6 MLB Sluggers Who Have Dominated Their Team's Single-Season HR Leaderboard
Showing up once, twice, or even three times (for some) just wasn't enough.
A lot of attention is given to league-wide home run leaderboards. Whether we’re talking about the all-time leaderboard, single-season home run leaderboard, or simply which players led their respective leagues in a single year, we like knowing who ended up on top.
But there’s so much more to appreciate outside of those basic facts! The 2024 season is a great example. Aaron Judge (58) and Shohei Ohtani (54) led the American League and National League in homers, respectively. However, Anthony Santander (44) and Juan Soto (41) both surpassed the 40-homer mark for the first time.
While only Ohtani set a new Dodgers record, several players found their way onto a team’s single-season home run leaderboard. The following six dudes, though? They’re still absolutely dominating their respective team leaderboards.
The content below shows the insight you’ll get from one of my books, MLB Home Run Records: Single-Season Leaders for Each Team in History.
Substack subscribers can get the ebook for $7. Paid subscribers can get a copy (and a copy of all my other ebooks) for free. If you’re a fan of paperback books, you can also get this edition on Amazon for $17.97.
Ken Griffey Jr., Seattle Mariners
Griffey put together four straight years of 48 or more homers for the Mariners from 1996-99. Here are all the performances that landed at the top of the leaderboard:
56 home runs in 1997 and 1998
49 home runs in 1996
48 home runs in 1999
45 home runs in 1993
Let's peek at that 1993 season since it was the true breakout. And sure, Griffey had already posted three 20-plus-homer seasons, two 100-RBI seasons, and was already getting elected to All-Star Games at that point. However, they didn't quite measure up to his age-23 campaign.
In addition to winning a Gold Glove, a Silver Slugger Award, and heading to the Midsummer Classic, Griffey also finished fifth in AL MVP voting on the strength of those 45 dingers, 109 RBI, and a .309/.408/.617 line. The young outfielder was good all year, but June, July, and August were his most productive months. Over this 332-plate-appearance sample, he slashed .339/.434/.717 with 29 home runs, 61 RBI, and 65 runs scored, which all contributed to a 197 wRC+.
Ralph Kiner, Pittsburgh Pirates
I just went into detail about the start of Kiner’s career, which you can see here. But still, I can’t leave my man off this list.
He led the league in homers during his first seven MLB seasons. The only time he finished with fewer than 20 homers was his final year in 1955 with Cleveland (he hit 18). Regarding Pirates history, six (!) of Kiner's seasons are still within the top 10 of the franchise leaderboard. Five of them are in the top seven.
Here's a quick rundown of them all (with his franchise rank in parentheses):
54 homers in 1949 (1st)
51 homers in 1947 (2nd)
47 homers in 1950 (4th)
42 homers in 1951 (6th)
40 homers in 1948 (7th)
37 homers in 1952 (10th)
As we can see, Kiner enjoyed five straight campaigns of 40 or more homers from 1947-51. Let's take a second to marvel at the performance that towers over the rest—his 54-homer output in 1949. Kiner also led the league with 127 RBI while slashing .310/.432/.658 in 667 plate appearances.
Although Kiner's first-half OPS (1.095) was higher than his second-half OPS (1.084), he hit 31 of his home runs following the All-Star break. How did that happen? Well, he went off in August and September, hitting 27 combined home runs (11 in August, 16 in September). That final month had some crazy stats attached to it. The Hall of Famer added 33 RBI and a .330/.481/.870 line to all those dingers.
Sammy Sosa, Chicago Cubs
Sosa is the only player in baseball history with three 60-homer seasons. This five-year stretch must be one of the most dominant ever. He’s the Cubs' all-time home run leader, and a little more than half of them came during this time. Here are the performances that made it onto Chicago’s single-season leaderboard:
66 home runs in 1998
63 home runs in 1999
50 home runs in 2000
64 home runs in 2001
49 home runs in 2002
Sosa hit .306/.397/.649 while averaging 58 home runs, 141 RBI, and 124 runs scored during this time. He averaged those numbers! Just an insane peak. And yes, I know about the PED stuff, but still, this is hard to do. Sosa didn't lead the league in homers during any of his 60-homer campaigns thanks to Mark McGwire and Barry Bonds. However, he did lead the league in 2000 and 2002. Baseball, man.
In addition to winning the 2000 Home Run Derby, he also won a Silver Slugger Award while slashing .320/.406/.634 with 50 dingers and 138 RBI. Sosa was already on his way to another solid year heading into the All-Star break. The slugger had compiled 23 homers to that point. He hit another gear in the second half, though, slugging 27 dingers in 83 fewer plate appearances. That led to a second-half slugging percentage of .711.
Harmon Killebrew, Minnesota Twins
Based on how often he appears here, it's not a surprise that Killebrew not only holds the Twins' single-season home run record but is also the franchise's all-time home run leader. Although the legendary slugger never officially recorded a 50-homer season, he did surpass the 40-homer mark eight (!) times.
Here are his eight seasons that appear in the top 10:
49 home runs in 1964 and 1969
48 home runs in 1962
46 home runs in 1961
45 home runs in 1963
44 home runs in 1967
42 home runs in 1959
41 home runs in 1970
There were a couple of occasions when Killebrew didn't slug at least 40 home runs in a season between 1959 and 1970. Despite that, his season-long averages during this stretch were incredible. During these 12 seasons, Killebrew slashed .265/.386/.543 while averaging 40 homers, 103 RBI, and 88 runs scored— a remarkable level of consistency.
And he did that between his age-23 and age-34 campaigns! That's longevity personified if I've ever seen it.
After several close calls, Killebrew captured that elusive MVP award in 1969 when he led the league in homers (49) and RBI (140). Through the end of June, the right-handed hitter had 18 homers and 54 RBI. From July through the end of the season, he slugged 31 more homers with another 70 RBI.
Albert Pujols, St. Louis Cardinals
Although he couldn't overtake McGwire at the very top, Pujols owns five of the top 10 most powerful seasons in Cardinals history with the following performances:
49 home runs in 2006
47 home runs in 2009
46 home runs in 2004
43 home runs in 2003
42 home runs in 2010
His first tour in St. Louis is one of the most dominant 11-season stretches for a player in MLB history. If Pujols had just retired after 2011 and never moved on to the Los Angeles Angels, he would have already been a first-ballot Hall of Famer. He still is, and his 703 dingers rank among the most home runs of all time, along with placing second all-time in Cardinals history.
Pujols' 2006 season couldn't have started much better. He hit .346/.509/.914 with 14 home runs and 32 RBI in April. He then followed that up with another 11 dingers and 33 RBI, giving him a total of 25 homers and 65 RBI by the beginning of June. If he hadn't been limited to just 10 games (and one homer) in June, he could have easily surpassed 50 homers in a year — maybe even challenged 60.
Alex Rodriguez, Texas Rangers
Alex Rodriguez's record-breaking 10-year, $252 million deal with the Rangers has undoubtedly gone down as a mistake for the franchise. But when he suited up for Texas, all he did was hit. He owns three of the top four most powerful seasons in Rangers history. These performances include the following:
57 home runs in 2002
52 home runs in 2001
47 home runs in 2003
He's the only Rangers player with more than 50 dingers in a year, so he likely has a stronghold on the organization's single-season home run record. He led the league in homers during each of these three campaigns, went to the All-Star Game three times, took home three Silver Slugger Awards, and snagged two Gold Glove Awards in the process.
Rodriguez finished in the top six of AL MVP voting all three years and climbed higher with each season. He won the award in 2003, which was his "worst" performance in terms of homers (47), RBI (118), and his triple-slash line (.298/.396/.600). A-Rod hit another gear following the All-Star Game, slashing .318/.427/.679 with 25 homers and 58 RBI down the stretch.
That strong finish was powered by an August in which he posted his highest monthly OPS (1.303) while slugging 15 homers and driving in 31 runs.
If you enjoyed reading breakdowns like this, please consider checking out MLB Home Run Records: Single-Season Leaders For Each Team in History!
Substack subscribers can get the ebook for $7. Paid subscribers can get a copy (and a copy of all my other ebooks) for free. If you’re a fan of paperback books, you can also get this edition on Amazon for $17.97.