Home Run History: Two players, one team make history with electrifying homers on Wednesday

Photo Credit: Philadelphia Phillies

Baseballs were flying out of the park at a historic rate on Wednesday night, with two players and one team etching their names into the record books.

44 home runs were hit across 15 Major League Baseball games on Wednesday, but none were bigger than Cal Raleigh’s 60th, Aaron Judge’s 50th, and the eight dingers hit by the Philadelphia Phillies.

Raleigh has taken MLB by storm this season, setting records almost every day. The Seattle Mariners catcher came into Wednesday night’s game against the Colorado Rockies with 58 home runs and 10 multi-homer games. Raleigh already set the Mariners’ single-season record for most home runs in franchise history, surpassing MLB Hall of Famer Ken Griffey Jr.'s (57 in 1997 and ‘98). He also hit the most home runs by a switch-hitter, passing Mickey Mantle (54 in 1961), and most by a primary catcher, a record previously set by current Kansas City Royal Salvador Perez (48 in 2021).

The 28-year-old mashed his 59th home run of the season in the bottom of the first inning, a 438-foot blast to the second deck in right field. Raleigh became just the eighth player in the 26-year history of T-Mobile Park to hit a home run into the second deck in right field, per Mariners Public Relations.

Raleigh would hit his second home run of the night in the bottom of the eighth inning, a 389-foot line drive to the right field seats. With one swing, Raleigh became the seventh player to hit 60 home runs in a single season and just the second player to reach that mark since Barry Bonds and Sammy Sosa in 2001.

"I'm going to be honest with you, it's crazy,” said Cal Raleigh. “Sixty is, I don't know what to say. I didn't know if I was going to hit 60 in my life. And then I did it like this. Just tonight, I mean, what a way to do it."

Raleigh’s two home runs helped the Mariners clinch their first AL West title since 2001.

Wednesday night’s win was the 11th multi-homer game for the catcher, tying an MLB record set by Aaron Judge (2022), Hank Greenberg (1938) and Sammy Sosa (1998). With four games left, all at home, the reigning Home Run Derby Champion is two homers shy of tying Judge’s record for most home runs in a single season in the American League.

The pair of sluggers is fighting to the death for the AL MVP Award, with Judge also making history on Wednesday.

Judge hit his 50th and 51st home runs of the season as the New York Yankees cruised to an 8-1 victory over the Chicago White Sox. His 50th, a three-run shot, went 398 feet to center field in Yankee Stadium, giving the home team a 3-1 lead that they would never look back on. He added his 51st of the season in the eighth inning, just like Raleigh.

With his home run in the second inning, Judge became just the fourth player in MLB history to have four seasons of 50 home runs or more, joining Sammy Sosa, Mark McGwire, and baseball legend Babe Ruth. The 33-year-old would join a club of his own with one more 50-plus home run season. Judge joined Ruth as the only Yankees to have 50 or more home runs in consecutive seasons.

While Raleigh has been getting most of the attention, Judge is also setting franchise records.

Throughout the season, Judge passed Hall of Famers Joe DiMaggio (361) and Yogi Berra (358) on the Yankees’ all-time home run leaderboard. Judge now sits fourth with 366 long balls, behind Lou Gehrig (493), Mantle (536) and Ruth (659).

However, Judge is less focused on the personal accolades and more focused on winning a World Series with the Yankees.

“If you sit back and admire it, then you’re gonna stop your momentum,” said Aaron Judge after Wednesday’s win. “So there’s a lot of work that needs to be done. Hopefully, I have a long career here and we do some special things here. We can talk about it at the end.

“Our goal, once you start the season, ultimately, is to go out there and win a World Series and get back there. But it starts by winning your division, so that’s our [immediate] goal.”

While Judge and Raleigh entered their names into baseball history, the Phillies used the long ball to set a franchise record at Citizens Bank Park on Wednesday night.

Thanks to three home runs from Edmundo Sosa, two from Kyle Schwarber, and one from Alec Bohm, Otto Kemp and Bryson Stott, the Phillies set a franchise record with eight home runs in a single game.

Edmundo Sosa’s three home runs went a combined distance of 1,126 feet as he became the first Phillies shortstop to hit three home runs in one game. In his first game off the 10-day injured list, the 29-year-old hit his home runs in three consecutive plate appearances, barely squeezing the third one over the wall in left field.

Schwarber’s two home runs came in one of his best performances of the season, outside of his four-homer game against the Atlanta Braves in late August. He had four hits and was a triple shy of the cycle. Schwarber blasted his 55th and 56th home runs of the season, moving him within two of Ryan Howard’s franchise record of 58 in 2006. The 2025 MLB All-Star Game MVP has four games left to break the 2006 NL MVP’s record.

With his first home run of the night, the 32-year-old surpassed David Ortiz for most home runs (54) in a single season by a primary designated hitter. His third-inning solo shot also marked Schwarber’s 23rd home run off a lefty pitcher this season, setting a baseball record for most home runs by a lefty hitter against a lefty pitcher in a single season. Schwarber’s second home run of the 11-1 win against the Miami Marlins went 468 feet, the longest of his season.

Bohm, Stott and rookie Otto Kemp each added a home run of their own to help set the franchise record. Stott’s 441-foot blast in the fourth inning was the longest of the second baseman’s career.

The Phillies also hit four home runs in the seventh inning, with Schwarber, Bohm, Kemp and Sosa all going deep. This was the first time the Phillies accomplished this feat since the seventh inning of an Aug. 17, 1985, game against the Chicago Cubs, when Juan Samuel, Glenn Wilson, Mike Schmidt and Darren Daulton all hit home runs.

“It’s always fun on those days where, you know, everybody's kind of chipping in,” said Alec Bohm. “The dugout is fun. Everybody's happy. Those are the kind of days that make up for some of the tougher days.”