Giancarlo Stanton is one homer closer to reaching the rare 60-home run club

Giancarlo Stanton’s historic home-run tear may have slowed down once the calendar flipped from August to September, but entering play Monday night he was six homers away from reaching 60 with 13 games left to play.

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Score one more for Stanton. The mighty Marlins slugger hit homer No. 55 on Monday night, a 455-foot blast that came off New York Mets starter Matt Harvey in the fourth inning. The Marlins smashed the Mets 13-1.

Giancarlo Stanton circling the bases after home run No. 55 on Monday night. (AP)
Giancarlo Stanton circling the bases after home run No. 55 on Monday night. (AP)

After hitting 12 homers in July and a record-tying 18 homers in August, Stanton cooled off in September. This was just his fourth homer of the month, and his first since Sept. 9. Cool steak aside, Stanton still has the potential to reach the historic 60-home run club.

Only five players have ever reached 60 homers. Babe Ruth hit 60 in 1927 then Roger Maris 61 in 1961, a record that stood until 1998 when Sammy Sosa and Mark McGwire hit 66 and 70, respectively. Then Barry Bonds hit 73 in 2001 to set the current record. In between the two records, Sosa hit 63 and 64 (in 1999 and 2001) and McGwire hit 65 in 1999.

Whichever side you take on baseball’s steroid era and the all-time record books — and we know everybody has an opinion on that one — there’s no denying that Stanton reaching 60, or maybe even 61, would put him rare air.

Twelve more games. Let’s see if he can do it.

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Mike Oz is the editor of Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at mikeozstew@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!