Aaron Judge is having a season for the ages and, increasingly, the record books.
The New York Yankees slugger hit his 57th homer of the season Wednesday against the Baltimore Orioles, scoring three in a ninth-inning comeback attempt. New York ended up falling short, losing 9-7.
In addition to pulling Judge closer to the 60-homer threshold with four games to go, the long ball gave Judge his 142nd RBI of the season. That makes him the first player since Prince Fielder and Ryan Howard in 2009 to post 140 RBI in a single season. Judge recorded 131 RBI in his 62-homer season in 2022.
Both numbers figure to be part of a strong argument for Judge to win his second career MVP award this offseason. In addition to homers and RBI, Judge entered Wednesday leading the league in walks (130), on-base percentage (.459), slugging percentage (.699), OPS+ (222), total bases (383) and bWAR (10.4).
As for the Yankees, their record sits at 92-66 and their magic number to clinch the AL East is one. They’ll get their next chance to clinch against the Orioles on Thursday in a clash between Gerrit Cole and Corbin Burnes.