NEWSLETTER
The Dodgers are winning at a 70 percent clip this season, and Aaron Judge is flirting with baseball’s all-time single-season home run record. The 2022 MLB season is shaping up for a wild finish, and I’m super excited for it all.
Dodgers Winning Streak Reaches 10
The Los Angeles Dodgers played from behind on Wednesday night, a rare occurrence for the Dodgers of late, but they still found a way to mash their way out of an early deficit to the Minnesota Twins for an 8-5 win, their 10th straight.
Even Joey Gallo got into the fun last night:
The Dodgers capped a sweep of the Minnesota Twins, their third straight series sweep during this winning streak, one that has seen them outscore opponents 70-25.
The Dodgers are now 77-33 and lead the NL West by a whopping 16 games. Los Angeles is on pace to win 113 games if they can finish the season at their current winning percentage of 70 percent.
Judge Hits No. 45!
Aaron Judge hit his 45th home run last night, on August 10. Judge is now seven dingers shy of his career high of 52 (2017) and just 16 shy of Roger Maris’ Yankees record 61 home runs in a season with 50 possible games to play on the schedule.
Judge’s blast on Wednesday night was the 203rd of his career, which moved him into a tie with Roger Maris for the 16th-most home runs all-time in franchise history. It also kept him ahead of Roger Maris’ 1961 pace.
Judge’s 45th home run puts him on pace to hit 65 this season and four ahead of Roger Maris through 112 games. Judge is also flirting with the all-time MLB single-season record at this point, just two home runs behind Barry Bonds’ pace through 112 games in 2001 when Bonds hit 73.
Nolan Arenado Crushes at Coors (and Everywhere Else)
It was just like old times on Wednesday night, Nolan Arenado hitting home runs at Coors Field and making marvelous plays at the hot corner in Denver. Except for this time, it was in a Cardinals uniform, which led to a smattering of boos from the Rockies faithful at Coors Field, who cheered on their beloved slugger at one time.
Arenado made a play familiar to Rockies fans on defense. After all, he did win eight of his nine Gold Glove Awards in Denver.
After the game, Arenado told reporters that he wished that it wasn’t his old pal Charlie Blackmon that he had made the play on: “I wish I didn’t do it against Charlie,” Arenado said. “I wish it was against somebody else. That’s my boy.”
Arenado finished the game 3-for-5 with a home run and a double. His return to Coors reminds us of a label that Arenado had to wear for much of his career, one that attributed Arenado’s prowess at the plate to the thin Denver air and the comfort many hitters are afforded to hit at Coors Field 81 games a year.
“It used to bother me a lot, but I just got over it because I know who I am as a player,” Arenado told the Denver Post. “And I know who D.J. thinks he is as a player. And Matt Holliday, too.”
D.J. LeMahieu has done well at the dish since exiting Colorado, winning himself a batting title in The Bronx with the Yankees. Matt Holiday had a fine career after his time with the Rockies. Arenado himself is doing just fine in St. Louis.
Arenado’s home run last night in Colorado was his 23rd of the season, and he’s second in baseball in wRC+ (201). Arenado is amid a 160 wRC+ and 6.0 fWAR season and started at third base for the National League All-Star team this season. I’m sure many hitters have made a career out of Colorado’s hitting benefits, but Arenado is not one of them.
