The Mets hit three home runs Wednesday night, bringing their season total to 79 HR with four games still on the docket. Because there have been only 56 games played, you might think this is the team’s worst home run performance by a large margin. Boy, you’d be wrong. In the strike-shortened 1981 season, the Mets hit 57 HR in 103 games. But the 2020 team has surpassed two other teams in HR output. In 1980, it was touch-and-go if the Mets were going to surpass Roger Maris. They tied him, as they finished the year with 61 homers. The previous year’s team hit just 74.
Here are the team’s HR leaders through games of 9/23:
13 – Pete Alonso
10 – Robinson Cano
10 – Dominic Smith
9 – Michael Conforto
8 – Brandon Nimmo
6 – J.D. Davis
Nine other players for the Mets have hit home runs this season. Luke Voit leads the majors with 20 HR so it’s not like any individual is having a year like Alonso’s 2019. Alonso’s current pace would result in 38 HR over a 162-game season. At their current rate, the 2020 Mets would finish a normal-length season with 229 HR, which would have been the second-best mark in team history, 13 homers behind the 2019 squad.
The Mets have been known more for pitching than hitting throughout franchise history, so it’s no surprise that 10 of the 12 years with the most HR in franchise history have happened here in the 21st Century and another happened in 1999. There were the expansion blues, the deadball 60s, the apathetic late 70s-early 80s and the worst team money could buy of the early 90s.
If you turned on to baseball in any of these time periods and witnessed other teams clubbing home runs while the Mets had to struggle mightily to do the same, you might be enjoying the team’s current run of long ball prowess. And it’s not like the Mets are either a great home run hitting team or an all-or-nothing offense. They’re sixth in the National League in homers, an above-average mark but not a front runner. The Mets are also sixth in the league in runs, so it’s not like they fall apart if the ball doesn’t leave the yard. For a comparison, the Reds are fourth in the league with 87 HR yet 13th in runs with 228.
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