New York Yankees player Aaron Judge hit his 61st home run in the 2022 season on Wednesday night, tying Roger Maris’ MLS record for most home runs in a season. Historic judge’s outburst against the Blue Jays’ exemption came from easygoing Tim Maiza at the Rogers Center in Toronto.
“It is an incredible honor… words cannot describe,” the judge said after the match. (video), adding that it was a “relief” to get to #61.
Here is the main event that the Judge achieved at home. The ball landed in the Toronto arenaso the Yankees were able to get it back without any problem.
No. 61 snapped a seven-game drought at home for Judge, marking his second longest spell of the season. He also went seven matches between the hosts from April 14 to 21. The highest level in a judge’s season is nine games without Homer from August 13-21.
It should be noted that the judge had the opportunity to get to his home number 62 on Wednesday evening as well, although he stopped in the eighth inning. The judge walked 13 times between 60 and 61 times on his turf — only one of the 13 was intentional — including five times on Tuesday and Wednesday alone.
Judge, who now hit 10 home runs in September, recently made only his ninth season out of 60 games in Major League Baseball history. Also, the judge’s No. 61 broke his relationship with Babe Ruth and now ties him to the Maris for the most amount in a single season in the history of the Yankees franchise.
Here’s more on the historical Judge’s explosion.
Mom and Maris Jr. were at home
Judge’s mother, Patti, and Roger Maris Jr. were present and sat together at the Rogers Center. Here they are when the judge hit his historic blast:
The Judge family and the Maris family have attended every Yankees game since Judge hit his 60th home run last Tuesday.
The new AL leaderboard
There was some great consistency in this running chase. Maris hit 61 in 1961 while wearing number 9. Judge tied Maris’ record 61 years later while wearing number 99. Baseball can be great sometimes.
Here’s the new AL season one leaderboard:
- Aaron Judge, 2022 Yankees: 61 and counting
- Roger Maris, 1961 Yankees: 61
- Babe Ruth, 1927 Yankees: 60
- Babe Ruth, 1921 Yankees: 59
- Jamie Foxx, Athletics 1931: 58
- Hank Greenberg, Tigers 1938: 58
The Yankees have seven more regular season games left after Wednesday, so Judge has a very good chance of breaking the tie with Maris and adding to his group. He’s scored as many as seven home runs in seven games this season.
Triple Crown
Judge chases much more than Maris’ record. It is also chasing a triple crown. He entered play Wednesday with a league-leading batting average of 0.314 and pulled it off a bit with a 1 for 4 night. Here is the updated AL batting race:
- Aaron Judge, Yankees: .31341
- Louis Araz, twins: .31332
- Xander Bogarts, Red Sox: .30867
Not surprisingly, Judge leads the league by large margins in home races (61) and hits at (130). The Triple Crown will go down in the batting race and whether the judge can hold off the Arraez and Bogaerts into the final week of the season.
Judge is looking to become the first Triple Crown winner since Miguel Cabrera in 2012. Overall, the Triple Crown has only been achieved 12 times since the RBI became an official statistic in 1920.
Oh yeah, he’d be a free agent
Judge refused to extend a $213.5 million contract in spring training and has been able to make a lot more money this season. Probably more than 100 million dollars. All indications are that Judge wants to remain a Yankee and the Yankees want to keep him, but they need to make a contract. They were unable to do so earlier this year.
No. 62?
The Yankees have a day off Thursday before returning home for a three-game series of the weekend with the Orioles. This is the last streak of the regular season at Yankee Stadium, so Judge’s last chance to make his 62nd home run in front of the home crowd. Righty Austin Voth is expected to start Friday’s game with the O’s. He never faced the judge.