No Homer For Stanton; 1 Game Left

MIAMI, FL — Giancarlo Stanton remains one home run away from baseball history as the home run slugger went 1-5 on Saturday night against the Atlanta Braves. The Fish beat the Braves by a score of 10-2 but all eyes were on Miami's home run king. The 27-year-old will have one last chance to hit his 60th home run in Sunday's season-ending game against the Braves at Marlins Park

Had the Marlin's right fielder hit his 60th on Saturday, it would have been the same date that Babe Ruth hit his 60th during the 1927 season.

Stanton belted his 58th and 59th home runs during Thursday's game against the Braves after which the Marlins tweeted: "The watch for No. 60 is officially ON. Two homers for @Giancarlo818 tonight. 59 on the season. WOW." (Sign up for our free Daily Newsletters and Breaking News Alerts for the Miami Patch.)

He didn't hit any home runs on Friday or Saturday. Marlins Manager Don Mattingly said that Stanton will be the lead batter on Sunday to give him the most chances at bat.

With Saturday's win, the second-place Marlins look to sweep third place Atlanta in the National League East. If you haven't had time to make it out to any games this year, Sunday promises Stanton's showdown with destiny.

If he succeeds, Stanton would become only the sixth player to accomplish the feat in Major League Baseball history for only the ninth time since Babe Ruth did it in 1927. Gary Bonds was the last player to reach the milestone in 2001 when he hit 73, the most in any one season.

Following Thursday's game, the Marlins tweeted: "The watch for No. 60 is officially ON. Two homers for @Giancarlo818 tonight. 59 on the season. WOW."

The Marlins' Jon Alvarez told Patch that he will remember the 2017 season for the amazing performances by home run king Stanton and other important milestones by the team.

"Stanton homered in six consecutive games from August 10-15, the longest streak in Marlins’ history and tied for the third-longest in MLB history," said Alvarez. "The night before his streak ended, Stanton hit his 43rd home run of the year, breaking Gary Sheffield’s Marlins’ single-season mark of 42 set in 1996. Overall, he hit 18 long balls in August, which is tied with Rudy York (in) 1937 for the MLB record for the month."

Other Marlins’ single-season home run records that Stanton has set include most multi-homer games with nine, go-ahead homers with 26 and homers in the second half with 31. Stanton also had 45 home runs out of the second spot heading into Thursday's game, one shy of the MLB single-season record set by Hall-of-Famer Eddie Mathews, who hit 46 in 1959 for the Milwaukee Braves. Stanton batted second on Thursday.

"With [59] home runs so far this season, Stanton has the most home runs by any National League player since Ryan Howard ... and is still on pace for MLB’s first 60-plus homer season since 2001," Alvarez said, adding that Stanton broke the club single-season mark of RBI set by Preston Wilson in 2000. He also drove in his 579th career run on June 2, passing Mike Lowell for first on the Marlins’ all-time list."

But there's more.

"Stanton also earned his fourth career All-Star selection and participated in the Home Run Derby, "Alvarez added. "He was also named the National League Player of the month for August, in which he hit .349 (109x127) with an MLB-leading 18 home runs and 37 RBI. It marked his third monthly award, after winning in June 2015 and May 2012."

The 2017 season also saw Marcell Ozuna being named National League starter via fan vote, marking his second consecutive All-Star Game nod. He became the fifth Marlin to be voted into the Midsummer classic, joining Gary Sheffield, Hanley Ramirez, Dee Gordon and Stanton. Entering Wednesday, Ozuna had 118 RBIs, the fifth-highest single-season total in Marlins history.

Edinson Volquez tossed his first career no-hitter on June 3rd against the Arizona Diamondbacks and Ichiro Suzuki picked up his 3,053rd and 3,054th career hits on July 6 surpassing Rod Carew on the all-time hits list and making him the all-time hits leader among players born outside the USA.

Volquez tossed the 294th no-hitter at the Major League level and the sixth in Marlins history. The six no-hitters by the Marlins are the most of any team since the franchise’s inception in 1993. Suzuki also set MLB single-season records with 104 plate appearances and 95 at bats as a pinch hitter. He has 3,079 career MLB hits, and ranks 22nd on the MLB all-time list, according to Alvarez.

The Marlins planned the following special events around this weekend's closing homestand:

• Colombian Heritage Celebration – Thursday, Sept. 28 vs. the Braves
• Flash of Hope – Thursday, Sept. 28 vs. the Braves
• Kids with type 1 diabetes got a unique, VIP Miami Marlins experience on Friday as they took the field for batting practice, got players to sign baseballs, met Miami Marlins pitcher Dustin McGowan and took part in an interactive diabetes discussion before enjoying the game as McGowan's guests. McGowan and his young daughter, McKensy, both have type 1 diabetes. They created the program, Dustin’s T1D All-Stars to help others with the disease.
• Burger & Beer Fridays – Friday, Sept. 29 vs. the Braves
• Marlins Floral Hat, presented by Corona Light (first 7,500 fans ages 21 and over) – Saturday, Sept. 30 vs. the Braves
• Star Wars Night – Saturday, Sept. 30 vs. the Braves
• Nicaraguan Heritage Night – Saturday, Sept. 30 vs. the Braves
• Aviation Day – Saturday, Sept. 30 vs. the Braves
• Beerfest – Saturday, Sept. 30 vs. the Braves
• Closing Weekend Postgame Fireworks, presented by T-Mobile – Saturday, Sept. 30 vs. the Braves
• Christian Yelich Bobblehead, presented by DeWalt (first 7,500 fans) – Sunday, Oct. 1 vs. the Braves
• 2018 Marlins Magnet Schedule (first 20,000 fans) – Sunday, Oct. 1 vs. the Braves
• Mexican Heritage Day – Sunday, Oct. 1 vs. the Braves
• Marlins 5K – Sunday, Oct. 1 vs. the Braves

Photo courtesy Major League Baseball and the Miami Marlins