“Aaron Judge has not had a stretch of 16 games this year where he has hit less than three home runs” - Crunching the numbers as Aaron Judge looks poised to make history

New York Yankees v Boston Red Sox
New York Yankees v Boston Red Sox

Aaron Judge has been nothing short of a beast this season. The star outfielder is in his sixth season with the New York Yankees and is treating fans to a season like no other. Apart from patrolling the outfield with defensive prowess, Judge's bat has been positively on fire.

Aaron Judge has been so good that he is now a few swings of his mighty bat away from history. With 16 games left in the season, Judge looks poised to break the AL single-season home run record. But can he really do it?

Aaron Judge set to set the record for most home runs in a single season

So what is the record for home runs in a single season? Well, technically it is 73. That number was set by San Francisco Giants icon Barry Bonds during the 2001 season.

New York Yankees v Tampa Bay Rays
New York Yankees v Tampa Bay Rays

However, since Bonds was found to be using PED, that record has been nullified in the eyes of baseball. Mark McGwire hit 69 three seasons earlier, however, he was also found to be using PEDs.

That leaves other record, set by fellow Yankee Roger Maris in 1961. Maris hit 61 home runs that season, more than any other (non-juiced) player in baseball history.

"#59!!! Aaron Judge's second home run of the game and he's TWO away from Maris!" - @ Talkin' Yanks

Judge hit his 58th and 59th home runs of the season yesterday against the Brewers in Milwaukee. With 16 games left to go in the season, Aaron Judge has to hit just 3 more bombs to set the record.

The math dictates that it should not be a problem for him. Judge has had 525 at-bats this season, that means that he has hit a home run roughly 9% of the time he steps up. These are unprecedented numbers.

Assuming Judge gets 4 at-bats in each of the next 16 games, that means he will be on track to hit roughly 6 more home runs, doubling what he needs to hit.

"btw Judge has not had a stretch of 16 games this season where he hit less than three home runs, which is what he needs to set the American League record" - @ Talkin' Baseball

As the popular baseball commentary page Talking Yanks has pointed out, there has not been a stretch of 16 games this season wherein Aaron Judge has hit fewer than 16 home runs. In fact, there have 16 game periods that he has hit a lot more than 3.

Will Aaron Judge make history this season? The numbers all say that he will, but fans will be watching with baited breath to see if this dream can become a reality for this future Hall of Fame player.

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