Yankees superstar Aaron Judge is pursuing the hallowed 60-home run mark for the second time in three seasons, but it's becoming less and less likely that he gets there. Judge snapped a 16-game drought Friday night with a grand slam against the Red Sox, his first home run since going deep twice on Aug. 25. That gives him 52 home runs on the season, which puts him on pace to hit 57 home runs in 2024 and fall five home runs short of the record-setting 62 he hit in 2022. That said, Judge has a tendency to hit homers in bunches -- he went deep 10 times in the 13 games prior to the 16-game drought.
Only Mark McGwire (twice) and Sammy Sosa (three times) have gotten to the 60-homer barrier multiple times. Judge's 62 is the American League record, breaking Roger Maris' 61. A weird quirk? The top six seasons all came on the National League side and the other three 60-homer seasons were completed by Yankees players.
Here's the list of 60-homer seasons in MLB history:
Judge followed up his 62-homer season with a torrid pace in 2023. Through 49 games last season, he had 19 homers. He was on pace to top 50 homers again, but he injured his big toe and had to settle for 37 home runs in 106 games and 367 at-bats (a 57-homer pace over a 162-game season).
This season, he started slow. Through 24 games, Judge was hitting .180/.315/.348 with three home runs. He then hit 29 in his next 61 games, though. He's now hit 12 home runs in 21 games in August and 19 in his last 36 games, including two longballs against the Rockies on Aug. 25. If he keeps up this kind of pace, Bonds' record could be in peril.
More likely, though, Judge looks to end up in the low 60s, which would be historic enough on its own.
He did it in grand style too. Judge's first home run since Aug. 25 was a go-ahead grand slam against the Boston Red Sox on Friday. Here is the drought-ending dinger:
Judge had gone 16 games without a home run prior to Friday. That was the longest home run drought of his career, surpassing a 15-gamer during his rookie season in 2017.
Friday's home run is Judge's 52nd of the season. He is on pace to hit 57, though he has a tendency to hit home runs in bunches -- Judge went deep 10 times in the 13 games immediately prior to the home run drought -- so a surge over the next few days could put him on pace to top 60 homers for the second time in three years.
Pinned
Link copied
Judge's home run drought reaches 13 games
Now a baker's dozen for Judge. He failed to go deep Monday, and the 13-game home run drought is the fifth longest of his career. It's his longest within a single season since 2019. Here's the list:
1. 15 games: Aug. 17 to Sept. 2, 2017 2. 14 games: Aug. 26, 2020 to April 4, 2021 3. 14 games: July 20 to Aug. 3, 2019 4. 14 games: July 23 to Sept. 27, 2019 5. 13 games: Aug. 26, 2024 to present
Judge went 2 for 4 with a walk and a game-tying single in Monday's win over the Royals. It was his first two-hit game since Aug. 25, when he hit two home runs against the Rockies. Judge has 51 home runs with 18 team games remaining. He's on pace for 57 homers.
Pinned
Link copied
12-game homerless streak
That's now an even dozen games without a home run for Aaron Judge, who hasn't been hitting much of anything lately. As always, never count out Judge but it's getting late early for him to get back on track to break his record.
Pinned
Link copied
10 games without a homer for Aaron Judge
The Yankees were 3-0 winners over the Cubs on Friday afternoon. Aaron Judge plated the first of those runs with an RBI double. However, the slugger once again did not go deep, making it 10 consecutive games without a home run.
Judge has not homered since hitting two against the Rockies on Aug. 25 and his season total remains stuck at 51. Judge would need 11 homers in the Yankees' last 21 games to match his record-setting mark from two seasons ago. Certainly something he is capable of, but it's looking less and less likely that he'll make more home run history in 2024.
Pinned
Link copied
Time to take 'drought' out of the quotation marks?
Judge now hasn't homered in eight games, the last coming on Aug. 25 when he slugged two against the Rockies. That puts him not just behind his record-breaking pace, but also below 60 home runs on the season mathematically. And yet would it surprise anyone to see him go on a tear? Absolutely not.
Pinned
Link copied
Judge's home run 'drought'
Aaron Judge has gone three whole games (and four whole days) without hitting a single home run. Despite a series against the Nationals without a dinger, Judge has still homered 10 times in his last 16 games. This three-game "drought" is in fact only the second time in August that he's gone three or more games without hitting a home run (Judge went six games without homering between Aug. 4-10).
Judge and the Yankees return home for Labor Day weekend where they'll face the Cardinals. Judge will see Cards right-hander Erick Fedde on Friday. He has never homered against him in eight plate appearances.
Pinned
Link copied
Judge's season special for more than the homers
Aaron Judge is likely going to win his second AL MVP award in three seasons this year. He is having another phenomenal year at the plate, and while the focus is on his home runs as he blows past the 50-homer mark once again, CBS Sports' Mike Axisa urges fans to look at other reasons how Judge is performing at the dish.
From Axisa: "Judge leads baseball in home runs, RBI, on-base percentage, slugging percentage, WAR, on and on we could go. He is on pace for 101 extra-base hits and 418 total bases. Only 15 times has a player recorded 100 extra-base hits in a season and only 29 times a player has reached 400 total bases. It's been done 13 times in the same season, and only four times in the last 76 years."
Aaron Judge is having an incredible power surge in August. The Yankees slugger has 12 home runs this month and is hitting .425/.558/.986 in 21 games this month. More impressively, he has seven home runs in his last six games.
That includes his two-homer showing on Sunday against the Rockies at Yankee Stadium. Judge's pair of longballs totaled more than 800 feet of distance. Take a look:
Judge is still technically behind his 2022 pace. He hit 52 homers in his first 129 games in 2022 vs. 51 homers this year. But if he keeps up his season-long pace, Judge will hit 63 HR and break his own American League record.
He'll be back at it tonight in Washington against the Nationals. The Nats are scheduled to start three left-handed starting pitchers this week against Judge in the Yankees.
CBS Sports HQ Newsletter
We bring sports news that matters to your inbox, to help you stay informed and get a winning edge.
By pressing sign up, I confirm that I have read and agree to the Terms of Use and acknowledge Paramount's Privacy Policy.
