In a world where baseballs have turned into spaceballs, the Baltimore Orioles have already become the greatest launching pad in MLB history.

A solo blast by Austin Meadows of the Tampa Bay Rays in the third inning of Thursday night's game marked the 259th home run allowed by Orioles pitchers, breaking the single-season record held by the 2016 Cincinnati Reds. And we haven't even made it to September.

The O's have given up home runs in bunches all season long. Before the end of June, they had already set a record for games allowing five or more homers. That prompted manager Brandon Hyde to quip: "It’s just not real good. Homers are up around the league, obviously, but we’ve given up more than our fair share.

"I think a little bit of it’s growing pains, a little bit of it’s poor execution, but when you have a team with a 6.00 ERA and you’ve given up 1,400 homers so far, it’s hard to win games."

A slight exaggeration, but point well taken.

The Orioles aren't alone. They're just another example of Major League Baseball's record-setting home run barrage this season.

Every day from July 15 to August 20, at least one player hit two or more home runs in a game.

And as of Wednesday, 34 players have already set their career highs for home runs in a season.

Teams are averaging 1.41 homers per game in 2019, which would shatter the existing mark of 1.26 per game from two years ago. That's a pace for a total of 6,836 home runs over a full season — or 731 more than the 2017's record of 6,105.

Follow USA TODAY Sports' Steve Gardner on Twitter @SteveAGardner.