Atlanta Braves on pace to break Twins' Bomba Squad's single-season home run record

The bobblehead is still on display on a shelf in Max Kepler's locker, a commemoration of the baseball history of which Kepler was a part. Its meaning to Kepler, though, is a little different now.

"I look at that and I'm the only one left. Everyone else is gone now," Kepler said. "I'm the last of the Mohicans."

Well, the last of the Bombas, anyway. The Twins issued a Bomba Squad bobblehead two years ago that features the likenesses of the five hitters who socked 30 or more home runs in 2019, the core of the team that hit 307 home runs and shattered baseball's single-season home run record. But Kepler, who racked up a career-high 36 homers that year, is right: He remains a Twin, but Nelson Cruz (41 homers), Miguel Sanó (34), Eddie Rosario (32) and Mitch Garver (31) have all moved on.

The home run record may not reside with Minnesota much longer, either. The Atlanta Braves hit five home runs Thursday night vs. St. Louis to give them 270 this season, an average of 1.94 per game that projects to a total of 315 by season's end.

That doesn't dim the accomplishment, those who were part of it say.

"It's a lot of pride for us, you know?" said Jorge Polanco, who chipped in 22 homers for the Twins in 2019. "I remember that year, how much fun we had. We got it on the last day."

He's right. The Yankees, with an MLB-record 14 players reaching double figures, led the Twins — 305 homers to 304 — on the final day of the 2019 season, but former Twins righthander Lance Lynn helped hold New York to just one, Aaron Judge's 27th, in the season finale. In Kansas City, meanwhile, the Twins got home runs from C.J. Cron, Jake Cave and Jason Castro — all off future Twin Jorge López — to pass the Yankees and claim the record as their own.

"It was a great year. At the time it happened, I was very impressed that we pulled that off," Kepler said. "People like to say 'juiced balls,' but we still had to hit them. We still hit more than anyone. It counts. It was a great accomplishment."

And the bobblehead isn't the only souvenir.

"We got hat, we got bats, we got shirts and pictures. I've got a lot of stuff from that year at home," Polanco said. "I like to think about that team."

So if the Braves stay hot, will the record-holders be sorry to see it broken?

"Well, it's baseball. Somebody else [the 2016 Yankees, with 267] held it for a while and we broke it. So now, if somebody breaks it, I won't feel too bad about it," Polanco reasoned. He paused, then broke into a grin. "But I would like to keep it, you know?"

Garver, too, enjoys the memories of that season, though he's been with Texas the past two years.

"I have the bobblehead, too. It's in my office at home," Garver said. "But it's in the past now. I don't know if anyone even knows we hold the record."

Hitting all those homers, winning 101 games, it was fun at the time. To Garver, though, what came next ruined the fun.

"It was cool to do, and it was a special group. But we didn't really accomplish too much, other than that regular-season stuff," Garver said. "It seemed like such a great team, and then we got swept" in three games in the playoffs by the Yankees. "The record didn't mean as much after that."

Garver believes the Braves — with Eddie Rosario in their outfield now — are different.

"What they're doing in Atlanta right now, it's a special group and they're going to do well in the postseason. They're built like that. You can see it," Garver said. "They're the most complete team out there right now. I'll be interested to see if they get the record."

It could be close. The Braves had been on a tear of late, bashing 17 homers in six September games. Atlanta had failed to connect only 15 times this season, and four of them came in their first 10 games. They have homered in 18 consecutive games, and reeled off a string of 28 consecutive games earlier this year.

"The Braves have a hitter-friendly park where the ball really flies, you could tell when we were there" in June, Kepler said of Truist Park, where the Braves outhomered the Twins 8-1 over a three-game series. "So yeah, I wouldn't be surprised if they're the ones to do it."

But they lead the NL East by 14 games, and have the No. 1 seed in the National League playoffs all but wrapped up. The Braves are three games up on Baltimore for home-field advantage in a potential World Series matchup, though Atlanta figures to rest their regulars more often as the season runs out.

For much of August, the Braves were on a pace to hit exactly 308 home runs, surpassing the Twins by just one.

It figures, Polanco said.

"Eddie will hit it," he said of his ex-teammate, rolling his eyes. "You know it has to be Eddie."