Whiff! MLB sets strikeout record for 12th straight season

Major League Baseball has set its season strikeout record for the 12th straight season.

Batters struck out 41,098 times through Monday, closing in on the 41,207 of last season. Philadelphia and Washington combined for 19 strikeouts in the first game of their day-night doubleheader, and there were more than 100 strikeouts in the night games by around 9 p.m. EDT.

Strikeouts broke 40,000 for the first time in 2017, when there were 40,104.

Before the record run started in 2008, the mark had been 32,404 in 2001. Strikeouts totaled 29,937 in 1996 before reaching the 30,000 for the first time the following year.

MLB also set a record for home runs this season. The league entered Tuesday with 6,550, surpassing the mark of 6,105 set in 2017.