The single-season record for home runs in a baseball season has been set by the New York Yankees' Judge.
His 62nd home run, which came off Texas Rangers righty Jesus Tinoco in the Yankees' final series of the regular season, gave him the Junior Circuit record with 61 home runs. Babe Ruth's franchise record was broken when Judge hit 60. Ruth and Maris are the only American League players to hit 60 or more homers in a season.
How did he accomplish it? The Judge's road to 62 is broken down.
While Judge's season hasn't exactly come out of nowhere -- after all, he did hit a then-rookie record 52 home runs in 2017). Judge averaged one home run every 14.14 at-bats over the course of the next three years. Brandon Lowe andMitch Haniger both hit 39 home runs in the same season, but he still hit 39 home runs.
Judge didn't hit a home run until his 13th game. This could be a special season, but it took some time for everyone to realize it. In order to calculate a projected end-of-season home run total, my colleague created a day-by-day spreadsheet for Judge, estimating levels of playing time and home run percentage.
After he went homerless in his first five games, Judge's projected home run total fell to 39.5. His lowest projected total would be equaled by that. Judge's projected total had increased after he hit six home runs in 20 games. He was impressive, but he wasn't the talk of baseball yet, since teammate Anthony Rizzo had nine home runs in April.
Judge first reached a season pace of 50 on May 13 after homering against the White White but went back-and-forth between 49 and 50 for 10 days, until homering twice on May 23 in a loss to the Orioles. He dropped his projection to 50.9 after he hit once more. Judge's 18 home runs now top the majors.
Judge's projection had gone up to 54.2 after he hit 11 more home runs. It was starting to get interesting, but you might remember that Yordan Alvarez hit.418 in June and while he trailed Judge by six home runs, he had a much higher weighted runs created than Judge. Judge had 62 in his sights but the debate over who was the best hitter was on.
A hot streak that began just before the All-Star break saw Judge hit 12 home runs in 14 games. His projected total was now up to 62.0 and his straight-up pace was a ridiculous 66.7.
Judge slowed down a bit in August and a nine-game homerless streak through August, but he responded with another barrage of power in September to make history and join Ruth and Maris in the record books.
The way Judge's season tracks with Maris' is intriguing. Maris hit 39 home runs in 1960, the year before he hit 61, but he only hit one in 15 games in April. He hit at least 10 home runs in the last five months of the year. Maris hit 19 home runs in 29 games from May 28 to June 22.
Ruth hit nine home runs in each of June, July and August, finishing with a flourish -- 17 in 28 games in September/ October, including seven over his final nine games. One can't help but wonder what Ruth would have done with an extra eight games.
Judge has hit 11 home runs off pitches of at least 95 mph, and he wasn't seeing a lot of 95-mph pitches.
The right field in Yankee Stadium is not very good. It's more difficult to hit a home run to right in high school than it is in Yankee Stadium because it's only 314 feet away. 15 of Judge's first 61 home runs went to the opposite field. He has not really taken advantage of the stadium.
All of our coverage from the historic season can be found here.
It was the night he hit 60.
All eyes are on Judge.
He could get a free agency worth $300 million.
All-time, where this season is ranked.
Judge hit at least one home run in every 10 at-bats. One every 8.8 at-bats is how many he's hit on the road. Judge doesn't hit many cheap homers. He hit a 355-foot shot to right at Guaranteed Rate Field. He has three homers at Yankee Stadium. I looked at those three.
On April 22nd, drive into the third row of bleachers. I don't call a home run a cheap home run.
On June 15th, just over the fence in the right center. Given the dimensions of the park, it's definitely a home run.
July 30 off Jon Heasley, another cheap one in the same area as the home run. If a fan hadn't reached out to make the catch, the Royals right fielder could have caught it.
Judge got some gifts from his park. He's hit homers on the road as well. He wouldn't have hit this many in all the parks. If Judge had played all of his games at the park, he would have just 49 home runs. If he played all his games in Cincinnati or Colorado, he'd have 70. There is no real home field advantage here. Take a break and appreciate his strength.
What are Judge's biggest homers? We can rank his home runs by win probability added, which simply tells us how much the odds of the Yankees winning the game changes after each play.
This is the first thing. The Yankees defeated the BlueJays 5-5 in the walk-off.
It was 0.794
Judge has hit at least one home run in 13 games.
There are two The Yankees defeated the Royals in walk-off fashion.
It was 0.4 24.
Judge's 39th home run came with one out of the first pitch from Barlow, a 431-foot shot over the center fielder's head. During his All-Star period, this happened.
There are seven teams that could challenge the Yankees.
There is a man namedBuster Olney.
There are three. The Yankees walked-off in the 10th to beat the Astros 6-3.
It was 0.260
The Astros went after Judge with runners at first and third. Judge sent a low liner over the fence in left-center, after Judge got a swinging strike on the first pitch from the pitcher. After reaching first base, Judge was told to finish his trot around the bases, but he made a turn for the dugout before he was done.
There are four. There was a home run in the eighth that tied the game at one.
It was 0.228
There are five. The Yankees scored three times in the third, including a three-run home run by Tyler Wells.
It was 0.290).
With two outs and two runners on, the Yankees' chances of winning the game increased greatly. The Yankees held on for a win after Judge added a second home run.
There are six. In the seventh, Tim Mayza gave up a two-run home run.
There was a work rate of 0.267.
The 61st home run of the season by Judge made a difference. The line drive was Judge's hardest hit home run of the year.
There are seven. A game-tying home run in the top of the eighth off Boston'sGarrettWhitlock was recorded.
0.245 is the winning percentage.
This was Judge's second game-tying home run that day, coming off a 2-0 pitch he lifted over the Monster. The home run is worth a higher ranking if you consider the game importance and the fact that the Yankees are close. Judge was walked with a runner on third and two outs in the top of the tenth. It backfired and the Yankees won.
Average WPA for Ruth, Maris and Judge.
Ruth had a score of 0.1019.
Maris is 0.132.
The judge said 0.136.
Modern pitch tracking allows us to know everything about the pitcher-batter confrontation. I'm talking about everything. One of the cool Statcast numbers at MLB's Baseball Savant site is how each batter fares against different pitches.
Is the best hitter in baseball in the year 2022. The judge had a run value of plus-28.
Is it the best? A run value of plus-26 was achieved against Judge.
In order to show how Judge has dominated the sport, the only other hitter with a run value over 20 against a single pitch is Alvarez.
Judge has a good record against individual pitches.
It was 1.254 against four-seamers.
The two-seamers/sinkers had a 1.250OPS advantage.
It was 1.191 against the curve.
It was over one hundred percent against the sliders.
Changeups have a.794OPS against them.
In limited results, an.832 OPS against cutter and.476 against splitter. Everything is being punished by the judge.
His biggest improvement in the future has been against the sliders. He hit over.300 against four-seamers and two-seamers over the course of the last two years. He ranked 90th in run value against the sliders last season, and as we just saw, he's No. 1 in the next decade.
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