The Yankees generated 38 runs over the weekend in Atlanta, completing a three-game sweep by scoring 20 on Sunday. Yet, they picked up no games in the standings on the Blue Jays, who scored 29 runs in sweeping the Tigers.
So, the Yankees did make a dent in Toronto’s lead for most runs in the majors – a minor dent. Through Sunday, the Blue Jays had 718 runs, or 91 more than the second-place Yankees.
The Blue Jays have a chance to win the run-scoring crown by the largest margin since the 1976 Big Red Machine — led by George Foster, Ken Griffey Sr., Joe Morgan and Pete Rose — scored 87 runs more than any other club.
The last team to outscore the majors by 100-plus runs was the 1953 Brooklyn Dodgers, who had a margin of 154 runs with Roy Campanella, Gil Hodges and Duke Snider each driving in at least 120. (An aside: That was Vin Scully’s fourth year doing Dodgers games – what a blessing for the sport he has decided to come back for his 67th year in 2016.)
The largest differential between the team with the most runs and the runner-up was courtesy of the 1931 Yankees, who scored an MLB-record 1,067 runs – 182 more than the Indians. Lou Gehrig drove in 185 runs, Babe Ruth 162.