New York Yankees slugger Aaron Judge is now on pace to be just the third player in Major League Baseball history to have multiple 60-home run seasons.
Judge homered twice in the Yankees’ 8-1 win over the Cleveland Guardians on Wednesday night, which gives him an MLB-leading 47 home runs for the season. The Yankees have 35 games remaining in the regular season, and Judge has played in all but two of his team’s games thus far in 2024. Assuming Judge plays in all of the Yankees’ remaining games, his current clip puts him on pace for exactly 60 homers.
Judge’s first and to date only 60-homer campaign came in 2022, when he hit 62. That stands as the all-time single-season record in the American League.
Overall, there have been nine 60-homer seasons in MLB history, including Judge’s in 2022. Barry Bonds of course leads all comers with his 73 home runs in 2001. As for the elite company Judge could join, Mark McGwire (1998, 1999) and Sammy Sosa (1998, 1999, 2001) are the only hitters to have more than one 60-homer season to their credit. Babe Ruth just misses the group, as he hit 60 in 1927 and 59 in 1921.
Overall, Judge this season is authoring one of the most impressive individual campaigns of his era. The 32-year-old outfielder now owns a 2024 slash line of .334/.465/.722 (226 OPS+) with 78 extra-base hits, 322 total bases, and 103 walks. Not surprisingly, Judge leads the majors in a host of offensive categories. As well, his current WAR of 8.9 also leads all comers. He’s the favorite to win the American League MVP award for the second time in his career, although Bobby Witt Jr. of the Kansas City Royals is also very much in the mix.
While Judge is perhaps baseball’s best hitter in any context, he’s no doubt benefitted this season from batting behind fellow outfielder and pending free agent Juan Soto. Soto’s current OBP of .433 means he’s very often on base in front of Judge and thus putting opposing pitchers in less of a position to pitch around Judge. The tandem near the top of the lineup has been one of the most productive pairings ever glimpsed.
As for Judge’s and Soto’s Yankees, the Wednesday win over Cleveland nudged them back to the top of the AL East standings, as they now lead the Baltimore Orioles by a half-game. They also lead the Guardians by a half-game in the race for top seed in the AL playoff bracket.
