Now, they’ll have a chance to show off their home run prowess on the national stage. They fell just shy of the 102 wins that the 1965 team recorded, settling for the second-best record in team history, and well exceeded the predictions experts set for them before the season. Though the Twins lost Sunday’s game, walked off by the Royals in the ninth on a Brett Phillips sacrifice fly, they head into the playoffs winners of eight of their past 10 after one of the most successful regular seasons in franchise history.

While Cruz was the only player to reach 40, five players topped 30, eight players had more than 20, and 11 reached double digits. The Twins did it with contributions from 17 different players, from designated hitter Nelson Cruz with 41 home runs to LaMonte Wade Jr. “I think the way we’ve been swinging the bats all season, it’s just been such a special year, and to cap it off like this is kind of the cherry on top,” Castro said. The Twins and Yankees teams had gone back in forth as they raced to the end of the regular season, with the Yankees entering the final day with a one-homer advantage. Over a six-month season, our guys just went out there and hit more home runs than any team in the history of baseball. “This is something that’s never happened before in baseball, and our guys out there, they just did it. “I don’t think anybody will ever forget the Bomba Squad, and I mean that,” Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said. Next up: An American League Division Series against those same Yankees beginning Friday in the Bronx. The Twins hit three home runs Sunday to finish with 307, one more than the Yankees’ 306. Though the Twins (101-61) lost their regular-season finale 5-4 on Sunday afternoon to the Kansas City Royals (59-103), they set a new record for the most home runs hit in a season, barely edging out the New York Yankees. It took every last one to set baseball’s most revered record: With Jason Castro’s fifth-inning homer, the Bomba Squad will enter the record books as the top home run-hitting team in MLB history. KANSAS CITY - The Twins spent an entire season chasing, breaking and setting both franchise and Major League Baseball home run records.

Mlb hr record