Even with the Melky Cabrera and Bartolo Colon revelations over the past couple of weeks, it's fairly safe to say to the steroid era in baseball is over. Gone are the days of it being routine for multiple guys to reach the 40 home run plateau, partly because of the roids and partly because of the pitching in the game these days.
Either way, a Texas Rangers player hasn't hit 35 home runs in a year since 2005, when Mark Teixeira and Alfonso Soriano both cleared 35 bombs, and that's in a great hitters' ballpark.
So believe it or not, Josh Hamilton is now the best Rangers slugger in seven seasons as he hit his 35th home run of the year on Sunday, with each bomb besting his previous career-high of 32. And what a month of August it's been for Hamilton, who now has 111 RBIs, a major-league leading total.
His 27 RBIs in August match his total for June and July combined.
It's very possible Hamilton gets to 40 home runs this year and clears 130 RBIs, which would put him right in the thick of MVP talk with Mike Trout and Miguel Cabrera, and get that price going up for his free agency over the winter.
Enjoy this last two months of (including October) of the season, because it might be the last times you see Hamilton in a Rangers uniform.
