All rise, here comes the Judge.
The New York Yankees pummeled the Baltimore Orioles 10-1 on Thursday night at Yankee Stadium. With the W, the Yankees move to 93-66. They have locked up the American League East title and can officially spend the last three days of the 162-game marathon, known as the regular season, trying to capture the No. 1 seed in the American League playoffs.
They lead the AL Central Cleveland Guardians by a slim one-game margin in that quest.
In the victory, Yankee’s ace, Gerrit Cole, exuded greatness and dominated on the mound, going 6.2 innings while fanning five. He was a monster, giving up no runs on two hits. Despite missing a large chunk of the season due to injury, Cole has gone 8-5 with a 3.41 ERA and will most likely be the team’s game one starter in the postseason.
On the offensive side of things, Aaron Judge went 1-for-2 with a home run and two walks. The home run was his 58th of the season, marking the second time in his unbelievable career that he has achieved that number.
He recorded 62 in 2022. Judge also has 144 RBI to go along with a .325 batting average. The overwhelming favorite to win American League MVP, Judge also made some special franchise history with the blast.
According to Sarah Langs of MLB.com, Aaron Judge is the first player in the storied Yankees history with multiple home run streaks of at least 5 games in his career
Judge will get an opportunity to add even more layers to his streak on Friday night when the Yankees take on the Pittsburgh Pirates. First pitch is scheduled for 7:05 p.m. ET. Considering that the ‘Bronx Bombers’ have already secured the division, there is a chance that Judge could put his feet up and take a day off, which would be his first since June 19.
Judge’s two-run shot put the Yankees up 9-0 in the seventh inning and sent the sellout crowd into an uproar with love and “MVP” chants raining down on him.
Embed from Getty Images“It’s just Aaron Judge — it’s greatness right in front of us,” manager Aaron Boone said.
It is possible that he may come up just short of the heralded AL-record 62 homers he hit in 2022 by Sunday’s regular-season finale, with a 16-game drought earlier this month likely costing him, but he has suddenly put himself in striking distance with a surge down the stretch.
And his season may still end up being better than his first MVP campaign in 2022.
“We’re watching a historically great player now, really, [with] what we’re seeing,” Boone said. “Obviously his power speaks for itself, but he takes a lot of pride in being a well-rounded hitter. Like a lot of great players in whatever sport it may be, he is intent and obsessed with trying to get a little bit better at baseball year in and year out. “I don’t want to get hyperbolic and say he’s gone to another level from [when he] hit 62 homers and won the MVP. I don’t know if it’s another level, but is he incrementally a better hitter today than he was then? I think the answer’s yes.”
Unless Bobby Witt Jr., hitting .332, strings together a few goose eggs to finish out the season, Judge will likely miss out on the Triple Crown, but he still appears to be in the driver’s seat for his second AL MVP.
The home run Thursday gave Judge 144 RBIs on the season, the most by any player since Ryan Howard’s 146 in 2008 with the Philadelphia Phillies.
Boone said the Yankees would “love” to secure the AL’s best record, with their magic number being two, but indicated he will likely be getting some of his stallions a well-earned day off this weekend against the Pirates.
