The Philadelphia Phillies haven’t had the best 2026 season, but the vibes have shifted since they fired Rob Thomson and brought in Don Mattingly as manager.
What hasn’t changed is Kyle Schwarber putting together another MVP-caliber campaign from the designated hitter spot. After his two-homer night against the Pittsburgh Pirates, he’s rewriting the history books.
OptaSTATS shared a record that Schwarber broke by reaching his 20th home run on May 15th. While the games-played comparison gets tricky with different schedules, Schwarber’s pace is something no one has ever seen before.
“Kyle Schwarber of the Phillies hit his 20th HR of the season tonight. This is the earliest date any player has reached that mark in MLB history (previous record: Luis Gonzalez on May 17 in 2001).”
That’s right – across all of MLB history, no hitter has reached 20 homers earlier in a calendar year than what Schwarber just accomplished.
Luis Gonzalez held the previous record from 2001, hitting his 20th on May 17th. Now Schwarber’s beaten that mark by two full days.
This doesn’t factor in games played, so Schwarber isn’t necessarily on pace to surpass Barry Bonds’ record-breaking season. But what he’s doing so far deserves recognition.
The calendar doesn’t lie. May 15th is the earliest anyone has ever reached 20 homers in a season. A few players have gotten there in their team’s first 45 games – Bonds famously had 24 homers in that same timeframe during his record 2001 campaign.
But with varying schedules across different eras, Schwarber’s accomplishment stands alone. No matter how you slice it, reaching 20 homers on May 15th is the fastest start to a power surge in baseball history.
The way things are going in Philadelphia, they’ll need every one of Schwarber’s moonshots to turn this season around.
