Aaron Judge hit his 61st home run of the season Wednesday, tying the American League record set by Roger Maris in 1961.
The New York Yankees star is now in pursuit of No. 62, as the end of the regular season quickly approaches.
How many more Yankees games are there this season?
The Yankees have seven more regular-season games to go this season. Three are against the Baltimore Orioles and four are against the Texas Rangers, according to ESPN.
Judge will also have plenty of bats during the postseason — the Yankees clinched the American League East title on Tuesday — but the record he’s hoping to break only takes regular-season at-bats into consideration.
Will Aaron Judge break the record?
Judge has a good shot at breaking Maris’ record in the Yankee’s final seven games. As CBS News reported, he’s rarely gone more than seven games without a home run this season.
“No. 61 snapped a seven-game home run drought for Judge, tying his second longest of the season. He also went seven games between homers from April 14-21. Judge’s season high is nine games without a homer from Aug. 13-21,” the article noted.
What’s the all-time record for home runs in a season?
If Judge does get 62 home runs, he’ll be alone at the top of the all-time leaderboard for the American League. But he won’t break the regular-season record for all of Major League Baseball, which was set in 2001 by Barry Bonds.
Here’s a look at single-season home run totals for National League players as reported by Baseball Reference:
- Barry Bonds, 73 (2001).
- Mark McGwire, 70 (1998).
- Sammy Sosa, 66 (1998).
- Mark McGwire, 65 (1999).
- Sammy Sosa, 64 (2001).
- Sammy Sosa, 63 (1999).
Each of these season totals, however, should logically have an asterisk by it, since Bonds, McGwire and Sosa have been linked to the use of performance-enhancing drugs.
“While their statistics remain in baseball’s record books, their accomplishments are widely viewed with skepticism,” The New York Times reported.