Every team's top home run of the decade

December 30th, 2019

As the 2010s come to a close, it's time to look back at the best home runs of the decade. There were 51,931 homers hit from 2010-19, but there are a choice few that will always stand out as the most memorable, whether they came in the clutch during the postseason, were milestone shots for the record books or just plain quirky for one reason or another. Here's a look back at each team's top home run of the past 10 years.

NATIONAL LEAGUE EAST

Braves: Saving the best for first

The Braves hit 1,576 home runs in the 2010s, and the best one was the very first. Jason Heyward was a top prospect and projected as a future star, and his first career swing electrified an Opening Day crowd at Turner Field by producing a long home run to right field off the Cubs' Carlos Zambrano in the first inning. More >

Marlins: Gordon's emotional homer

It was the only home run Dee Gordon hit in 2016, and it left the Marlins and their fans in tears. One day after the death of José Fernández, with all of the Marlins players wearing his number, Gordon hit a leadoff home run that will go down as one of the most moving moments in Marlins history. More >

Mets: The captain's long awaited moment

David Wright had been waiting to play in a World Series for 11 years, and when he finally got the chance in 2015, he made the most of it. In Game 3, he launched a two-run homer off Royals right-hander Yordano Ventura, sending the Citi Field crowd into an emotional frenzy. More >

Nationals: Saving the best for last

It seemed like yesterday. It almost was yesterday. Howie Kendrick was an unlikely postseason hero throughout October for Washington, and his exploits culminated in a go-ahead two-run homer off the foul pole in right field to give the Nationals a seventh-inning lead they would not relinquish in World Series Game 7 against the Astros. More >

Phillies: Big Ben

With two on and two outs in the seventh inning of Game 3 of the 2011 NLDS, Phillies manager Charlie Manuel sent Ben Francisco up to pinch-hit for Cole Hamels, who had been throwing a gem. Francisco launched a three-run homer to break a scoreless tie and lift Philadelphia to victory before the Cardinals won the series, 3-2. More >

NL CENTRAL

Brewers: Braun's bomb for the clincher

On Sept. 23, 2011, Ryan Braun broke a 1-1 tie with the Marlins with a three-run shot in the eighth inning at Miller Park. Milwaukee went on to win that game, and shortly thereafter, the Cubs beat the Cardinals and the Brewers were NL Central champs. More >

Cardinals: Freese becomes an October legend

This one is among the greatest home runs in World Series history. In an epic Game 6 in 2011, the Rangers were one strike away from winning the franchise's first World Series title, but David Freese lined a game-tying triple off the right-field wall in the bottom of the ninth inning to keep St. Louis' hopes alive. Then in the 11th, he launched a walk-off homer to force Game 7, which the Cardinals won to cap one of the greatest Fall Classic battles of all time. More >

Cubs: Going out on top

It was Game 7 of the 2016 World Series. Veteran catcher David Ross, now the new Cubs manager, stepped into the box against Indians relief ace Andrew Miller, who had been virtually untouchable during the postseason. On a 1-2 fastball, Ross launched a home run over the center-field wall that would help Chicago break a 108-year world championship drought. It was the final hit of Ross' career, and it will never be forgotten as a key moment in the Cubs' run to their elusive title. More >

Pirates: Wild Card wallops

In the Pirates' first postseason contest in 21 years, the PNC Park crowd was ready for the NL Wild Card Game. And when Marlon Byrd launched a solo homer off Reds starter Johnny Cueto in the second inning, the eruption of the crowd was deafening. Its next chance to erupt came swiftly, as Russell Martin followed Byrd's shot with one of his own later in the frame, putting Pittsburgh up 2-0 en route to a 6-2 victory over Cincinnati. More >

Reds: Bruce brings home division title

The Reds had the NL Central all but sewn up by Sept. 28, 2010, but the way in which they clinched was anything but anticlimactic -- Jay Bruce smashed a walk-off homer to lift Cincinnati over Houston and into the NL Division Series. More >

NL WEST

D-backs: Dramatic reenactment

What do you do when you hit your first career walk-off home run and your manager is Kirk Gibson? You imitate his famous trot around the bases from Game 1 of the 1988 World Series with the occasional fist pump. That's what Ryan Roberts did when he belted a game-winning grand slam against the Dodgers on Sept. 27, 2011. More >

Dodgers: Maximum Muncy ends World Series marathon

In the longest World Series game, both in terms of time (seven hours and 20 minutes) and innings (18), Max Muncy smashed a walk-off homer off Red Sox reliever Nathan Eovaldi to win Game 3 in 2018. It was Eovaldi's 97th pitch out of the bullpen, and it resulted in the conclusion of an instant classic. More >

Giants: Renteria secures first San Francisco championship

The Giants' Tim Lincecum and the Rangers' Cliff Lee were locked in a scoreless duel heading into the seventh inning at the Ballpark in Arlington in Game 5 of the 2010 World Series. Someone had to break through, and it was veteran shortstop Edgar Renteria, who hit a three-run homer to put San Francisco within nine outs of a championship. The shot came 13 years after Renteria hit a walk-off single to lift the Marlins to a World Series title in 1997. Lincecum and closer Brian Wilson took care of matters from there, clinching the Giants' first World Series title since moving to San Francisco in 1958. More>

Padres: Renfroe's slam caps comeback

On May 5, 2019, Hunter Renfroe hit the 16th come-from-behind pinch-hit walk-off grand slam in MLB history, connecting on a cutter from Kenley Jansen with the Padres trailing by one and two outs in the ninth. The ball hit off the Western Metal Supply Co. building down the left-field line as the Petco Park crowd went wild. More >

Rockies: Arenado does it for dad

On Father's Day in 2017, Nolan Arenado came to the plate in the ninth inning a home run shy of the cycle with his team trailing the Giants by a run. He completed a "cycle for the ages" and gave Colorado a walk-off victory with one big swing as his dad looked on in the stands. More >

AMERICAN LEAGUE EAST

Blue Jays: The Bat Flip

We'll never forget it. It was the "bat flip heard 'round the world," and it came from Toronto. José Bautista crushed a three-run homer off Rangers reliever Sam Dyson in the seventh inning of ALDS Game 5 in 2015, leading the Blue Jays to a victory that sent them into the ALCS. After launching the baseball, he launched the bat to create a visual that is seared into every baseball fan's memory. More >

Orioles: Crushed one for the books

In 2013, Chris Davis set the Orioles' franchise record for home runs in a single season with 53, and the homer that set the mark -- his 51st -- was a big one, helping Baltimore defeat Boston, 3-2. More >

Rays: Game 162

No one will ever forget Evan Longoria's walk-off home run on the final day of the 2011 regular season, a liner just over the wall down the left-field line at Tropicana Field to beat the Yankees and send Tampa Bay into the postseason. More >

Red Sox: Papi's ALCS slam, Torii's flip

In Game 2 of the 2013 ALCS between the Red Sox and Tigers, David Ortiz -- as he had done so many times in his career prior to that -- came up clutch with a game-tying grand slam that will be remembered for the iconic shot of Detroit's Torii Hunter flipping over the right-field wall and into the bullpen, while a bullpen police officer threw his hands up in celebration. More >

Yankees: The 600 club

Alex Rodriguez became the youngest player to hit 600 home runs when he went deep off Toronto's Shaun Marcum on Aug. 4, 2010. A-Rod was 35 years old at the time and became just the seventh member of the exclusive club. More >

AL CENTRAL

Indians: Davis lines game-tying homer in World Series Game 7

It was a stunning and dramatic moment. Trailing by two against the Cubs in the eighth inning of Game 7 of the 2016 World Series at Progressive Field, Rajai Davis lined a 98-mph fastball from Aroldis Chapman over the high wall in left to tie the game. Even though the Tribe lost in extra innings, it is one of the most memorable and clutch moments in franchise history. More >

Royals: Gordon's game-tying shot in Game 1

With the Royals trailing the Mets in the bottom of the ninth inning of Game 1 of the 2015 World Series, Alex Gordon belted a game-tying homer off Jeurys Familia before Kansas City went on to win in 14 innings, 5-4. It set the tone for the Royals as they won their first World Series title in 30 years. More >

Tigers: Miggy hits one completely out of Comerica

On June 20, 2016, Miguel Cabrera obliterated a pitch from Mariners right-hander Nate Karns completely out of Comerica Park, becoming the second Tiger to do so, behind Carlos Peña in 2005. The ball cleared the brick wall in left-center and bounced past the Al Kaline statue and onto Adams Avenue. More >

Twins: Garver's blast puts Twins in record books

In 2019, it became clear the Twins were going to make history with the "Bomba Squad" smashing home runs at a record pace. The single-season home run record for a team was 267, and on Aug. 31, Mitch Garver launched the club's 268th of the year, his second on a night when Minnesota homered six times against the Tigers at Comerica Park. More >

White Sox: Konerko connects for No. 400

Paul Konerko is one of the greatest players in White Sox history, an icon who will forever be remembered on the South Side. And he reached a milestone on April 25, 2012, when he led off the ninth inning in Oakland with a game-tying homer off Grant Balfour for the 400th home run of his illustrious career. More >

AL WEST

Angels: Pujols pummels No. 600

Albert Pujols added to his Hall of Fame credentials by becoming the ninth player in Major League history to hit 600 home runs, and the first to do it with a grand slam, connecting against Twins right-hander Ervin Santana on June 3, 2017, in Anaheim. More >

Astros: Marwin to the rescue

The Astros were trailing the Dodgers in Game 2 of the 2017 World Series at Dodger Stadium, when Marwin Gonzalez launched a game-tying homer in the ninth inning off Kenley Jansen. Had he not connected and Houston had lost that game, it would have been facing a 2-0 deficit heading back to Minute Maid Park. But in extra innings, the Astros got three more homers and took Game 2, 7-6. They won the series in seven for the first World Series championship in franchise history. More >

Athletics: Krush times three, including a walk-off

It was a game to remember for Khris Davis and the A's. Entering the ninth inning on May 17, 2016, Davis had already taken Rangers left-hander Cole Hamels deep twice, and now he had a chance to play hero with the bases loaded and Oakland trailing, 5-4. Davis crushed a two-out walk-off grand slam against reliever Shawn Tolleson for an 8-5 victory. More >

Mariners: Cruz goes fishing at the Trop

On May 27, 2015, Nelson Cruz hit one of his 163 home runs in a Mariners uniform. But this one was unique -- it landed in the famous fish tank over the center-field wall at Tropicana Field for a splash-down homer to break a scoreless tie in the ninth inning and help lift Seattle to a 3-0 victory behind a complete-game gem from Félix Hernández. More >

Rangers: Cruz slams Rangers to 2-0 ALCS lead

In Game 2 of the 2011 ALCS against the Tigers, Nelson Cruz came up clutch with a walk-off grand slam in the 11th inning to give the Rangers a 7-3 victory and a 2-0 series lead. Texas would eventually win its second consecutive AL pennant. More >