Aaron Judge can possibly break his own American League record for the most homers in a single season this year. In 2022, the California Native broke the 60-year-long AL single-season homer record that belonged to the Yankees legend Roger Maris. The partner in baseball crime of Mickey Mantle, another legend of the Pinstripes, had hit 61 home runs in 1961. That was MLB’s record for most home runs in a single season for a very long time. Until National League’s legends like Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa and then, of course, Barry Bonds, broke the record for most homers in a single season.
However, Maris still had his record in the American League until Aaron Judge broke it in 2022. The California native surpassed Maris to reach 62 home runs in 2022. It was a perfect timing for Judge to get the AL record as he became a free agent next offseason. Then, the Yankees extended his contract for a record nine-year deal back then worth $360 million. Also, they made Judge their franchise’s 16th captain. Coming back to 2024, the Yankees captain has a good chance to go past the 60-HR single-season mark for the second time in three seasons.
Can Aaron Judge Break His Own AL HR Record?
The way the captain started this season raised a lot of concerns. He was going through an early season slump. Moreover, he took seven games to hit his first home run of the season. But then, who knew how he would turn things around from mid-May? Since May, the 2022 AL MVP has proved why his fans claim he is the best power hitter in baseball. With a little less than a month remaining for the ongoing regular season to get over, Aaron Judge is leading the league with 51 home runs. If he can hit 12 more home runs within a month, he can break his own AL single-season homer record. However, it does not seem possible for the Yankees captain to break Barry Bonds’ 2001 HR record this year.
Currently, the 2022 AL MVP has nine more homers in 2024 than the 2021 & 2023 AL MVP. Shohei Ohtani is the most favorite to win the National League MVP this year as he already managed to get to the 40-40 mark with a month to go in the regular season. The Unicorn can even hit as many as 50 homers this ongoing season. But how far can Aaron Judge go in terms of home runs this regular season? 60 or more is a possibility, but in the last series against the Washington Nationals, Judge had homerless three games.
The Record For Most MLB Homers In A Single Season Might Be Hard To Break
In 2001, Barry Bonds became the record holder to hit 73 home runs. With the San Francisco Giants, the all-time homer leader was able to get to that record. He broke the 1998’s 70 mark of Mark McGwire. Sammy Sosa slugged 66 home runs in 1998 and had a fierce rivalry with McGwire, challenging him for the home run race. But McGwire was the first to beat the 61 homer record of Roger Maris.
Then, he finished with 70 home runs in 1998 which was an all time record until Bonds surpassed Mark in 2001. Can Aaron Judge ever get past Bonds’ historic record? Only if he did not have an early season slump this year, he could have broken that record in 2024 itself. He is on pace to reach 63 homers this year, but 73 seems too far-fetched for Judge in 2024.
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