NEWSLETTER
Judge’s 60th home run of the season sparked a wild comeback for the Yankees and came with plenty of reaction around the internet last night. Let’s get into some of it.
Aaron Judge Hits No. 60!
Aaron Judge is just one home run shy of Roger Maris’ Yankees single-season Yankee and AL record for home runs in a season after his 60th home run of the season sparked a wild ninth-inning rally for the Yankees on Tuesday night in The Bronx.
Judge became the sixth player in MLB history to hit 60 or more home runs in a season, and here’s how his pace stacks up against the two players to hit 70-plus home runs in a season through 147 team games:
- Barry Bonds: 64
- Mark McGwire: 62
- Aaron Judge: 60
Here’s a fun story on Judge’s 60th home run last night from Jeff Passan:
Some more reaction from Judge’s big night across Twitter:
The kids that caught No. 60 gave it back and got to meet Judge, got a signed bat.
Would you give it back so freely? I have to think the implicit promise of a signed bat and a meeting is worth handing it over. After all, it’s not like it’s valueless. Not by a longshot.
Has the Ohtani v. Judge MVP Debate Shifted?
There’s been much debate this season as to who deserves (read: deserves, not will win) the American League MVP award, Aaron Judge or Shohei Ohtani.
Personally, I’ve been of the opinion for much of the season that Ohtani is the easy choice for the MVP award this season (and maybe every season), but Judge’s historical 2022 campaign is reaching a point in which I’m starting to be swayed in the other direction.
Yes, Ohtani’s season has been magical, and he’s accomplished things that we might never see happen again, but Aaron Judge is on the verge of breaking the Yankees and American League single-season home run record and winning the Triple Crown in the American League with 15 games to play this season.
While Ohtani is making history in his own right, we haven’t seen a 60-home run season in over two decades, and we haven’t seen a Triple Crown in baseball in a decade (Miguel Cabrera in 2012). Judge accomplishing both seems like enough to give him a slight advantage over Ohtani.
The 2022 White Sox are Dead
The Cleveland series was a must-sweep series for the Chicago White Sox if they hoped to catch the Guardians in the AL Central, and they couldn’t even manage to win the first game last night.
Dylan Cease turned in six innings of one-run ball despite his fastball being essentially non-existent, and the White Sox even led the Guardians 3-1 in the seventh inning. Then, the White Sox White Sox-ed all over the game, blowing the lead and eventually self-destructing in the 11th inning. That effectively ended their chances of catching Cleveland in the AL Central, and in hilariously fitting fashion.
Jay Cuda posted a video of all the defensive mishaps and blunders that plagued the White Sox this season. I suppose that’s what happens when everyone in the outfield not named Luis Robert (who played the second half injured) or AJ Pollock is a first baseman or DH.
Odds and Ends:
- The Blue Jays erupted for 18 runs last night, but the Phillies scored 11 of their own, making that the second-highest scoring contest of the 2022 season. The first? Toronto’s 28-5 drubbing of the Red Sox earlier this summer.
- Lost in all the Aaron Judge No. 60 hype is the fact that Giancarlo Stanton hit a 118(!) MPH walk-off GRAND SLAM last night down three runs in the 9th inning.
- Giants legend Buster Posey is now a part of the Giants ownership group. Posey joins the San Francisco Baseball Associates LLC ownership group as the 31st principal partner. Posey will also serve on the ownership group’s board of directors.
- I think this is pretty good, right?
- The Padres padded their Wild Card lead by beating the Cardinals 5-0 on Tuesday night and then trolled the Cardinals in a fashion that will surely give some Cubs fans a smile.
- The Braves punched the ticket to the Postseason with a 3-2 win over the Nationals last night. Atlanta trails the Mets by one game in the NL East, so that division battle is far from over as the regular season winds down.
- Here’s a clip of all 60 Aaron Judge home runs this season for those interested in that sort o
- According to the New York Post, the three leagues are soon expected to work with Diamond Sports (the Sinclair subsidiary that operates the 21 RSNs) to orchestrate a buyout of the networks. That would give the leagues direct control over the RSNs that have the local broadcast rights to 14 MLB teams, 16 NBA teams, and 12 NHL teams.
