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Aaron Judge did it again on Monday – he saw a pitch that he could hit and proceeded to send it 473-feet away from home plate and into the stands in left field to give the Yankees a two-run lead over the Twins that they wouldn’t give up in front of their home crowd in the Bronx.
Judge has hit home runs in three straight games and has five in his last seven games. He now has 54 total dingers on the year and is on pace for 65, which would put him four ahead of Roger Maris for the most in American League history.
He’s also doing this while basically carrying a beat up and struggling Yankees team on his back, which makes this historic home run chase even more impressive.
Oh, and he’s doing this in a year in which he bet on himself with free agency coming up and is now just adding big numbers to the salary request he will be making to the Yankees – or any other teams that want to think about signing him – this offseason.
Both of those situations makes this run that’s on feel even more ridiculously cool than home run chases that we’ve seen in the past.
The Yankees have had their struggles since the All-Star break back in July and saw their huge lead in the AL East shrink to as low as four games. But seemingly every time they’ve needed a lift, Judge has been there to hit a ball to the moon and make sure his guys remain on top.
Look at this stat from just a few days ago and you’ll see how incredible he has been since July:
Aaron Judge has an MLB-high 20 home runs since the All-Star break.
The rest of the Yankees have 30 HR over that span. pic.twitter.com/E5ohxSPKh0
— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) September 4, 2022
Adding another huge wrinkle to this is that Judge is doing this for the Yankees, one of the most storied franchises in all of sports. With that comes a ton of scrutiny and pressure and he seems to be handling it all pretty darn well.
Heck, last night he and his wife were seen having a good time at the U.S. Open. Pressure? What pressure?!
Aaron Judge takes in US Open with wife after crushing 54th homer https://t.co/hsqrnvnPsH pic.twitter.com/UHqYKcRy52
— New York Post (@nypost) September 6, 2022
Judge is carrying a legendary franchise to the playoffs, hitting the few good pitches he gets to see a mile into the stands, and having nice nights out in New York City.
It’s good to be Aaron Judge. And it’s about to become even better for the man who wears No. 99.
Quick hits: Why we see tie-dyed Lithuanian basketball shirts at Grateful Dead shows… Jose Altuve looked safe on controversial play… Possible NFL MVPs… And more.
– Bryan Kalbrosky’s story on why we still see tie-dyed Lithuanian basketball shirts at Grateful Dead shows is pretty darn good.
– This camera angle sure makes it look like Jose Altuve was safe at home on a controversial play last night in Houston.
– Prince Grimes breaks down 11 players who could be named NFL MVP this season.
– This U.S. Open fan had the best reaction to Frances Tiafoe’s huge point late in his win over Rafael Nadal.
