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Good morning! After blasting two homers yesterday, Aaron Judge is on pace to break his own AL record … and the AL MVP race is probably not a race. Plus: The White Sox are the second-fastest team to 100 losses, and we have a deep dive into the Mexican Baseball League plus a wholesome story about Salvador Perez. I’m Rustin Dodd, filling in for Levi Weaver, here with Ken Rosenthal — welcome to The Windup!
Judge Watch: How many homers can he hit?
The Yankees’ Aaron Judge clubbed his 50th home run in the first inning yesterday off Colorado’s Austin Gomber. And then, six innings later, he hit his 51st.
The second homer came during a back-to-back-to-back barrage from Juan Soto, Judge and Giancarlo Stanton, which punctuated an eventual 10-3 victory. But let’s get back to the conversation at hand: Judge has 51 home runs. It’s August 26. He’s on pace to finish with 63, which would be one more than he hit in 2022, when he set the American League record with 62.
From The Athletic’s Brendan Kuty:
In 2022, Judge hit his 51st home run Aug. 30. This year, he did it Aug. 25 and the Yankees had 31 games remaining after Sunday.
Judge became the fifth player in MLB history to hit at least 50 homers in three separate seasons, joining Babe Ruth, Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa and Alex Rodriguez. He’s also vying to be the third hitter to record multiple seasons with at least 60 home runs, joining Sosa and McGwire. He’d be the only player in that category who hadn’t been tied to performance-enhancing drugs.
Judge, who will turn 33 next April, has been so dominant that it’s easy to wonder if this is his power ceiling. Could he one day approach Barry Bonds’ record of 73 homers?
“Seven-three is such a massive number,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone told reporters. “I don’t know. But then again, records are made to be broken.”
And then there was Stanton, who offered this answer to Kuty: “Yeah.”
Considering that Judge seems to homer almost every day, it’s dizzying to imagine the pace he would have to sustain to one day threaten Bonds’ total. But for those of us old enough: We did watch Bonds do it in 2001, and, man, was it impressive.
Ken’s Notebook: Don’t overlook Witt in AL MVP race
Talk to a Yankees fan, and that person will tell you that Aaron Judge is the only possible choice for American League MVP. Talk to a Royals fan, and that person might say, “Wait, what about our shortstop, Bobby Witt Jr.?”
Difficult as it might be for many in our polarized, shout-down-your-opponent, failure-to-grasp-nuance society to understand, there is no wrong answer.
Do I think Judge at the moment is the overwhelming favorite for the award? Of course. The Yankees center fielder leads the majors not only in home runs, but also in RBIs (122), on-base percentage (.465), slugging (.736), OPS (1.201) and whatever flavor of WAR you fancy.
This AL MVP race is not unlike the one in 2022, when Shohei Ohtani had 34 homers and an .875 OPS as a hitter and a 2.33 ERA in 166 innings as a pitcher — and received only two first-place votes. Judge earned the other 28 after setting the AL record with 62 home runs and leading the majors in on-base percentage (.425), slugging (.686) and OPS (1.111). And yes, he is bettering those numbers in 2024.
Both the narrative and the numbers favor Judge, who now is on pace for 63 homers. Even if he fails to break his own record, his sheer dominance after a sub-par April should earn him the award. Which is fine. No argument! But we can acknowledge Judge’s magnificence while also acknowledging that Witt is enjoying a fantastic if not historic season, too.
Witt leads the majors in batting average (.347) and hits (180) and is within four homers and four stolen bases of a 30-30 campaign. He is one of the game’s elite defenders, while Judge rates as one of the worst center fielders. Oh, and he also is dragging the Royals to their first postseason appearance since 2015 despite lacking a sidekick the quality of Juan Soto. The Royals are three games behind the Cleveland Guardians in the AL Central, and along with the Minnesota Twins, hold a 4 1/2-game edge over the Boston Red Sox in the race for the final two wild cards.
Yankees fans might say, “Yeah, but Witt plays in the AL Central.” Royals fans might counter, “Yeah, but Judge hits at Yankee Stadium.” Both arguments are flawed. The Central is home to the pathetic Chicago White Sox, but also might produce three postseason teams and a Detroit Tigers club that finishes above .500. Judge, meanwhile has hit nearly as many homers on the road (25) as he has at home (26).
To all of those praising one at the expense of the other, I say, “Shaddup already!” Both players are great. Shouldn’t be too difficult to agree on that.
History: White Sox hit 100 losses — before September
On Sunday, Andrew Benintendi likened talking about the White Sox’s losing ways to “beating a dead horse.” Right, he has a point. So, we’ll make this quick:
The White Sox dropped to 31-100 yesterday, which made them the second-fastest team in the modern era to reach 100 losses, behind only the 1916 Philadelphia A’s.
From The Athletic’s Jon Greenberg:
Only three other teams had ever lost 100 games before September: the 1899 Cleveland Spiders, 1962 Mets and 2003 Tigers. The Sox are chasing the Tigers (119 losses) and Mets (120) to be considered the worst team in modern baseball history and they’re charging hard.
About the 1962 Mets: The White Sox need to finish at least 12-19 in their last 31 games to avoid tying the Mets for the most losses (120) in the modern era.
Investigations: What’s going on in Mexico?
Have you noticed the dozens of former big leaguers — some random, some not — who have been playing in the Mexico Baseball League this year?
The number is a record, and it’s actually an interesting story.
Earlier this summer, I spent a weekend in Mexico City, where former MLB star Robinson Canó was leading the Diablos Rojos del México to the best record in league history. But Canó is far from the only one.
The list includes Jonathan Villar, Daniel Palka, Didi Gregorius, Alex Claudio, Jonathan Schoop, Matt Adams, Julio Teheran, Danny Salazar, Aristides Aquino, Luke Voit, Mallex Smith and a whole lot more!
The basic reasons:
- The Mexican League this year increased the number of foreign players allowed on a roster from seven to 20, which happened to coincide with a new cap on minor-league rosters.
- With hundreds of older players out of a job, the Mexican League has become an increasingly attractive option.
For more, here’s a story — with The Athletic’s Sam Blum — about a changing league and the players on the fringes just trying to keep their careers alive.
Handshakes and High Fives
Beer and tacos: In today’s A1 story, Dan Hayes explains how the Twins have used what they call the “Beer and Tacos methodology” to build this year’s fun and entertaining team.
Salvy goes Willie Mays: One of the most wholesome baseball stories of the year continued over the weekend: On Thursday, Royals catcher Salvador Perez pulled a Willie Mays on an off day, pulling up to a kids’ backyard baseball game in the Kansas City area — and then returning to work on Friday and hitting his 22nd homer of the season in a victory over the Phillies.
The particulars of the story: Cameron Lard is a 9-year-old who hosts a daily neighborhood game in his yard. Perez was visiting a friend in the neighborhood on an off day. When he headed home in the evening, he saw a group of kids playing baseball and pulled over.
A minute later, Cameron was running inside to alert his parents: Uhh, mom, Salvador Perez is in the backyard.
I spoke with Lesley Lard, Cameron’s mother, on Friday morning, and by later that afternoon, the story had gone viral. You can read the whole account here.
But there was one quick update: The next day, Perez sent a friend back over to the Lard house with a signed bat and made a virtual delivery via video call.
Did you know? The Babe Ruth jersey said to be worn in Game 3 of the 1932 World Series sold for $24.12 million over the weekend, smashing the record for most expensive piece of sports memorabilia in history.
If you recall, there was some measure of debate about the photo matching methods used to attribute it to Game 3. But in the end, someone handed over a lot of cash for the rights to possess an old Babe Ruth jersey.
Most-clicked in yesterday’s newsletter: Jayson Stark’s “Weird & Wild” history watch that features some milestones to watch down the stretch.
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(Top photo: Wendell Cruz / USA Today)
