2025 MLB season ties record with four 50+ home run players as AL MVP race becomes battle of pure strength

The 2025 Major League Baseball season has seen power numbers like never before. With Aaron Judge hitting his 50th (and 51st) home runs of the season on Wednesday, four players have socked at least 50 homers this season, tying an MLB record.

Cal Raleigh leads the way with 60 and that's historic enough on its own merits. Like Judge, he homered twice on Wednesday. Kyle Schwarber also got in on the party with two home runs, bringing his total to 56, just two shy of the Phillies' club record held by Ryan Howard. Shohei Ohtani sits third in the majors with 53 home runs. He's one shy of his career high and that's also the Dodgers' team record. In fact, Ohtani in his first two seasons has twice hit at least 50 homers. No other player in Dodgers history has ever reached 50.

Having four 50+ home run players in the same season ties the MLB record along with 1998 (Mark McGwire 70, Sammy Sosa 66, Ken Griffey Jr. 56 and Greg Vaughn 50) and 2001 (Barry Bonds 73, Sammy Sosa 64, Luis Gonzalez 57, Alex Rodriguez 52). There are no seasons in history with exactly three 50-homer hitters and 11 in which two players reached 50 home runs, including last season with Judge and Ohtani.

Can the 2025 season take the mantle and get a fifth player to 50 home runs? It's plausible. Eugenio Suárez has 48 home runs and the Mariners have four games left. It'll very likely need to be him, as Junior Caminero at 44 and Juan Soto at 43 are the only other players left with 40+ and time is running out.

The 50+ homer guys are the ones leading the MVP races right now. Ohtani has the National League side wrapped up (-10000 odds, via BetMGM) with Schwarber (+900) likely finishing second. On the American League side, we did a detailed breakdown on Monday and one of the biggest points I stressed was that Raleigh getting to 60 home runs would be a gigantic step toward him winning the hardware. The odds now have Raleigh as the favorite (-210) for the first time all season with Judge (+155) trailing. For those curious, no, I don't think there's value on Judge. I think Raleigh's 60th home run the night the Mariners clinched the AL West sealed the deal.

For me, the biggest thing to watch now is if Suárez can club two more bombs. It would be amazing to see five players reach 50 home runs in the same season for the first time ever -- especially when we've only seen two players do it in the same year during the height of the Steroid Era.