Judge will have to repeat the historic achievement

It is practically a given that Aaron Judge will finish the 2022 season as the all-time home run leader in the Major Leagues. Additionally, there is a good chance that he will at least reach 61 home runs, which would tie the all-time mark for most home runs in the National League with another New York Yankees legend, Roger Maris. However, if the outfielder wants to aspire to the most home runs in a single season, he will have to do something that has only been seen once.

With 21 games left in the season for the Yankees, Aaron Judge would have to hit 19 home runs to break the record for most home runs in a single season, which is held by all-time leader in that department, Barry Bonds. According to Erick Lantigua, sports journalist and compiler of historical data and statistics related to baseball in the Dominican Republic, only one man has been able to hit that many home runs in that number of games, Sammy Sosa.

In reviewing the records of games played between May 25 and June 20, 1998 (21 games played), Sammy Sosa hit a total of 20 home runs. Before that, “El Bambino del Caribe” had only nine home runs in the campaign and the “absurd” month put him squarely in the so-called “Home Run Race” against Mark McGwire. To connect that number of home runs, Sosa needed a streak of five consecutive games with home runs and six games with at least two homers.

In addition, Sosa finished the month of June of that year with 20 total home runs, the most by a player in a calendar month in an MLB campaign.

In short, for Judge to have a chance to reach one of the “untouchable” records of the Major Leagues, he will have to do something that only happened once, 24 years ago and at the height of the so-called “Steroid Era”.