Aaron Judge also crushed a towering homer, his 49th of the season, to pad his AL MVP case and inch him closer to a batting title, finishing the night hitting .329 to lead the Athletics’ Jacob Wilson (.318).

With 11 games to play, Raleigh won't catch Barry Bonds (73 in 2001) for baseball's single-season home run record, though the AL record is in play. That record is of course held by New York Yankees captain Aaron Judge, who slugged 62 home runs in 2022. Here is the AL's single-season home run leaderboard:

If the Yankees are a wild card entry and not a division winner, that might sway some on-the-fence voters to tilt toward Raleigh, but Judge's strong September finish could make him the first back-to-back Yankee MVP since Roger Maris in 1960-61.

Following Shohei Ohtani, Aaron Judge is the most popular current player for baseball card collecting, and this appeal is understandable. Judge has been putting up Ruthian numbers. His career OPS+ (a stat that compares a player’s performance to the league average,

Judge — who went 1-for-4 in Friday’s 4-2 loss to the Orioles — is batting .327 on the year, which led both the American League and the majors, with Athletics rookie shortstop Jacob Wilson the closest behind him at .317.

Aaron Judge has hit his 361st career home run, tying Hall of Fame outfielder Joe DiMaggio for fourth place in New York Yankees history.

The Yankees slugger leads the American League with a .326 batting average, putting him in position for the first batting title of his career. With six games left, Judge isn’t chasing the home run crown. Cal Raleigh of Seattle has run away with that. And the Yankees need him most right now.