Clearing the bases. The four-run homer. The grand salami. Those are cute ways of referring to grand slams. In 2024, the National League has been able to reference them a lot, but the American League? Not so much.

With about two-thirds of the season behind us, the NL is on pace to potentially break its single-season high of 90 slams set in 2021. The AL, on the other hand, is on track to have its lowest total since 2016, when they hit 51.

The AL decline makes sense. MLB offense is down across the board this season. Teams are averaging 4.42 runs per game and 1.12 home runs per game, the second-lowest amounts in both categories since 2015.

Don’t tell these numbers to the Milwaukee Brewers and Pittsburgh Pirates. These NL teams are tied for the most grand slams this season, with seven each.

As for players, there are 15 guys with two slams each. No one has hit a third yet:

• J.D. Martinez
• Joey Bart
• Jake Bauers
• Bryce Harper
• Rhys Hoskins
• Brice Turang
• Jonathan India
• Bryan Reynolds
• Adley Rutschman
• Daulton Varsho
• Cal Raleigh
• Jazz Chisholm Jr.
• Freddie Freeman
• Teoscar Hernández
• Jurickson Profar

The most slams hit in a single season is 176, which came in 2000. The next-closest mark is 159 grand slams hit in 2021.

The Guardians and Athletics hold the record for most grand slams in a single season by a team with 14. The Guardians accomplished this in 2006 and the Athletics in 2000.

The most grand slams hit by a player in a single season is six, accomplished by both Don Mattingly in 1987 and Travis Hafner in 2006.