Astros, Dodgers combine for most home runs in World Series history

The Houston Astros slugged their way to a win over the Los Angeles Dodgers in Game 5 of the World Series on Sunday night at Minute Maid Park in Houston, and in doing so the two teams combined to set a record for the most home runs ever hit in one Fall Classic.

Houston slammed five home runs in Sunday’s 13-12 win, a 10-inning thriller that gave us our second classic game of this series.

“They’re pretty awesome when they get going together. We talked about tandem ABs and putting one at-bat after another. We’re relentless when we’re good,” Astros manager A.J. Hinch said after Game 5. “We’re hard to beat when we swing the bats like this.”

The Astros and Dodgers have combined for 22 home runs through the first five games of this series, surpassing the previous record of 21 set by the Anaheim Angels and San Francisco Giants in 2002, a series that lasted the full seven games.

The Dodgers hit two home runs of their own on Sunday, which would have tied the old record for home runs in a World Series game, set by the Oakland A’s and Giants in Game 3 in 1989. But that mark was already broken in this series, back in Game 2 — you know, the other extra-inning classic in this series — when both teams combined for eight home runs.

Yuli Gurriel, Cody Bellinger and Jose Altuve all hit three-run home runs during Game 5, making this the first World Series game ever with three three-run homers.

The home runs in this series have ranged from the young — Bellinger at 22 years, 108 days old on Sunday was the youngest player to homer in the World Series since Miguel Cabrera in 2003 — to the more experienced. Brian McCann at 33 years, 252 days old on Sunday is the oldest to homer in this series.

In all, 14 different players have homered in this World Series, including Charlie Culberson, who did not hit a major league home run during the regular season. George Springer, with three, is the only player with more than two home runs in this Fall Classic.

During the regular season, the Astros were second in baseball with 238 home runs, while the Dodgers were 11th with 221 home runs, setting a franchise record. In this World Series, the Astros have hit 13 home runs and the Dodgers have hit nine. The record for most home runs by one team in a World Series is 14, set by those 2002 Giants.

It’s only fitting that in a year that saw Major League Baseball set a record with 6,105 home runs — 7.2% more than the previous record, set in 2000 — the World Series would have the most home runs, too.

Oh yeah, there is still at least one more game remaining in this series, with Game 6 scheduled for Tuesday night at Dodger Stadium.

Maybe the slick baseballs are all Yasiel Puig's fault