Mike Trout home run daily: This is 40

Welcome to the Mike Trout home run daily, where we look back at every home run Mike Trout has hit so far in his career, one game at a time. We use a random number generator to pick each game, and today brings us back to late in the 2015 season.

The Angels were in a playoff chase in the final two weeks of the season, and September 22, 2015 was the middle game of a series against one of the teams they were chasing, the Astros in Houston.

Trout struck early in this one, with a two-run shot against Lance McCullers Jr. in the first inning, followed by a solo shot by Albert Pujols.

This was the 40th home run of the season for Trout, his first time reaching that plateau (he also did it in 2019). This was just the third 40-homer season in Angels history, joining Troy Glaus, who hit 47 home runs in 2000 and 41 more in 2001.

Pujols’ home run was his 36th of the season, and he’d hit four more, joining Glaus and Trout in the 40-homer club.

This win for the Angels started a seven-game winning streak that saw them move into the second wild card spot with only five games left in the season, and just two games back in the division. But they missed the playoffs that year by one game, behind these Astros.