Schwarbomb tracker: Will Kyle Schwarber break Ryan Howard’s Phillies home run record?

In Tuesday night’s win over the Mets, Kyle Schwarber did something that Mike Schmidt, Dick Allen, and Chuck Klein never accomplished in a Phillies uniform: He hit his 50th home run in a season.

While Schwarber is ahead of that trio of Hall of Famers — and why not throw in Jim Thome, who maxed out at 47 with the Phillies — there is still one Phillies slugger whom Schwarber has yet to pass. And he’s going to have a tough time doing it.

Ryan Howard stands alone atop the Phillies’ single-season home run list with the 58 he hit during his 2006 National League MVP season. That’s the franchise record Schwarber will be chasing the rest of this month.

Can he do it?

» READ MORE: Kyle Schwarber hits 50th homer in Phillies’ win over Mets: ‘It’s something you don’t take lightly’

Schwarber has hit 50 home runs through 145 games. At the same point in the 2006 season, Howard had hit 56 home runs. Here’s a look at each slugger’s pace during their best home run seasons and the work Schwarber still has cut out for him.

With 17 games left (as of Wednesday morning), Schwarber still needs eight to catch Howard, meaning he will need to average a home run every other game. Of course, another four-homer game would go a long way.

» READ MORE: Eleven Phillies have hit 35+ home run seasons. Can you name them all? | Quiz

We’ve already given you some of the big names you can expect on this list, but here’s a look at the greatest home run seasons in Phillies history, so you can see how Schwarber, who has three of the top 10 seasons in team history, stacks up with some franchise legends. We’ve included everyone who has hit at least 40 home runs in a season.

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Perhaps most impressive for Schwarber, a pending free agent, has been his consistency. The Phillies’ designated hitter has at least 45 home runs in three of his four seasons with the team — and in the one season in which he didn’t (2024), he still finished with 38 while posting his highest batting average and on-base percentage in a Phillies uniform.

If the Phillies re-sign Schwarber this offseason — and owner John Middleton has indicated on more than one occasion that they would like to make that happen — perhaps he gets a couple OF more shots at Howard’s record … assuming he doesn’t catch fire this month and do it this year.

And if the team signs Schwarber to a lengthy extension, he could quickly climb the team’s all-time home run list.

» READ MORE: Kyle Schwarber has a strong MVP case. History shows being a DH will likely cost him.

With his 50th home run, Schwarber passed Willie Jones to move into 13th on the Phillies’ home run list with 181. He’s five shy of passing Johnny Callison to move into 12th, which could happen this month, but he’s 14 shy of Bobby Abreu, which likely means he’d have to return next season to have a chance at catching him.

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If Schwarber does return next season, you can easily see how quickly he can climb this board. With another 45-homer season (which has been about his average) — plus a few more this season — he could be closing in on Greg Luzinski and Chase Utley a year from now, and climbing into the top three in 2027.