Hillsborough chasing HR record

Hillsborough has been leading the league in home runs all season and with less than 30 games remaining, the Hit Men are within striking distance of breaking the record for team home runs in a season.

Hillsborough only recently dipped below 6 runs per game, at 5.9, still leading the league in scoring as well as home runs with 285. Poovey Farms currently ranks a distant second with 267 home runs, followed by Tucson with 254 home runs.

The Hit Men are led by a ridiculous rookie trio of Pete Alonso (44 home runs), Yordan Alvarez (42) and Keston Hiura (29). Add to the mix Kris Bryant (35), Joey Gallo (31), Trey Mancini (31), and, Gleyber Torres (25), and Hillsborough will have at least seven starters slug 30 HRs this season and could have as many as five players with 40 or more.

The 285 home runs are the sixth-most all time and the Hit Men soon should match the 288 dingers hit by the 1996 Jerusalem Rabbis and 289 by the 2002 Newark Sugar Bears. Also in reach are the 297 homers by the 1999 Vancouver Iron Fist and 305 by the 2000 Newark Sugar Bears.

The Hit Men's home run rate has slowed slightly of late, going three games without a dong thanks to Hopatcong, which boated among the top team ERA in the league all year. Despite the recent power outage, Hillsborough still averages 2.126 home runs per game though 134 games. With 28 games to go, that rate would give Hillsborough about another 60 home runs by season's end, putting them at 344 home runs. The Hit Men's power would have to fall off considerably to fall short of the all-time mark of 330 homers, set in 2007 by the Newark Sugar Bears:

Most HRs in a season

1. 330, Newark, 2007
2. 305, Newark, 2000
3. 297, Vancouver, 1999
4. 289, Newark, 2002
5. 288, Jerusalem, 1996
   

At a minimum, Hillsborough has to blast 45 homers in their last 28 games to match the record, an average of 1.607 per game. An average 1.642 homers per game over the last 28 would get them to 331 overall and a new league record. 

 

Within the past few week or so, Hillsborough was on pace for anywhere between 347 and 356 home runs. The Hit Men hold a comfortable 8-game lead over Arkansas and Vancouver for the second wild card spot. While they're not likely to catch Sardine City for the Piazza Division title (9.5 games back), the 77-57 Hit Men trail Livingston by only 3 games for the No. 5 seed.

 

The Hit Men have only been shutout twice this season: a 1-0 loss at Hopatcong two days ago, and a 2-0 setback at Philly in June.

The remaining schedule for Hillsborough has a mix of playoff contenders and basement dwellers. Their next series is a three-game set at Empire City, currently in last place, with the second-worst team ERA plus 1.9 HR/9. Then come two games at Hopatcong and three games versus Sardine City, both with strong pitching staffs. The Hit Men bats look forward to the following series, two at El Paso before three at Marietta, giving up a league-high 2.1 HR/9. After that is their toughest stretch, 8 games against some of the top staffs in the league (Tucson, Livingston, Sardine City). Then Philly, among the bottom 5 pitching staff, for two games before wrapping up the season against Poovey Farms and at El Paso.