Braves closing in on home run milestones

The 2019 season has been a record breaking campaign for home runs in general as long ball numbers around the league have sky rocketed. The Atlanta Braves have seen a similar increase and are closing in on a franchise record for homers in a season.

The Braves will enter play on Wednesday with 230 home runs this season which is just five short of the franchise record that was set back in 2003.

The 2003 team was led by Javy Lopez’s career-best 43 homers. Gary Sheffield and Andruw Jones were close behind with 39 and 36 respectively. Chipper Jones (27), Vinny Castilla (22) and Marcus Giles (21) all topped 20 homers.

With 16 games remaining in the regular season, Freddie Freeman and Ronald Acuña Jr. both have 38 home runs with Josh Donaldson right behind at 37. All three could reach the 40 homer plateau which would be the second time in franchise history that the Braves had three players with at least 40 home runs.

The previous instance came back in 1973 when Davey Johnson (43), Darrell Evans (41) and Hank Aaron (40) all reached the 40 homer mark.

The home run chase is just another storyline to keep an eye on over the final weeks of the regular season as the Braves close in on a second straight division title.