It appears than only two players--Jose Bautista and Curtis Granderson--will hit 40 home runs this season. Two other players--Albert Pujols and Mark Teixeira--are currently at 37 homers with a handful of games to play.

If you're old enough to have been an MLB fan in the 1980s or earlier, you remember how impressive it used to be to get to 40 homers in a season.

Once we were knee-deep in the Steroids Era, 40-HR hitters became commonplace. In 1996, MLB had 17 different guys hit at least 40 homers, including Todd Hundley, Vinny Castilla, Ken Caminiti, and (in case you hadn't heard) Brady Anderson.

Now, it's back to the future time. For the 3rd time in the last 4 years, we're going to have only 2 guys break the 40-homer barrier. Here's a look back at 40-homer players since 1980:
Year ▾ #Matching
2011 2 Jose Bautista / Curtis Granderson
2010 2 Jose Bautista / Albert Pujols
2009 5 Prince Fielder / Adrian Gonzalez / Ryan Howard / Albert Pujols / Mark Reynolds
2008 2 Adam Dunn / Ryan Howard
2007 5 Adam Dunn / Prince Fielder / Ryan Howard / Carlos Pena / Alex Rodriguez
2006 11 Carlos Beltran / Lance Berkman / Adam Dunn / Jermaine Dye / Travis Hafner / Ryan Howard / Andruw Jones / David Ortiz / Albert Pujols / Alfonso Soriano / Jim Thome
2005 9 Adam Dunn / Andruw Jones / Paul Konerko / Derrek Lee / David Ortiz / Albert Pujols / Manny Ramirez / Alex Rodriguez / Mark Teixeira
2004 9 Adrian Beltre / Barry Bonds / Adam Dunn / Jim Edmonds / Paul Konerko / David Ortiz / Albert Pujols / Manny Ramirez / Jim Thome
2003 10 Barry Bonds / Carlos Delgado / Jason Giambi / Javy Lopez / Albert Pujols / Alex Rodriguez / Richie Sexson / Sammy Sosa / Frank Thomas / Jim Thome
2002 8 Lance Berkman / Barry Bonds / Jason Giambi / Shawn Green / Rafael Palmeiro / Alex Rodriguez / Sammy Sosa / Jim Thome
2001 12 Barry Bonds / Troy Glaus / Luis Gonzalez / Shawn Green / Todd Helton / Phil Nevin / Rafael Palmeiro / Manny Ramirez / Alex Rodriguez / Richie Sexson / Sammy Sosa / Jim Thome
2000 16 Jeff Bagwell / Tony Batista / Barry Bonds / Carlos Delgado / Jim Edmonds / Jason Giambi / Troy Glaus / Ken Griffey / Vladimir Guerrero / Todd Helton / Richard Hidalgo / David Justice / Alex Rodriguez / Gary Sheffield / Sammy Sosa / Frank Thomas
1999 13 Jeff Bagwell / Carlos Delgado / Shawn Green / Ken Griffey / Vladimir Guerrero / Chipper Jones / Mark McGwire / Rafael Palmeiro / Mike Piazza / Manny Ramirez / Alex Rodriguez / Sammy Sosa / Greg Vaughn
1998 13 Albert Belle / Jose Canseco / Vinny Castilla / Andres Galarraga / Juan Gonzalez / Ken Griffey / Mark McGwire / Rafael Palmeiro / Manny Ramirez / Alex Rodriguez / Sammy Sosa / Greg Vaughn / Mo Vaughn
1997 12 Jeff Bagwell / Barry Bonds / Jay Buhner / Vinny Castilla / Andres Galarraga / Juan Gonzalez / Ken Griffey / Tino Martinez / Mark McGwire / Mike Piazza / Jim Thome / Larry Walker
1996 17 Brady Anderson / Albert Belle / Barry Bonds / Jay Buhner / Ellis Burks / Ken Caminiti / Vinny Castilla / Andres Galarraga / Juan Gonzalez / Ken Griffey / Todd Hundley / Mark McGwire / Gary Sheffield / Sammy Sosa / Frank Thomas / Greg Vaughn / Mo Vaughn
1995 4 Albert Belle / Dante Bichette / Jay Buhner / Frank Thomas
1994 2 Ken Griffey / Matt Williams
1993 5 Barry Bonds / Juan Gonzalez / Ken Griffey / David Justice / Frank Thomas
1992 2 Juan Gonzalez / Mark McGwire
1991 2 Jose Canseco / Cecil Fielder
1990 2 Cecil Fielder / Ryne Sandberg
1989 1 Kevin Mitchell
1988 1 Jose Canseco
1987 4 George Bell / Andre Dawson / Mark McGwire / Dale Murphy
1986 1 Jesse Barfield
1985 1 Darrell Evans
1984 1 Tony Armas
1983 1 Mike Schmidt
1982 0
1981 0
1980 3 Reggie Jackson / Ben Oglivie / Mike Schmidt