New York Yankees Aaron Judge's American League Triple Crown Watch
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New York Yankees superstar Aaron Judge's historic season continues to gain momentum.
Sunday, he hit his 58th and 59th home runs of the 2022 Major League Baseball season. He's now just two home runs shy of tying Yankees great Roger Maris for the American League single-season home run record, a record that hasn't been touched in 61 years. Judge is currently on pace to finish the season with 65 dingers.
Judge went 3-for-4 with four RBI Sunday in the Yankees' 12-8 victory over the Brewers at American Family Field in Milwaukee.
Judge entered the day batting .312, and boosted his batting average to .316. He's now just one point behind the American League leader, Minnesota Twins utility man Luis Arráez, in batting average.
Judge has a very realistic shot at winning Major League Baseball's second Triple Crown since 1967, and the first since Detroit Tigers first baseman Miguel Cabrera accomplished the feat in 2012. In fact, Judge has to be the favorite to lead the American League in all three Triple Crown categories — home runs, RBI and batting average.
When we last checked in on Judge's Triple Crown pursuit eleven days ago, Judge was seventh in the AL in batting average at .302, 13 points back of Arráez and Boston Red Sox shortstop Xander Bogaerts. Judge is now tied with Bogaerts for second (.316), one point behind Arráez. The next-closest challenger is Chicago White Sox first baseman José Abreu (.309), followed by Texas Rangers first baseman Nathaniel Lowe (.308), Houston Astros designated hitter Yordan Álvarez and Yankees outfielder Andrew Benintendi (.304).
Though Arráez leads Judge, and though Bogaerts is tied with him, Judge has all the momentum.
Over his last 18 games prior to Sunday, Judge was hitting .429 with a .543 on base percentage and 1.416 OPS, as well as eight home runs and 14 RBI. Those are video game numbers.
Bogaerts has also hit well over his last eighteen games. He's hitting .409 during that stretch. Bogaerts has been great, but not quite as great as Judge.
Arráez, however, is hitting .282 over his last 18 starts.
Judge has all the momentum in the American League batting title race.
As for home runs? That's a wrap. The next-closest challenger to Judge, Yordan Álvarez, trails Judge by 22 home runs with two and a half weeks remaining. Judge has all but clinched the AL home run crown.
Judge (127 RBI) has a comfortable 15-RBI lead over José Ramírez (112 RBI). There's still time for Ramirez to catch him, but it seems unlikely.
If Judge stays on his current pace for just two weeks more, he'll have won baseball's second Triple Crown in 55 years.
