Home runs and strikeouts were the pre-break stories
There have been 3343 home runs hit in the 1326 major-league games this season, an average of 2.52 per game. That’s the second-highest homers-per-game average at the All-Star break in MLB history. (That figure was at 2.56 in 2000, before falling off to 2.34 at season’s end, which still stands as the all-time record.) The average of 16.48 strikeouts per game this year is the highest at the break in MLB history.