For the past two years, the A’s have felt a little out of the loop. Uninvited to the party, the team was never a part of any relevant conversation, never in contention, never of interest on a national level.
On Tuesday, MLB smashed its own record for dingers in a year with 5,694 with a week and change to spare. No other league is close.
The record fell at the hands Alex Gordon, he of a 60 wRC+. It was a rather fitting way for the number to broken, as the home run surge has been largely been powered by not the most powerful, but rather the weaker hitters in the league.