Entering Wednesday, the New York Yankees sit in a familiar place atop the American League East standings. With a 20-16 record, New York owns a 2.5 game lead over the second place Boston Red Sox. While they have gotten off to slower starts, both the Toronto Blue Jays and Tampa Bay Rays remain in striking distance, sitting just 3.5 games back of New York.
Once again, the Yankees have been led this season by two-time AL MVP Aaron Judge. The 6-foot-7 outfielder leads baseball in batting average (.412), home runs (12), RBIs (34), OBP (.503), SLG (.772) and OPS (1.275).
New York Yankees outfielder Aaron Judge (99)© David Dermer-Imagn Images
Judge’s OPS entering Wednesday would be the 13th best in a single season in MLB history. Only Josh Gibson, Charlie Smith, Barry Bonds, Babe Ruth, Mule Suttles and Ted Williams have exceeded that mark for an entire year.
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These other-worldly numbers from Judge sparked a comparison to Blue Jays star Vladimir Guerrero Jr., who owns an OPS just two points better than Judge’s slugging percentage.
Guerrero signed a 14-year, $500 million extension with Toronto earlier this season, and has been underwhelming for much of the year. The news of his OPS narrowly edging out Judge’s slugging percentage has fans in disbelief.
“Insanity!” exclaimed one.
“don’t play me with now!” said another.
“Aaron Judge GOAT,” claimed a third.
“Anyone that says Judge isn’t the best in baseball is just flat out WRONG,” one added.
“Wow!” exclaimed another. “That’s an incredible stat. Holy [expletive]!”
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“And guess who is getting paid more,” remarked one.
“whats really crazy is that a .774 ops is actually a good ops,” one pointed out.
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