With Curtis Granderson‘s two game-saving home runs in last night’s 3-2 win over the lowly Twins, this year’s Mets team officially shattered the franchise’s single-season team home run record, which now sits at 201.
The team came in tied with the 2006 Mets, who racked up 199 homers over a full season. Granderson’s second home run extended the already-broken home record of 101 in a single season.
The Mets are in the middle of a home run barrage, knocking 18 dingers in their last 11 games and 36 over their last 21 contests. It has been well-documented how much the Mets rely on the long ball to score runs, and they are very successful when they do it, owning a 69-37 record when they hit at least one.
Along with the rest of the Mets, Curtis Granderson seems to finally be turning a corner on what was looking like a pretty dreadful season.
The 34 year-old outfielder has eight home runs over his last 16 games, bringing him to a season total of 28, his highest since 2012. After many months of below-average production, Grandy is finally creeping up above league average, according to wRC+ and OPS+.
The narrative of a team being unable to win when the majority of runs are scored via the long ball has plagued the Mets throughout this year (although ironically only when they are actually successful). However, they are proving that you absolutely can rely on the home run… if you hit a ton of them.
Perhaps Sandy Alderson will be able to shore up the offense a bit this winter and add some guys who can get on base at a higher clip. But for now: bombs away!
