How many 30+ homer hitters will we have this season?

• Ryan Braun hit his 38th homer of the season last night as the Brewers damaged the Cardinals 5-4, in 13 innings.
• Edwin Encarnacion hit his 38th homer of the season last night as the Jays attempt to overtake the Red Sox for fourth place in the AL East
• Giancarlo Stanton hit his 31st homer of the season last night as the Marlins roughed up Stephen Strasburg and the Nationals, 9-7, in 10 innings.
• Adam Jones hit his 29th homer of the season last night as the Orioles failed in their attempt to gain full control of first place losing to the Yankees, 8-5.

These homers and Chase Headley hitting numbers 25 & 26, Prince Fielder, Jason Heyward, and A.J. Pierzynski each hitting their 25th of the season last night got the Billy-Ball.com newsroom wondering how many players this season will reach the 30 homer threshold?

So far, we have 11 already at 30 homers and another 20 within striking distance:

Rk	Player	HR
1	Josh Hamilton	39
2	Edwin Encarnacion	38
3	Ryan Braun	38
4	Adam Dunn	38
5	Miguel Cabrera	35
6	Curtis Granderson	34
7	Josh Willingham	33
8	Jay Bruce	32
9	Giancarlo Stanton	31
10	Adrian Beltre	30
11	Mark Trumbo	30
12	Robinson Cano	29
13	Adam LaRoche	29
14	Albert Pujols	29
15	Adam Jones	29
16	Carlos Beltran	28
17	Josh Reddick	28
18	Corey Hart	27
19	Jose Bautista	27
20	Jason Kubel	27
21	Pedro Alvarez	27
22	Alfonso Soriano	26
23	Ike Davis	26
24	Chase Headley	26
25	Prince Fielder	25
26	Mike Trout	25
27	Ryan Ludwick	25
28	Jason Heyward	25
29	A.J. Pierzynski	25
30	Matt Holliday	25
31	Billy Butler	25

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used Generated 9/8/2012.

How does this compare with past seasons?

Even if all 31 batters end up with 30+ homers, it will do no better than tie for eighth on the all-time list of most 30+ homer hitters in a season.

Here are the top 10 seasons in which there have been at least 30 30+ homer hitters:

Rk	Year	#Matching
1	2000	47
2	1999	45
3	1996	43
4	2001	41
5	2004	37
6	2006	34
7	1998	33
8	1997	31
9	2009	30
10	2003	30

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used Generated 9/8/2012.

And if all the batters who have at least 26 at this point reach the 30 mark, that would bring the total to 24, tying the number who did it last season, the second fewest since 2000.

Here's a look at the number of 30+ homer hitters each year since 2000:

Rk	Year	#Matching
1	2000	47
2	2001	41
3	2004	37
4	2006	34
5	2009	30
6	2003	30
7	2008	28
8	2002	28
9	2005	27
10	2007	26
11	2011	24
12	2010	18
13	2012	11

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used Generated 9/8/2012.