Aaron Judge home run odds: Yankees star on pace for 63 homers, remains long shot at sportsbooks to break Roger Maris' AL record of 61
Aaron Judge home run odds: Yankees star on pace for 63 homers, remains long shot at sportsbooks to break Roger Maris' AL record of 61

New York Yankees slugger and AL MVP favorite Aaron Judge is getting hot again, having homered in the first two games of New York's series at the Los Angeles Angels to reach 51 bombs on the year. Judge is now on pace for 63 home runs, which would break the American League record of 61 set by Roger Maris in 1961. However, Caesars Sportsbook still lists Judge as a -250 favorite to finish Under 61.5 homers, with the Over at +200.

Judge hit a solo homer Mon day off Angels reliever Ryan Tepera to become only the 10th player in MLB history to record multiple 50-home run seasons. On Tuesday, Judge hit a three-run shot in the fourth inning off Mike Mayers to reach 51 and increase his pace to 63. Judge is just the third Yankee to record multiple 50-homer seasons, joining Babe Ruth (four) and Mickey Mantle (two) and is the first Yankees player with 50 before September since Maris (51) in 1961. Judge is one homer shy of his career high set in his rookie season of 2017, when he was AL Rookie of the Year and second in the AL MVP voting.

“I've never seen anything like it,” said Yankees starter Jameson Taillon – who left Tuesday's start injured after taking a comebacker off his arm (X-rays were negative). “It just feels like any time he's out there, he's got a chance to do something special. It doesn't matter what scouting report you have or whether you execute your pitch or not. He's just so go od that you can make a good pitch and he can still hit it out of the park. It's special.”

To reach 63, Judge would need to hit one homer every 2.7 games over the Yankees' final 32 — assuming Judge plays in all of them. New York may have little to play for as a team over the final week or two of the season if it is locked into the AL's No. 2 seed. Teams also may start intentionally walking Judge like the Angels did twice on Monday.

  
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