this season? I will be seated.
In an against-type performance, I don’t really have a take about this home run race. I don’t care who wins, I don’t really want to predict who wins nor do I have some pretentious data set that tells you that “home runs aren’t as valuable as you think they are.” I’m more interested in trying to unpack why home run races are the coolest thing ever, which I will do briefly for our collective enjoyment.
Why do we love home runs so much anyway?
There is literally a plot point in the Anchorman movie series that satirizes home run obsession as emblematic of the increasing stupidity of the American media consumer. To which I say this: yes, home runs are simplistic, they aren’t particularly multifaceted or nuanced, but they’re also beautiful in the same way art is beautiful or a mountain or lake is beautiful. I don’t love them because I can explain them, I love them simply because I do. Here’s the pitch, (crack), there it goes!
Humans have always gawked at grandiose things they don’t necessarily understand. When I went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, I was enthralled by Autumn Rhythm (No. 30), a huge, abstract painting by Jackson Pollack. If you look at it here, though, you might agree it would be hard to put into words why I love it so much. But I do, and thus Autumn Rhythm (No. 30) is a home run.
If you prefer doubles and triples, good for you. But I’ll still be out looking for home runs, in baseball, in nature and in art museums. Try it sometime.
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