Postseason Showing Even Top Aces Won't Stop MLB's 'Year of the Home Run'

The home run is back. That was true after Game 162, and it's no less true after the American League and National League Wild Card Games.

There were 6,104 home runs hit in the 2017 regular season, which broke the record of 5,693 set in 2000 at the apex of the steroid era.

Say it's a new all-or-nothing approach by hitters unafraid to strike out. Say it's a juiced ball. No matter what, it's an undeniable phenomenon. 

The question was, would the fence-clearing trend continue into October against the game's top aces? So far, the answer is a resounding "yes."

The American League Wild Card Game, which saw the New York Yankees defeat the Minnesota Twins 8-4 on Tuesday, featured five home runs.

The upstart Twins hit a pair, both of which came in the first inning, courtesy of second baseman Brian Dozier and outfielder Eddie Rosario. Yankees shortstop Didi Gregorius responded by nailing a three-run blast at the bottom of the frame. New York left fielder Brett Gardner added another homer in the second. 

The star of the night, though, was Yankees right fielder Aaron Judge, who clubbed 15 home runs in September and set a rookie record with 52 overall. On Tuesday, Judge launched a two-run tater and hit a laser-beam foul ball that still may not have landed. 

Frank Franklin II/Associated Press

On Wednesday, the NL Wild Card Game between the Arizona Diamondbacks and Colorado Rockies kept the dinger-centric trend going.

In an 11-8 D-backs win, the Snakes got home runs from first baseman Paul Goldschmidt and second baseman Daniel Descalso, and the Rockies got bombs from third baseman Nolan Arenado and shortstop Trevor Story.

If you're keeping score at home, that's nine homers in two postseason games. And we haven't even sniffed the division series.

Granted, those games were played at Yankee Stadium and Chase Field, the second- and fourth-most homer-happy yards in baseball, according to ESPN's Park Factors statistic. 

The six teams remaining in the playoffs, however, are all among the top 12 scoring offenses in baseball. The Houston Astros and Yankees rank No. 1 and No. 2, respectively, followed by the Chicago Cubs (No. 4), Washington Nationals (No. 5), Cleveland Indians (No. 6), Diamondbacks (No. 8), Boston Red Sox (No. 10) and Los Angeles Dodgers (No. 12).

Additionally, the postseason will showcase four of MLB's top 10 home run hitters in Judge (52), the D-backs' J.D. Martinez (45), the Dodgers' Cody Bellinger (39) and the Indians' Edwin Encarnacion (38).

It's not as if the Wild Card Games featured scrub pitchers, either. The Yankees, Twins, Diamondbacks and Rockies all threw out their best starters in the one-and-done wild-card showdown. The Yanks' Luis Severino recorded just one out. The Twins' Ervin Santana managed only two innings.

Diamondbacks righty Zack Greinke lasted 3.2 frames, while Jon Gray went only 1.1. That's three of the game's top 11 ERA leaders in Severino, Greinke and Santana and an emerging stud in Gray.

Norm Hall/Getty Images

Yeah, we've yet to witness the exploits of the Dodgers' Clayton Kershaw, the Indians' Corey Kluber, the Red Sox's Chris Sale or the Nationals' Max Scherzer. There are arms capable of mowing through even the most potent lineups.

If the trajectory holds, however, bullpens and big bats will define these playoffs.

Heck, when Dozier homered on Tuesday, he became the first player ever to open a postseason with a home run, per CBS Sports' Matt Snyder. 

Even if you don't believe in omens, that's an omen.

"The consensus among all the hitters I've spoken to, and hitting people I've spoken to, is ground balls are bad, fly balls are good, line drives are good," Cincinnati Reds first baseman Joey Votto told Travis Sawchik of FanGraphs back in May.

That's still true in October. And while Votto and the Reds aren't part of the dance, plenty of other mashers are.

The home run is back. And, as the playoffs propel forward like a baseball into the night, it's undeniably here to stay.

All statistics current as of Wednesday and courtesy of MLB.com.