Aaron Judge of the Yankees is Hotter than the Weather

New York Yankees slugger Aaron Judge hit a pair of home runs to lead the Yankees to a 10-3 win over the Colorado Rockies in New York on August 25th. The home runs were his 50th and 51st of the season, making him the fifth player in major league history to have three 50 homer seasons. He hit 52 in his rookie season of 2017 and 62 in 2022, breaking Roger Maris’ single season American League home run record.

Judge has been putting up some insane numbers this year, on his way to an almost sure AL MVP award. He leads the majors in home runs and RBIs (122), on base percentage (.465), slugging (.732), and OPS (1.197). His batting average is .333, second best in the majors behind Kansas City’s Bobby Witt Jr. Witt may be the only thing standing between Judge and an AL Triple Crown. As it is, Judge is within range of a career high in RBIs (he had 131 in that 2022 season, when he won the MVP award) and his AL home run record is not out of the question. But before the awards are handed out, the Yankees are in a tight race in the AL East. Going into action on August 27th, the Yankees (78-54) lead the Baltimore Orioles (76-56) by two games. The Yankees and Orioles have three remaining regular season games, in Baltimore on September 24-26.