New York Yankees slugger Aaron Judge is on the verge of making history this season, and perhaps he’s going to do so in more ways than one.
This weekend, Judge continued his march towards breaking Roger Maris’ Yankees single-season record of 61 home runs when he belted No. 58 and No. 59 against the Milwaukee Brewers. But given his dominant stretch of hitting, Judge could also be making a legitimate push for a triple crown (top batting average, most home runs and most RBIs).
Aaron Judge Odds to Win Triple Crown
Per DraftKings, Judge is currently even odds at +100 to win the triple crown, with a line of -120 for him to not accomplish the feat.
For now, Judge is running away with the American League lead with home runs (59) and RBIs (127), but he’s in a tight race with the likes of Twins’ Luis Arraez and Red Sox shortstop Xander Bogaerts for the league batting title. Arraez currently has a slight lead with a .317 average, with both Judge and Bogaerts one point behind at .316.
The last MLB player to achieve the triple crown feat was future Hall of Famer Miguel Cabrera in the 2012 season. Before that, you’d have to go all the way back to Carl Yastrzemski in 1967 to find anyone who was able to win a triple crown.
Throughout history (since RBIs became an official statistic in 1920) there have only been 12 triple crown winners, and it’s hard to imagine we’ll have another one as close to Judge in the near future.
We have had some close calls in the past. Just last season, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. was drawing some buzz for a potential triple crown, and while he finished tied for first in the AL with 48 home runs, he ended up second in batting average and fifth in RBIs.
Nobody has been this close to a triple crown with so little time left in a season in a long while, and even though the Yankees are still fighting for playoff seeding in the final two weeks of the season, all eyes will be on Judge to finish out his historic season in style.
