Aaron Judge hit his 60th home run of his all-time season on Tuesday night, capping off a rally that culminated in a Giancarlo Stanton walk-off grand slam against the Pittsburgh Pirates.
Judge already holds the most home runs ever by a Yankee right-handed hitter, taking that distinction from Alex Rodriguez when he sailed his 55th home run over the wall.
Now just one home run behind Maris, Judge has 4 against Boston to break the American League record at home. He also could break the multi-home run record.
At certain points this season, Judge has been on pace to take aim at Barry Bonds’ all-time single season home run record of 73. Now, it seems a tad too far out of reach, with 16 games left to play and Judge 14 home runs away from that mark.
Interestingly enough, Judge’s best 16-game stretch this season came from July 14th – August 1st when he hit 13 home runs in that span. If he repeats that stretch to end the season, it would pin him 1 behind Bonds.
Judge has made anything seem possible this season, continuing his incredible pace even in the most dismal points of the Yankees season, when the offense evaporated around Judge.
This season, Judge is chasing more than home run history. In the history of professional baseball, 27 players have won a triple crown, leading their league in batting average, home runs, and runs batted in. Not since 2012, when Miguel Cabrera broke a 45-year drought, has a player won the baseball triple crown. Now, Aaron Judge has a chance to be the first player in 10 years to accomplish that feat.
Judge leads all of major league baseball in home runs with his 60, over 20 more than any other player. In RBI, he has a lead of 14. Those two categories are pretty much solidified. Where it will be interesting coming down to the wire is in the batting title race.
It’s a three-horse race to the end. Judge is hitting .316, and sits third in the standings. Ahead of him is Luis Araez of the Minnesota Twins and Xander Boegarts of the Boston Red Sox, hitting .317 and .316, respectively.
The prospect of history is evident and even in the brightest of lights, Judge has been able to remain composed and locked in. It seems almost certain he is going to finish off this season achieving maybe one of the single greatest seasons of all time. And in a contract year, no less.
