Imago
Image: IMAGO
Imago
Image: IMAGO
Cal Raleigh rewrote baseball’s history in the last two games. The Seattle Mariners’ Big Dumper tied and smashed Salvador Perez’s single-season home run record in a single day against the A’s with his 48th and 49th homer of the season on Sunday. And then he hit his 50th on the very next day on a J.P. Sears’s pitch on a 9-6 win against the Padres. And now, with 31 games left, a massive question looms: Is Aaron Judge’s American League record of 62 home runs safe?
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Aaron Judge, the man who set that record, is well aware of the chase. “Cal Raleigh is a great guy and a great ambassador for the game,’’ Judge said. “I love watching him do his thing.” But don’t mistake that respect for support. As the Yankees are just half a game ahead of Seattle, Judge is focused on winning, not records.
When asked about Raleigh’s potential pursuit of his AL mark, Judge said, “We’re in a fight for the wild card and the division.” Then he cleared his mindset, saying, “I’m not pulling for anyone to do anything that’s not the Yankees.”
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We aren’t sure at what mark Raleigh will end his season, but we are sure that Judge’s recent comments will bring the thrilling MVP race into focus once again. And we can’t ignore that even if we want to. Because when was the last time the AL MVP race was this intense?
Raleigh has a slight advantage in the race with his league-leading fifty homers and 107 RBI this year. And advanced numbers support the noise — FanGraphs credits him with roughly a 7.3 fWAR and a 160 wRC+. But despite missing 10 days with an elbow injury, Judge is still the primary contender to Big Dumper. Though the injury limited him to designated hitter duties, he posted a slash line of .323/.439/.667 with 40 homers in 8 games fewer than Raleigh.
But even if Raleigh catches Judge’s home run total, the Captain’s 2022 season was a different kind of monster.
Chasing a Monumental Season
Judge’s 2022 season wasn’t just about 62 homers. He drove in 131 runs with a slash line of .311/.425/.686 with a 1.111 OPS. He didn’t just hit; he almost won the triple crown. Raleigh’s current numbers in those categories (.247 AVG, 86 runs, 120 hits) are excellent but show the massive gap in all-around production.
Even in the current 2025 season, Judge can anytime change the plot for Seattle’s catcher, as he has several advantages and is just breathing down his neck with his AL-leading BA, OBP, SLG, and OPS.
And if Raleigh does manage to pass 62, he still won’t hold the official MLB record. That title belongs to Barry Bonds, who hit 73 homers in 2001. Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa are two other players who also had seasons with more than 62 homers.
But when Judge hit the 62 mark, breaking Roger Maris’ 61-year-old record in 2022, many people consider Judge’s 62 homers the “clean” and true record, as the other three were directly linked with performance-enhancing controversies in their careers.
Though when asked about it, Judge simply said, “Other people worry about that stuff more than I do.” But still, it’s safe to say for that large part of the baseball world, the chase for 62 is the chase for the true single-season home run title, making Raleigh’s pursuit even more compelling.
Written by
Edited by
Debajyoti Sen