You'll never guess what happened on Tuesday night in the Marlins game. Giancarlo Stanton hit a home run. I know, I know, it's hard to fathom such a thing happening. It only happens just about every day now.
Here was the blast on Tuesday off Giants ace Madison Bumgarner:
Holy hell, are you kidding?
Let's break it down.
This was Stanton's sixth consecutive game with a home run. Only six players in MLB history have longer such streaks.
Player | Season | Consecutive game with HR |
Ken Griffey Jr. | 1993 | 8 |
Don Mattingly | 1987 | 8 |
Dale Long | 1956 | 8 |
Kevin Mench | 2006 | 7 |
Barry Bonds | 2004 | 7 |
Jim Thome | 2002 | 7 |
Next up, Stanton already has 11 home runs in the month of August, which is a Marlins club record. Yes, already. The last time any player had as many as 15 home runs in August was 2003 (A-Rod). The record for home runs in August is 18 (Rudy York, 1937). That's definitely within reach.
Bigger picture: Stanton has 23 home runs in his past 35 games. He was among the league leaders with only 22 homers in his first 81 games.
Still bigger picture: Stanton is now on pace to hit 60 home runs. If he stays this hot, maybe we can start talking about 65 or 70 or ... dare we even say it? 74.
Tuesday marked the Marlins' 119th game this season. Through 119 games in 2001 (when Bonds hit the MLB-record 73 dingers), Bonds had 51. Stanton's obviously behind the pace, but not by leaps and bounds. He would have to stay stupid hot for it to even be a discussion, however, and there's likely a two-week drought coming at some point. It's bound to happen.
Still, we can focus on the current streak with our eyes on 60. That's fun enough.