New York Yankees outfielder Aaron Judge is on his quest to history.
On Wednesday afternoon, he hit his 55th home run of the season and keeps inching closer to a revered mark in the franchise and in MLB as a whole.
Former Yankee Roger Maris hit 61 round-trippers in 1961, and that was the record in MLB until 1998.
That year, Mark McGwire hit 70, and three years later, Barry Bonds belted 73.
That’s still the record to this day.
While Judge will have a hard time hitting 73 given that we are already in September, 61 are very much in range for him.
In fact, after his 55th blast, he is on pace to hit 66.
Or, as Bob Nightengale of USA Today put it on Wednesday, “Aaron Judge is two games ahead of Roger Maris’ AL home run record pace of 61 homers in 1961.”
Aaron Judge is two games ahead of Roger Maris’ AL home run record pace of 61 homers in 1961.
— Bob Nightengale (@BNightengale) September 7, 2022
Judge Has Been Able To Overcome Every Obstacle To This Point
Lots of things can happen from here on out: there are injuries, slumps, pitchers refusing to throw him strikes consistently, and other potential obstacles.
So far, it hasn’t mattered: Judge keeps hitting homer after homer, and as long as he is healthy, reaching 62 homers should be a matter of “when”, not “if.”
He is just a complete offensive machine, excellent beyond his obvious game-changing power.
After hitting his home run today, his slash line is .302/.403/.686 with a 1.089 OPS.
Shohei Ohtani deserves MVP votes but at this point, it’s hard to envision Judge losing the award.
The Yankees’ All-Star also has 118 RBI, 110 runs scored, and even 15 stolen bases to his name.
The man just can’t stop producing, and he certainly can’t stop hitting home runs.
He is awesome.
