NEW YORK — Aaron Judge continued cementing himself among major league baseball’s all-time greats Wednesday, tying a record by reaching 50 home runs in a season for the fourth time in the New York Yankees‘ 8-1 victory against the Chicago White Sox.
Judge delivered his 50th home run with a three-run shot to right-center field off right-hander Jonathan Cannon to give the Yankees a 3-1 lead in the second inning. The slugger added his 51st homer with a solo swat against left-hander Cam Booser in the eighth to conclude the rout.
He is seemingly matching or surpassing all-time greats every week.
Babe Ruth, Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa are the only other major leaguers to record four seasons with at least 50 home runs. With his two blasts, Judge also tied Mickey Mantle for second on the Yankees’ all-time list with his 46th career multihomer game. Only Ruth (68) has posted more multihomer games as a Yankee.
Earlier this month, Judge passed Yogi Berra and Joe DiMaggio for fourth on the Yankees’ all-time home run list. On Tuesday, he tied Ted Williams for the most intentional walks in a season for an AL player with 34.
For now, Judge said, he is not thinking about his individual feats.
“If you sit back and admire it, you’re going to stop your momentum,” Judge said. “That would stop the momentum. A lot of work that needs to be done. Hopefully, I have a long career here and we do some special things and we can talk about it at the end.”
The win, along with Toronto‘s loss to the Boston Red Sox, moved New York into a tie atop the American League East standings with the Blue Jays with four games left. But the Yankees would have to finish with a better record than the Blue Jays to win the division title since Toronto holds the head-to-head tiebreaker.
“If we just take care of what we do, we’ll be where we want to be,” Judge said. “Our goal to start the season ultimately is to go out there and win a World Series, get back there, but it starts by winning your division. That’s our goal. We just got to keep it moving forward.”
The Yankees winning their first World Series since 2009 would almost certainly require a healthy Judge patrolling right field with enough arm strength to avoid being a liability. They received a positive indicator Wednesday when Judge unleashed an 85.8 mph throw from right field to second base on Colson Montgomery‘s double to the wall in the second inning.
The throw was Judge’s hardest since sustaining a right flexor strain in late July — an injury that forced him onto the injured list and limited him to designated hitter for a month upon his return.
“That was, by far, the most he’s let one go” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “So hopefully that’s a good sign continuing as we move forward.”
At the plate, Judge is closing the regular season by punishing pitchers. Since Sept. 11, he’s batting .439 with seven home runs and a 1.572 OPS in 13 games. The Yankees are 10-3 and have erased the Blue Jays’ three-game lead in the division over that stretch.
“I feel like the last couple of weeks he’s really started to swing the bat really well again,” Boone said. “And having just really good at-bats, night in and night out, at-bat after at-bat.”
The historic production generated a familiar sound Wednesday.
The first “M-V-P” chants surfaced in the second inning as Judge rounded the bases the first time. They continued sporadically throughout the night until a final burst was showered upon Judge in the ninth inning, minutes after slugging No. 51.
With four games left in the regular season, the race for AL MVP between Judge and Seattle Mariners catcher Cal Raleigh has generated intense debate, but there is no debating the Yankees captain’s place among the all-time greats.
“He’s just so revered and he leads a really strong culture in there,” Boone said, referring to the Yankees’ clubhouse. “Those guys are tight because it starts with him, and he makes it a point to make sure everyone is heard, seen … a part of it.”
