Phillies MVP Candidate Could Break Legendary Franchise Record

PHILADELPHIA, PA — If anything is symbolic of this new golden era of Philadelphia baseball, it's Kyle Schwarber's titanic swing and his trademark pause, lean back, and stare as the ball sears into orbit.

With another dinger on Wednesday afternoon, the Phillies star slugger and MVP candidate is up to an absurd 45 home runs on the season. With 35 games left in the season, Schwarber needs 13 more dingers to tie Ryan Howard's legendary franchise record of 58 home runs in a single season, set in 2006.

Right now, he's on pace to do exactly that.

Howie's titanic MVP season in 2006 was not only the greatest offensive output in Phillies history, it was one of the single greatest seasons by anyone, ever. Only four players in MLB history (not connected performance enhancing drugs) have hit more home runs: Aaron Judge, Roger Maris, Babe Ruth, and Giancarlo Stanton.

Howard was generational. So, it appears, is Schwarber.

In fact, Judge's all time single season home run record itself is not out of reach. Schwarber is on pace to hit 13 more, and he "only" needs to hit 17 more to tie Judge and 18 more to surpass him. It would certainly take dominant closing run, but it's nothing that Schwarber hasn't done before. He's hit 16 in a single month before, back in June 2021 when he was with Washington.

But Schwarber isn't alone in his pursuit of history. In fact, he doesn't even have the current MLB lead in home runs. That belongs to Seattle's otherworldly catcher Cal Raleigh, who has 47 as of Wednesday. Shohei Ohtani (44) and Judge himself (40) are right on their tails.

Schwarber is in the final season of a four-year contract with the Phillies that has proven to be one of the best moves made by an MLB team in recent memory. Schwarber has hit at least 45 home runs in three of those four seasons, while driving in at least 100 runs three years in a row and missing almost no time due to injury. The Phillies are under huge pressure to resign Schwarber, who has been as important to their success as anyone, this offseason.

When looking at the "asterisk-free" players whose reputations have not been sullied by connections to performance enhancing drugs, here's how the all-time single season home run list stands, according to Baseball Reference:

1. Aaron Judge - 62 (2022)

2. Roger Maris - 61 (1961)

3. Babe Ruth - 60 (1927)

4. Babe Ruth - 59 (1921)

4. Giancarlo Stanton - 59 (2017)

6. Ryan Howard - 58 (2006)

6. Aaron Judge - 58 (2024)

6. Jimme Foxx - 58 (1932)

6. Hank Greenberg - 58 (1938)

10. Ken Griffey Jr. - 56 (1997)

10. Ken Griffey Jr. - 56 (1998)

10. Hack Wilson - 56 (1930)