As Yankees struggle, Aaron Judge inches closer to home run record

Being a Yankee fan has not been easy over the past two months; the team started the season on top, going 56-21 from April to June—on pace for 118 wins, which would break the all-time record for wins in a single season. It seemed like this was finally the year that the Yankees would get back to the World Series, a height they have not reached since 2009.

But their success unfortunately took a turn as July hit and the dog days of summer mounted on the shoulders of the league leaders. Injuries took over the team, causing leaders like first baseman Anthony Rizzo and outfielder Giancarlo Stanton to miss significant time with back and Achilles tendon complications, respectively. From the start of July through early September, the Yankees have gone 29-35, enough to drop them to fifth best in the league. August was especially dreadful for the Yankees, as the team finished the month with a standing of 10-18, their worst since Sept. 1991.

The one constant in this year’s chaotic lineup has been outfielder Aaron Judge. Judge, who has been the face of the Yankees franchise since his introduction to the team in 2016, is in the midst of a long-awaited MVP-caliber season. As of Sept. 12, 2022, the towering outfielder has amassed 55 home runs (first in Major League Baseball), 121 runs batted in (first), and a .307 batting average (eighth). While the added RBIs and batting average are what have kept him afloat in the MVP race against Los Angeles Angels pitcher and hitter Shohei Ohtani, Judge’s home runs are the main statistic that Yankees and baseball fans everywhere have been keeping their eyes on.

Judge’s 55 home runs throughout 141 games indicate an impressive pace seen only a handful of other times in baseball history. He is the 14th player to ever hit 55 home runs in a season, and only the third since the end of the “steroid era” that inflated home run stats throughout the ‘90s and early 2000s. Only two players, Babe Ruth and Roger Maris, both Yankees, have ever hit 60 home runs in a season without the use of performance-enhancing drugs.

The legitimacy of the “true” single-season home run record is one of the most argued-about topics in the game. When Roger Maris hit his 61 home runs in 1961 without the use of steroids, it was thought that no one would ever surpass that mark. However, from 1998-2001, this record was surpassed six times, with the most hits in a year coming from San Francisco Giants slugger Barry Bonds. Bonds hit 73 home runs in 2001 with the added help of performance-enhancing drugs, en route to become the all-time career home run leader. The question has therefore evolved into which player is the rightful record holder, Maris or Bonds.

If Aaron Judge reaches 62 home runs this season, he will pass Maris, breaking what many believe to be the “true” record and one that has been standing somewhat unchallenged for 61 years. For those that believe Bonds holds the record, Judge passing Maris’s mark will make him at the very least the all-time American League single-season home run king. As the Yankees struggle to regain their early dominance over the last month of the regular season, all eyes will be on Aaron Judge and his race to 62.