Playing the numbers game for the first half of the season

The first half of the MLB season brought a lot of surprises, from a record number of home runs to two teams on pace to win well over 100 games. Here is a by-the-numbers look at the first half:

57—Home runs New York Yankees rookie Aaron Judge (who has 30) is on pace to hit. That would surpass the rookie record of 49 set by Mark McGwire for the Oakland Athletics in 1989.

.500—Slugging percentage of the Houston Astros, the second team since 1990 with a slugging percentage of at least .500 at the All-Star break. The other was the 1996 Seattle Mariners (.503), who were led by Ken Griffey Jr., Alex Rodriguez and Jay Buhner.

3,343—Home runs hit before the All-Star game, surpassing the record of 3,312 set in 2000. The fewest home runs hit before the break was 407 in 1943.

21,855—Strikeouts, second-most all-time behind 2014 (21,935). The six highest totals all-time are from 2012 to 2017.

517—Successful sacrifice bunts in the first half, the fewest total since the All-Star game began in 1933.

411—Triples in the first half, the lowest total since 1995 (349).

2—Teams with at least 60 victories at the All-Star break, the first time it has happened.

37 and 17—Complete games and complete-game shutouts in the first half, the lowest totals in history. The old marks were 43 and 20, set in 2016.

5.58—Average number of innings pitched by starters in the first half of the season, the lowest total in history.

.163—Batting average of opponents hitting against Washington Nationals starter Max Scherzer, the lowest at the All-Star break and one of only three pitchers to have an opponent average below .170 at the break. The others were Pedro Martinez (.164 with the Boston Red Sox in 2000) and Luis Tiant (.166 with the Cleveland Indians in 1968).

7—Relievers (Greg Holland, Alex Colome, Brandon Kintzler, Craig Kimbrel, Roberto Osuna, Fernando Rodney and Kenley Jansen) with at least 20 saves. The last time there were fewer than seven was 1995 (Randy Myers, Jose Mesa and Heathcliff Slocumb).

5—Teams with a winning record in the National League, including three from the West (the Dodgers, Arizona and Colorado).

100—Losses the Philadelphia Phillies and San Francisco Giants are on pace to surpass. If they do it, they would become the sixth set of NL teams to lose at least 100 games in a season since 1960. The other years were 2012 (Astros and Chicago Cubs), 1993 (New York Mets and San Diego Padres), 1985 (Pittsburgh Pirates and Giants), 1969 (Montreal Expos and Padres) and 1962 (Mets and Cubs).

Houston.mitchell@latimes.com

Twitter: @latimeshouston