Aaron Judge home run watch, odds: Yankees star hitless in 14 career at-bats vs. Red Sox pitcher Michael Wacha
Aaron Judge home run watch, odds: Yankees star hitless in 14 career at-bats vs. Red Sox pitcher Michael Wacha

The Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees open the final series of the season against one another tonight in the Bronx, and again all eyes will be on Bombers star Aaron Judge as he looks to tie or break Roger Maris' American League record of 62 home runs with Judge still sitting on 60. He is +200 to go yard tonight at Caesars Sportsbook but has historically been stymied by Red Sox starting pitcher Michael Wacha.

If someone had told me that the Yankees scored 14 runs Wednesday vs. Pittsburgh and that J udge had two extra-base hits, I would have assumed he homered at least once. Nope, both hits were doubles. Incidentally, as Judge tries for the Triple Crown, he has been caught for the AL batting lead by Boston's Xander Bogaerts as both are now at .317.

If history is any indication, it shouldn't long for Judge to tie Maris. Of the previous seven instances in which a player hit 61 homers in a season, four of them reached that mark the next game after hitting 60 – obviously Judge didn't do that. None of the previous seven went more than three games to reach 61. Judge is averaging a home run every 2.47 team games and is on pace to hit 66.

The Sox's Wacha is having a terrific bounce-back season at 11-1 with a 2.61 ERA and is going to cash in as a free agent this winter. Judge is a gruesome 0-for-14 career off him with nine strikeouts. In his 20 starts, Wacha has allowed just 11 homers – six on the road. He threw seven shutout innings against the Yankees o n Aug. 14 at Fenway Park in his lone outing against them this year.

  
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