Aaron Judge Gets Game 162 Off; What it Means For Triple Crown Chase

Aaron Judge swatted his 62nd home run of the year in the penultimate game of the regular season on Tuesday night in Texas, making history and capping off what's been an iconic performance in 2022.

On Wednesday, as the Yankees wrap up the regular season in Game 162 at Globe Life Field, Judge won't have an opportunity to add to that home run total, unless he comes off the bench as a pinch hitter.

Judge is not in the Yankees' starting lineup for their final regular season game, the first time No. 99 has sat during a game since August 3.

That's right, Judge had started in each of the Yankees' previous 55 games. Judge has played in 157 of New York's 161 games this year, the most in a single season in his career.

Here's a look at New York's starting nine for Game 162:

Game 1️⃣6️⃣2️⃣. #RepBX

Presented by @Hilton pic.twitter.com/J31ynmdtr3
— New York Yankees (@Yankees) October 5, 2022

Judge, fellow slugger Giancarlo Stanton, second baseman Gleyber Torres, center fielder Harrison Bader and shortstop Isiah Kiner-Falefa make up New York's bench on Wednesday afternoon.

Aaron Judge's streak of 55 games in the starting lineup in a row will end today. He has the day off against the Rangers in Game 162.

Here's how Judge performed in those 55 games, dating back to August 5th:

.337/.496/.707 (62-for-184), 19 HR, 44 R, 38 RBI, 55 BB, 11 2B
— Max Goodman (@MaxTGoodman) October 5, 2022

On Tuesday night, Judge made it seem like he wanted to play in his club's final regular season game.

"I'm hoping to play," Judge told reporters. "We got one more game. We'll see what skip has to say about that. But I'm hoping to be in there."

Evidently manager Aaron Boone is more focused on keeping Judge fresh and healthy for the postseason. Now, Judge will have six days between his final regular season contest and the first game of the American League Division Series, scheduled to take place on October 11.

The downside of Judge sitting on Wednesday is that he'll have no real shot at winning the Triple Crown. Twins infielder Luis Arraez leads the American League in batting average (.315) entering play on Wednesday. Judge is sitting at .311.

In other words, Arraez would need to go 0-for-8 in Minnesota's regular season finale to drop below Judge's average. Judge leads the league in homers and RBI, but needed the batting title for the Triple Crown.

Still, what Judge has done this year is nothing short of exemplary. Assuming he doesn't come off the bench for an at-bat against Texas, he'll finish the year with the following numbers, one of the best single seasons we've ever seen in Yankees franchise history: .311/.425/.686, 62 home runs, 131 RBI, 133 R, 111 BB, 207 wRC+ and 11.5 fWAR.

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