Most Consecutive Games With a Home Run: The Top 36
Which sluggers have gone on an insane home run streak? We honor those occurrences right here.
Hitting a home run in the big leagues isn’t easy. The guys we’re about to talk about sure made it look that way, though. When it comes to players with the most consecutive games with a home run, the club is exclusive.
Only nine dudes have gone deep in at least seven straight games. We’ll go into detail about their respective streaks and the seasons they enjoyed amid the streak itself. Oh, and we’ll also highlight Daniel Murphy’s six-game homer streak and tell you why it’s unique from the rest.
This post was originally published on the MLB Daily Dingers Blog.
Most Consecutive Games With a Home Run
8 Games
Ken Griffey Jr., Seattle Mariners
July 20-28, 1993
Ken Griffey Jr. already gets kudos for being tied at the top of the leaderboard. But he was just a few inches away from being the first player to homer in nine straight games. In the contest this hot streak finished, he went 2-for-4, which included a double off the wall.
The Kid had already established himself as an elite big-league player by 1993. But this campaign was when he took things to another level. His 8.4 fWAR was the first of three times that number finished above 8.0 in a single season. Griffey also blasted 45 home runs. It was not only his first of five 40-homer performances, but it was also the first time he hit more than 27 in one year.
As one can imagine, Griffey could barely be stopped during this streak. He accumulated 37 plate appearances during this time. In addition to the eight homers, 14 RBI, and 13 runs scored, he slashed .400/.432/1.086. That was good for a 296 wRC+.
Don Mattingly, New York Yankees
July 8-18, 1987
Don Mattingly was the first player to approach and eventually tie Dale Long since he accomplished the feat first in 1956. We’ll talk about him in a minute, though. Mattingly’s home run streak was part of yet another powerful season during his prime.
The Hit Machine finished with 30 homers, 115 RBI, and a .937 OPS. It was his third straight 30-homer season, fourth straight 100-RBI season, and fourth straight year with at least a .900 OPS. In most cases, it was his last truly elite performance. Mattingly didn’t hit 30 homers or compile a .900 OPS again in the big leagues. He did reach 100 RBI one more time, driving in 113 in 1989.
Donnie Baseball gets extra points here for two reasons. One was that he had to sustain this streak across the All-Star break. The other is he enjoyed two separate multi-homer performances. He slugged 10 dingers with 21 RBI over 39 plate appearances. His slash line was a ridiculous .459/.487/1.324 with a 362 wRC+.
Dale Long, Pittsburgh Pirates
May 19-28, 1956
Dale Long only hit 132 home runs across a 10-year MLB career. He had a defined power peak, slugging 10-plus homers in a season six times. Five of them came between 1955 and 1959. Within that period (1956-58), Long enjoyed three straight years of 20-plus homers.
His best output of all was in 1956 when he set the MLB record for most consecutive games with a home run. He played 148 games and slugged 27 homers that year for the Pittsburgh Pirates. But thanks to this streak, just under 30% of his season-long total happened during 5% of his games played.
Long just couldn’t be stopped. The Pirates went 7-1 during this stretch while the first baseman slashed .500/.529/1.400 with eight homers, 19 RBI, and nine runs scored. He only struck out five times, so Long was more likely to homer than strike out while on this power binge.
7 Games
Mike Trout, Los Angeles Angels
September 4-12, 2022
Is there anything Mike Trout can’t do? He’s not the Angels’ single-season home run king (yet), but he’s already the franchise’s career home run leader. He also slugged 40 to lead the squad in 2022 despite missing more than 40 games.
Getting hot on multiple occasions was responsible for this happening. Trout had two different months with double-digit homers (19 in June, and 12 in September/October). Obviously, his consecutive games with a home streak happened in September, enabling him to finish strong.
The future Hall of Famer collected 11 total hits in 30 plate appearances during this streak. Outside of the seven homers, another two were doubles. He drove in 11 runs, scored another 10, and slashed .393/.433/1.214 with a 356 wRC+ in the process.
Joey Votto, Cincinnati Reds
July 24-30, 2021
Between 2019 and 2022, Joey Votto’s 2021 performance is an outlier. It’s the only time he had accumulated more than 0.6 fWAR, and he went way overboard by settling in at 3.6. As many who remember this overall performance, it was made by what Votto did in the second half.
The Reds' first baseman entered the All-Star break with 11 home runs, 40 RBI, 26 runs scored, and a 111 wRC+ in 218 plate appearances. Once he came back for the second half, those numbers improved to 25, 50, 47, and 163, respectively, in 230 plate appearances.
This tremendous second half was kickstarted by Votto’s seven-game homer streak. He also enjoyed a couple of multi-homer games during the streak, and they came right in the middle of it all. Each of those performances came at Wrigley Field against the Cubs.
Votto finished this binge with a 339 wRC+ and a .385/.485/1.423 line to go along with nine homers, 15 RBI, and 10 runs scored.
Kendrys Morales, Toronto Blue Jays
August 19-26, 2018
Kendrys Morales’ best days were behind him in 2018. It was his age-35 season, but he found a way to turn back the clock for a full week. One-third of his 21 homers from 2018 came during this span.
It’s interesting to see how his performance during this streak contrasted with where his numbers ended up for the year. Morales slugged eight homers with 13 RBI and nine runs scored for the Blue Jays. His triple slash was .481/.500/1.370 with a 402 wRC+. Morales’ season-long numbers ended up at .249/.331/.438 with those 21 dingers, 57 RBI, and 47 runs scored.
Kevin Mench, Texas Rangers
April 21-28, 2006
Kevin Mench is one of the few at the top of this list to accomplish such a feat at the start of a season. Things were looking up for the slugger after this streak, especially after the two years prior.
From 2004-05 for the Rangers, Mench combined to produce 6.4 fWAR. It included two straight years of 25 homers and 70 RBI, too. And then he started his 2006 campaign on fire with a unique home run streak. It turns out that this was as good as it’d get for Mench.
The seven home runs he hit during this streak were his first seven of the year. Despite playing in 127 total games in 2006, Mench ended up with just 13 homers. So, more than half of his season-long total came during this stretch in April. It was among the final dingers of his career.
Once this streak was finished, Mench slugged 14 more homers in his career between May 2006 and 2010. His numbers during the streak were insane, though. Mench slashed .414/.433/1.173 with a 300 wRC+ across 30 plate appearances. It included seven homers, 19 RBI, and nine runs scored. All but his final game during this streak was a multi-RBI performance, with three of them including at least three RBI.
Barry Bonds, San Francisco Giants
April 12-20, 2004
Like Trout, this isn’t much Barry Bonds hasn’t accomplished on a baseball field individually. He entered 2004 with six NL MVPs, including one in each of the last three years. He’d eventually win another at the end of this year. Bonds set the tone early with this home run streak.
He’d finish the year with 45 homers. It was the fifth straight year he slugged at least 40 dingers. This was also the last time he did it, giving him eight years of 40-plus dingers to his credit. Bonds also accumulated 11.9 fWAR in the process. That was the fourth straight year this number finished in double digits.
This streak spans eight games because Bonds entered one as a pinch-hitter. His only plate appearance ended in a walk, though, which kept everything intact. As you can imagine, his numbers during this streak are the most ridiculous of all. In 29 plate appearances, Bonds hit eight homers with 16 RBI and 10 runs scored. But it was everything else that jumped off the page.
He slashed .722/.828/2.167 during this time, which led to a 555 wRC+. It also included a 37.9% walk rate and a 3.4% strikeout rate. Wow. Those are legitimate video game numbers.
Jim Thome, Cleveland Guardians
June 25-July 3, 2002
The 2002 season was Jim Thome’s final campaign in Cleveland before jetting to Philadelphia via free agency. And boy oh boy, did he ever leave a lasting impression. The Hall of Famer finished with 52 home runs, which is still a single-season franchise record. It also ended up being his second of four straight years with 40-plus homers.
Thome’s home run production throughout 2002 was quite consistent. He never slugged fewer than seven dingers in a month. He also reached double digits three times (10 in June, 11 in August, 10 in September/October). His production between the first and second half was also nearly identical.
Before the All-Star break, he slugged 26 homers with 60 RBI in 343 plate appearances. Through 270 trips to the plate following the midsummer classic, Thome hit 26 more homers with 58 RBI.
His home run streak was more on the pedestrian side. His seven homers yielded 10 RBI and seven runs scored. Just two of his seven games included multi-RBI output. Thome ended this span with a .370/.393/1.148 line and 300 wRC+. Still pretty ridiculous, though.
6 Games
Daniel Murphy, New York Mets
October 13-21, 2015
As you can see below, there are lots of players who have hit a home run in six straight games. So why does Daniel Murphy get special treatment? Well, he’s the only one ever to do this during the postseason.
What’s also interesting is it took Murphy 130 games to hit 14 homers during the regular season for the Mets. Yet, he needed just two postseason series to reach half that number. Of the seven times he homered in October, New York won six of those games. The only time they lost was in NLDS Game 4 when his dinger accounted for the only run in a 3-1 defeat.
It was all sunshine and rainbows from there, though. During Murphy’s six-game home run streak, he slashed an incredible .520/.539/1.320. Eight of his 13 total hits went for extra bases (six homers, two doubles) to go along with nine RBI, nine runs scored, and just three strikeouts.
Unsurprisingly, Murphy won NLCS MVP honors after needing just 18 plate appearances to accumulate a 1.850 OPS.
Most Consecutive Games With a Home Run: The Rest
Here's the remainder of this leaderboard's top 36. Each of the players listed below has hit a home run in six straight games during the designated period.
Rafael Devers, Boston Red Sox, May 15-20, 2024
Matt Carpenter, St. Louis Cardinals, July 14-22, 2018
Paul Goldschmidt, St. Louis Cardinals, July 22-27, 2019
Matt Carpenter, St. Louis Cardinals, July 14-22, 2018
Giancarlo Stanton, Miami Marlins, Aug. 10-15, 2017
Nolan Arenado, Colorado Rockies Sept. 1-5, 2015
Chris Davis, Baltimore Orioles, Sept. 26-Oct. 2, 2012
Carlos Pena, Tampa Bay Rays, June 6-12, 2010
Frank Thomas, Oakland A's, Sept. 5-11, 2006
Jason Bay, Pittsburgh Pirates, May 22-28, 2006
Morgan Ensberg, Houston Astros, April 15-21, 2006
Travis Hafner, Cleveland Guardians, Sept. 18-23, 2005
Jose Cruz, Toronto Blue Jays, Sept. 29-Oct. 5, 2001
Barry Bonds, San Francisco Giants, May 17-22, 2001
Barry Bonds, San Francisco Giants, April 12-18, 2001
Mark McGwire, St. Louis Cardinals, Sept. 27, 1997-April 4, 1998
Graig Nettles, San Diego Padres, Aug. 11-22, 1984
Reggie Jackson, Baltimore Orioles, July 18-23, 1976
Frank Howard, Washington Senators, May 12-18, 1968
Willie Mays, San Francisco Giants, Aug. 16-22, 1965
Roger Maris, New York Yankees, Aug. 11-16, 1961
Roy Sievers, Washington Senators, July 29-Aug. 3, 1957
Willie Mays, San Francisco Giants, Sept. 14-20, 1955
Walker Cooper, New York Giants, June 22-28, 1947
Lou Gehrig, New York Yankees, Aug. 28-Sept. 1, 1931
George Kelly, New York Giants, July 11-16, 1924
Ken Williams, St. Louis Browns, July 28-Aug. 2, 1922