One of the sport’s all-time elite milestones, a whopping four players reached the benchmark in 2025, tying the record for the most in a single season.
It’s certainly no secret across Major League Baseball that offense has gotten harder and harder to come by in recent years, with pitching staffs improving to levels never before seen while approaches at the plate have altered to match that.
The metagame of 2020s baseball is wildly different from the sport I fell in love with and grew up watching in the early 2000’s, which included some of the most high-powered offensive seasons in the league’s modern history.
Today’s game bears little resemblance to the sport I remember watching as a child, albeit with one very conspicuous exception.
As more pitchers are throwing triple-digit fastballs than ever before, hitting has adjusted to take much more of an all-or-nothing approach. Swings are designed to be uppercut with lots of power, only increasing the strikeout potential more while selling out on hard contact with plenty of lift. Gone are the days of dozens of .300 hitters across the league, with slap-hitting contact bats now few and far between across the league.
The result has been the prevalence of the home run ball, which has reached historic heights within the last decade in MLB. While numbers have dropped off a bit from the all-time high of 6,776 home runs hit during the 2019 season, each full season since has seen at least 5,215 home runs, with last year’s hitters combining for 5,650 home runs.
While last year’s home run total was accomplished with a leaguewide .245 batting average, hitters ultimately topped 2001’s total home run production of 5,458, despite the average hitter clocking in at a .264 batting average that season.
What last year and 2001 had in common was record-breaking power from elite home run hitters, with the seasons standing out as the only two in MLB history to have four players hit 50 or more home runs.
Of course, this news was a little harder to avoid in 2001. Barry Bonds had set a single-season record with 73 taters, while Sammy Sosa became the only player in big-league history to hit at least 60 home runs in three different seasons, finishing the 2001 campaign with 64 long balls.
Though Sosa is the only player to hit 60 or more home runs in three seasons, 10 other players have hit compiled a 50-homer campaign on at least two occasions – with Babe Ruth, Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa and Aaron Judge being the only players to accomplish the feat four times.
Jimmie Foxx, Mark McGwire and Alex Rodriguez remain the only players in league history to have reached the milestone with more than one team, with McGwire being the lone player to hit 50 home runs while playing for two teams in the same season.
While only 34 players in MLB history have hit 50 home runs in a single season, 22 of the league’s 30 teams have had a player reach the milepost at least once.
The following teams have yet to have a player reach the 50-homer mark:
- Tampa Bay Rays
- Kansas City Royals
- Chicago White Sox
- Minnesota Twins
- Houston Astros
- Los Angeles Angels
- Washington Nationals
- Colorado Rockies
Listed by team, here’s a look at every time a player hit 50 home runs in a season in MLB history:
New York Yankees
- Babe Ruth, 1920, 54 home runs
- Babe Ruth, 1921, 59 home runs
- Babe Ruth, 1927, 60 home runs
- Babe Ruth, 1928, 54 home runs
- Mickey Mantle, 1956, 52 home runs
- Mickey Mantle, 1961, 54 home runs
- Roger Maris, 1961, 61 home runs
- Alex Rodriguez, 2007, 54 home runs
- Aaron Judge, 2017, 52 home runs
- Aaron Judge, 2022, 62 home runs
- Aaron Judge, 2024, 58 home runs
- Aaron Judge, 2025, 53 home runs
Chicago Cubs
- Hack Wilson, 1930, 56 home runs
- Sammy Sosa, 1998, 66 home runs
- Sammy Sosa, 1999, 63 home runs
- Sammy Sosa, 2001, 64 home runs
Athletics
- Jimmie Foxx, 1932, 58 home runs
- Mark McGwire, 1996, 52 home runs
- Mark McGwire, 1997, 58 home runs (partial season)
Boston Red Sox
- Jimmie Foxx, 1938, 50 home runs
- David Ortiz, 2006, 54 home runs
Detroit Tigers
- Hank Greenberg, 1938, 58 home runs
- Cecil Fielder, 1990, 51 home runs
San Francisco Giants
- Johnny Mize, 1947, 51 home runs
- Willie Mays, 1955, 51 home runs
- Willie Mays, 1965, 52 home runs
- Barry Bonds, 2001, 73 home runs
Pittsburgh Pirates
- Ralph Kiner, 1947, 51 home runs
- Ralph Kiner, 1949, 54 home runs
Cincinnati Reds
- George Foster, 1977, 52 home runs
Cleveland Guardians
- Albert Belle, 1995, 50 home runs
- Jim Thome, 2002, 52 home runs
Baltimore Orioles
- Brady Anderson, 1996, 50 home runs
- Chris Davis, 2013, 53 home runs
Seattle Mariners
- Ken Griffey Jr., 1997, 56 home runs
- Ken Griffey Jr., 1998, 56 home runs
- Cal Raleigh, 2025, 60 home runs
St. Louis Cardinals
- Mark McGwire, 1997, 58 home runs (partial season)
- Mark McGwire, 1998, 70 home runs
- Mark McGwire, 1999, 65 home runs
San Diego Padres
- Greg Vaughn, 1998, 50 home runs
Texas Rangers
- Alex Rodriguez, 2001, 52 home runs
- Alex Rodriguez, 2002, 57 home runs
Arizona Diamondbacks
- Luis Gonzalez, 2001, 57 home runs
Atlanta Braves
- Andruw Jones, 2005, 51 home runs
- Matt Olson, 2023, 54 home runs
Philadelphia Phillies
- Ryan Howard, 2006, 58 home runs
- Kyle Schwarber, 2025, 56 home runs
Milwaukee Brewers
- Prince Fielder, 2007, 50 home runs
Toronto Blue Jays
- José Bautista, 2010, 54 home runs
Miami Marlins
- Giancarlo Stanton, 2017, 59 home runs
New York Mets
- Pete Alonso, 2019, 53 home runs
Los Angeles Dodgers
- Shohei Ohtani, 2024, 54 home runs
- Shohei Ohtani, 2025, 55 home runs
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