so many home runs

Giancarlo Stanton's smacks, Aaron Judge's jolts and all those dizzying long balls helped Major League Baseball move another poke closer to the inevitable.

Nearly two decades after the height of the Steroids Era, the sport is on track to break its season record for home runs on Tuesday — and not just top the old mark, but smash it like one of those upper-deck shots that have become commonplace in the Summer of the Slugger.

There were 5,677 home runs hit through Monday, 16 shy of the record set in 2000.

Juiced balls? Watered-down pitching? Stanton's renaissance? Sensational starts by Judge and Cody Bellinger?

"I don't think that we are ever going to have a single explanation for exactly why we've see so many," baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred said. "But players are bigger and stronger. They're playing a little differently, in terms of the way they swing. Pitchers throw harder. The one thing I remain comfortable with: Nothing about the baseball, according to our testing, is materially different."

There were 5,610 homers last year, an average of 2.31 per game, and this year's average of 2.53 projects to 6,139. That would be up 47 percent from 4,186 in 2014.

"The game has changed," New York Yankees manager Joe Girardi said. "From when I started, there's a lot less stolen bases, there's a lot less bunting, there's a lot less hitting-and-running. You don't give outs away, and you let guys swing the bat."

Already 108 players have hit 20 homers this year, just two shy of the record set last season — and up from 64 in 2015, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.

"The ball seems to soar from people that are hitting it farther than maybe they did a year ago ... and they kind of look like the same person," Minnesota manager Paul Molitor, a Hall of Famer hitter, said before Monday night's game at Yankee Stadium.

Along with sailing shots come strikeouts, which will set a record for the 10th consecutive year. There were 37,083 whiffs through Monday, an average of 8.25 per team per game that translates to 40,103 over the full season.

"The focus is hitting homers and tolerating strikeouts," Reggie Jackson said. "I don't really like all the strikeouts, and I was the king."

Baseball officials are worried about decreasing action and have been alarmed by the strikeout rise. This year's total is up from 38,982 last year and headed to an increase of nearly 8,000 from the 32,189 in 2007. The strikeout spike coincides with a rise in fastball velocity; four-seamers have averaged 93.2 mph this year, up from 91.9 mph in 2008, according to MLB data.

"These bullpens are making it extremely difficult. From basically the starter on you're going to have elite, hard-throwing guys that are looking to strike you out every single time," said Baltimore's Mark Trumbo, last year's home run champion. "The game right now is as max effort as I've seen it. Guys are throwing harder. At the plate sometimes you have no choice. It's hard to steer the ball around when it's 98 miles an hour and up in the zone."

"These bullpens are making it extremely difficult. From basically the starter on you're going to have elite, hard-throwing guys that are looking to strike you out every single time," said Baltimore's Mark Trumbo, last year's home run champion. "The game right now is as max effort as I've seen it. Guys are throwing harder. At the plate sometimes you have no choice. It's hard to steer the ball around when it's 98 miles an hour and up in the zone."

Jackson set a record with 2,597 career strikeouts, maxing at 171 in 1968. Six players already have reached 171 this year, led by the Yankees' Judge at 198. He could break Mark Reynolds' season record of 223, set in 2009.

"You'd have been on the bench," Jackson said. "But I don't know if you set a guy on the bench with 90 RBIs and 40 homers. That's Judge. You ain't going to sit that on the bench."

Steroids fueled the home run surge in the late 1990s and early 2000s, and power subsided after the start of drug testing with penalties in 2004. The home run average dropped in 2014 to its lowest level since 1992, then started rising during the second half of the 2015 season.

*** 9/29/17 ***

TORONTO — Kansas City's Alex Gordon broke Major League Baseball's season home run record with 12 days to spare, hitting the 5,694th long ball of 2017 on Tuesday night.

Gordon's home run off Toronto reliever Ryan Tepera broke a mark set in 2000 at the height of the Steroids Era. The drive, which drove in the last run in the Royals' 5-2 loss, was his eighth this season and the 159th of his 11-year big league career.

Power subsided after the start of drug testing with penalties in 2004. The home run average dropped in 2014 to its lowest level since 1992, then started rising during the second half of the 2015 season.

"My biggest take on it is that players are trying to hit more home runs," San Francisco manager Bruce Bochy said. "Their philosophy overall, a lot of these position players, is to get the ball in the air and also pull the ball and get the ball in the air and hit it as far as you can. So you're increasing the launch angle, whatever you want to call this, stay away from the groundballs. And so they're sacrificing a little bit more contact to do a little bit more damage."

*** 10/2/17 ***

In a season of record-high home runs and strikeouts along with record-low complete games, there were some constants in Major League Baseball: Houston's Jose Altuve and a Colorado Rockies player won batting titles.

There were 6,105 home runs hit in the season that ended Sunday, topping the 5,963 in 2000 at the height of the Steroids Era.

Miami's Giancarlo Stanton hit 59, the most in the majors since Barry Bonds set the record with 73 in 2001 and Sammy Sosa hit 64. Drug testing with penalties began three years later.

Aaron Judge of the New York Yankees led the AL with 52, breaking the rookie record of 49 set by Oakland's Mark McGwire in 1987. There were 117 players with 20 or more, up from 111 last year, and 41 with at least 30, up from 38.

Along with the round-trippers came quick returns to the dugout. Strikeouts set a record for the 10th straight season at 40,104, topping last year's 38,982.

Boston's Chris Sale led pitchers with 308 strikeouts, the first to reach 300 since Arizona's Randy Johnson and Curt Schilling in 2002. Washington's Max Scherzer topped the NL for the second straight year at 268.

In an era when analytical departments tell managers not to give away outs, sacrifice bunts dropped to 925, down from 1,025 last year and the fewest since 806 in 1900, when there were just eight teams. Kansas City's Whit Merrifield's 34 stolen bases were the fewest for an AL leader since Luis Aparicio of the Chicago White Sox had 31 in 1961. Miami's Dee Gordon led the NL with 60.

The average runs per team per game rose from 4.48 to 4.65, the highest since 2008. It had dropped to 4.28 in 2014, its lowest since 1992.

At 104-58, the Los Angeles Dodgers had the best record in the major leagues for the first time since 1974. Cleveland (102-60) and Houston (101-61) combined with the Dodgers for MLB's sixth season with three 100-win teams, the first since 2003.