Khris Davis reaches 40 homers for third straight season

Last summer, Khris Davis became the first player in Oakland A’s history ever to hit 40 home runs in consecutive seasons. On Saturday he did it again, reaching that lofty total once more to make it three straight years with 40 dingers. The historic blast came off Mariners reliever Alex Colome.

This milestone has been achieved once before in A’s franchise history, but you have to go all the way back to the Philadelphia days. Hall of Fame slugger Jimmie Foxx hit 58, 48, and 44 from 1932-34. The closest an Oakland player had come was Mark McGwire, who who hit 39 in 1995, then 52 in 1996, and then got to 34 in 1997 before being traded to the Cardinals and finishing with 58.

Looking at the entire league, the last player to do it was Nelson Cruz in 2014-16. He just happened to be on hand for this game to witness it happen again. Overall, Khrush is the 25th player ever to do it three straight seasons. (Ties are ordered chronologically.)

• Babe Ruth (7)
• Alex Rodriguez (6)
• Sammy Sosa (6)
• Ralph Kiner (5)
• Duke Snider (5)
• Ken Griffey Jr (5)
• Barry Bonds (5)
• Adam Dunn (5)
• Ernie Banks (4)
• Harmon Killebrew (4)
• Mark McGwire (4)
• Jim Thome (4)
• Albert Pujols (4)
• Ryan Howard (4)
• Jimmie Foxx (3)
• Ted Kluszewski (3)
• Eddie Matthews (3)
• Frank Howard (3)
• Jay Buhner (3)
• Juan Gonzalez (3)
• Andres Galarraga (3)
• Vinny Castilla (3)
• David Ortiz (3)
• Nelson Cruz (3)
• Khris Davis (3)

This is the 14th time an A’s player has hit 40 dingers, and three of those instances belong to Khrush. His personal high is 43 from last year, and he’s got a month left to top that. He’s also the first player in all of MLB to reach 40 this season, and if he hangs on to that advantage then he’ll be the first A’s player to lead the majors (much less the AL) since McGwire in 1996.

After hitting his 39th the Thursday before last, it took nine games for him to notch No. 40. He ran into the same roadblock last year, with a 17-day gap that was his longest between homers for that entire summer. In 2016 he hit 39 and 40 in the same game.

He hits them all over the field. He hits them in bunches. He hits them at crucial moments. He’s got the most in the league this year, and also since 2016. Khris Davis is the best home run hitter in baseball right now, and it’s getting more and more difficult to argue that fact.