Aaron Judge is having a season for the ages and, increasingly, one for the record books.
The New York Yankees slugger hit his 57th home run of the season on Wednesday against the Baltimore Orioles, scoring three in a ninth-inning comeback attempt. New York ended up falling short and lost 9-7.
In addition to bringing Judge closer to the 60-homer threshold with four games remaining, the homer gave Judge his 142nd RBI of the season. That makes him the first player since Prince Fielder and Ryan Howard in 2009 to record 140 RBIs in a single season. Judge recorded 131 RBIs in his 62-homer season in 2022.
Both numbers appear to be part of a strong argument for Judge to win his second career MVP award this offseason. In addition to home runs and RBIs, Judge entered Wednesday leading the league in walks (130), on-base percentage (.459), slugging percentage (.699), OPS+ (222), total bases (383) and bWAR (10.4).
As for the Yankees, their record is 92-66 and their magic number to clinch the AL East title is one. Their next chance to clinch the title will be against the Orioles on Thursday in a clash between Gerrit Cole and Corbin Burnes.
