MLB world reacts to Aaron Judge’s milestone 50th home run

When the single-season home run record was held by Roger Maris and Babe Ruth before him, several hitters were on pace to break those marks at various parts of the season. But to have a serious chance, the standard was always 50 by September. New York Yankees slugger Aaron Judge reached that threshold in Monday night’s game against the Los Angeles Angels.

With the Yankees down 4-2, Judge came to the plate with one out and nobody on in the eighth inning. Angels pitcher Ryan Tepera left a curveball up and Judge made him pay.

This is Judge’s second time reaching 50 home runs in his career. The first was his rookie season in 2017 when he hit a then-rookie record 52 home runs.

Judge is the second Yankee to reach 50 home runs twice. The other two are players that you might have heard of — Ruth (who did it four times) and Mickey Mantle.

The MLB world praised Judge for his achievement.

Unfortunately for Judge and the Yankees, the home run was not quite enough. It only brought the Yankees to within one of the lead and they couldn’t scratch the tying run across.

But New York still has a seven-game lead on the second-place Tampa Bay Rays in the American League East. Recent struggles have made that race closer than it looked like it would be a few weeks ago, but there’s still not much to worry about for the Yankees and their fans. This is especially true if Judge can keep this kind of power stroke going.

How many home runs can Judge realistically hit? Well, New York has two more games left in August and the regular season won’t end until September 5. So, don’t bet against him ending up with well over 60.

[Bryan Hoch on Twitter]