Hit Men obliterate HR record

In a season full of dingers and dongs at every turn, Hillsborough set a new record for home runs by a team.

The Hit Men crushed 352 long balls to rewrite the record book, knocking from the top spot the 330 homers by the 2007 Newark Sugar Bears.

Hillsborough tied the mark with still 10 games to go in their schedule. Pete Alonso hit a solo shot in the 5th off Anthony DeSclafani during a 14-6 loss to Livingston on Oct. 6. The record-breaker came the next night, in another 15-5 thrashing at the hands of the Lords of Swing. Already trailing 14-0 in the 6th inning, the Hit Men set the new mark when Kurt Suzuki put them on the board with a solo home run.

Hillsborough are led by a trio of rookie sluggers in 1B Pete Alonso, DH Yordan Alvarez and 2B Keston Huira. Seven Hit Men clubbed at least 34 home runs this year:

• Pete Alonso -- 60
• Yordan Alvarez -- 48
• Kris Bryant -- 45
• Trey Mancini -- 36
• Joey Gallo -- 36
• Keston Huira -- 34
• Gleyber Torres -- 34

Hillsborough batters also led the league in strikeouts with 1,785, including a modern-era record of 286 by Joey Gallo. He surpassed Jack Cust's 269 Ks in 2009, leaving only Rob Deer who had more: 357 in 1993 for the Waikiki Keys.

There's been a growth spurt for home runs in the DMBL, with dongs nearly doubling in size in the past five years. Consider, just one team eclipsed 200 home runs in 2015 when a total of 2,295 home runs were hit by the league's 16 teams. This year, 4,177 home runs soared out of ballparks, with a likely record 13,217 runs, outpacing the 2013 total of 12,493 runs.

Not to be lost amid all those dongs, Tucson also hammered its way into the record books. The King Snakes became only the fourth team to slug 300 homers in a season. They matched the 2000 Newark squad with 305 in their 154th game (Willson Contreras' 2nd homer of the game) and finished the season with 318, behind only the 2007 Newark club and Hillsborough.

The King Snakes were one Contreras homer from having 9 batters hit at least 20 homers, including four with more than 34 homers:

• Nelson Cruz -- 47
• Nolan Arenado -- 38
• Jose Altuve -- 36
• Ketel Marte -- 34

Poovey Farms was another squad that swung the bats with reckless abandon, falling just short of the 300-homer mark but matching the 1999 Vancouver squad with 297. Five players slugged at least 20 homers for the Dairy Cows, including the league's leader:

• Jorge Soler -- 64
• Josh Donaldson -- 44
• Xander Bogaerts -- 35
• Freddie Freeman -- 34
• Trea Turner -- 28

Most HRs in a season

1. 352, Hillsborough, 2020
2. 330, Newark, 2007
3. 318, Tucson, 2020
4. 305, Newark, 2000
5. 297, Vancouver 1999
6. 297, Poovey Farms, 2020
7. 289, Newark, 2002
8. 288, Jerusalem, 1996