Aaron Judge is doing it again. The New York Yankees captain crushed his 55th home run of the season on Saturday night, a 458-foot moon shot to left-center field off Toronto Blue Jays reliever Chad Green, as the Yankees moved into a first-place tie in the AL East.
Judge is now the only player in Major League history to hit at least 50 home runs in three separate seasons. He passed Babe Ruth and Sammy Sosa on that list with the swing on Saturday, a piece of history that the sold-out Yankee Stadium crowd immediately recognized.
The Yankees are surging at exactly the right time. New York has won 12 of its last 15 games and now sits tied with the Baltimore Orioles atop the AL East. The two teams meet next weekend in a four-game series in the Bronx that will effectively decide the division.
Judge’s numbers are absurd. Through 138 games, he is hitting .318 with 55 home runs, 118 RBIs, and an OPS of 1.107. He is going to win his third MVP award in five seasons in a walk. The only question at this point is whether he can push to 62 and match his own franchise record.
The Yankees offense has evolved beyond just Judge. Anthony Volpe has developed into a legitimate All-Star at shortstop. Ben Rice is finally healthy and mashing at first base. And offseason acquisition Jazz Chisholm Jr. has been a stabilizing force at second base with his glove and speed.
The pitching is the reason this team is going to make a deep playoff run. Gerrit Cole is healthy and pitching like an ace again. Max Fried has been everything the front office hoped for after signing him last winter. And the bullpen, anchored by Luke Weaver and Jonathan Loaisiga, has been top three in the American League.
The Orioles are not going away. Baltimore has scored the most runs in baseball this month, and Adley Rutschman is having a monster season behind the plate. The AL East race is a coin flip, and every one of the next 20 games will matter.
The Yankees have a slim four-game cushion over Boston and Toronto for the top wild card spot. Winning the division still matters because it means avoiding the wild card series, which has quietly become a graveyard for good teams.
Judge chasing 62 is going to be must-watch television for the rest of September. The Yankees chasing October is the real story. Either way, the Bronx has not felt this alive since 2022, and the fans are ready for whatever comes next.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.