Aaron Judge’s Historic Hot Streak: Could This Be the Best Season of His Career?
Aaron Judge is absolutely on fire this season, and Sunday’s game was no different. The Yankees’ powerhouse once again elevated his batting average beyond the elusive .400 threshold, guiding New York to a commanding 12-2 victory over the Athletics in Sacramento. Four hits in a single game — a career high he’s remarkably reached 13 times — bumped his average up to an eye-popping .409, outpacing the competition by a mile, even leaving Paul Goldschmidt’s solid .349 in his wake.
If you’re keeping score at home, Judge is now etched firmly in MLB history, boasting the fourth-best batting average through 40 games while smashing at least 14 home runs—a club featuring legends Manny Ramirez, Jimmie Foxx, and Mickey Mantle. The details of his performance read like a highlight reel: a clutch two-run single early on, a double and multiple singles that kept the scoreboard ticking as the Yankees pulled away, sealing their fourth win in five games. Sitting at 23-17, New York is poised to close out their West Coast stretch with a flourish against the Mariners.
What’s striking here is not just the stats—though leading the league in RBIs, hits, and homers is nothing to scoff at—but the near certainty that Judge’s MVP narrative is already written. Oddsmakers aren’t shy, pegging him with better than 90% odds to snag the AL MVP title. Sure, sustaining a .400+ average over an entire season is practically mythical—only eight players have ever pulled it off, with Ted Williams the last to do so in 1941—but the sheer historic weight of what Judge is accomplishing right now is simply breath-taking. Whether he can keep this pace and power the Yankees deep into October remains to be seen, but watching any less-than-stellar pitcher face him these days is a sight not to be missed.
Aaron Judge’s dominant start to the season continued Sunday afternoon.
The New York Yankees star pushed his batting average above .400 again while leading the team to a 12-2 win over the Athletics in Sacramento. Judge had four hits, which matched his career high — though that’s something he’s done 13 times now. He also raised his batting average to .409 on the season. That’s the highest in the league by far, well above teammate Paul Goldschmidt’s second-best .349.
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Judge now has the fourth-best batting average with at least 14 home runs through the first 40 games of the season in MLB history. Only Manny Ramirez, Jimmie Foxx and Mickey Mantle are ahead of him on that list.
Judge’s first hit of the afternoon came in the second, when his two-run single pushed the Yankees to a 5-0 lead.
Judge doubled in the fourth and then singled in the fifth, which eventually resulted in Goldschmidt driving him in to extend the Yankees’ lead to 10. His fourth and final hit of the game came in the seventh with an easy single to left. It was his seventh game of the season with at least three hits.
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By that point, the Yankees simply cruised to the double-digit victory, which marked their fourth win in their past five games. They now sit at 23-17 on the season. The Yankees will wrap up their West Coast road trip with a three-game series against the Seattle Mariners starting on Monday.
Along with his batting average, Judge also has 39 RBI, 63 hits and 14 home runs — all of which lead the league. Even though the season is about six weeks old, Judge appears to be a lock to win the AL MVP award already. He was listed at -1100 to win the award on BetMGM on Friday, which gives him about a 92% chance of winning.
Judge’s batting average almost certainly isn’t going to hold. Only eight players have finished a season above .400, most recently Ted Williams in 1941. Tony Gwynn came the closest since in 1994, but he fell three hits shy of hitting the mark.
Regardless, what Judge is doing so far is nothing short of historic. Whether he can sustain this level over the next several months and turn it into another deep postseason run for the Yankees, though, remains to be seen.
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