I HOPE YOU ARE ENJOYING THIS SEASON BY JUDGE

I HOPE YOU ARE ENJOYING THIS SEASON BY JUDGE 

by James Vlietstra

May 3, 2025

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The baseball season is a difficult journey filled with lots of ups and downs. As Frank Sinatra so eloquently sang: “You’re riding high in April, shot down in May." At the start of the season small sample sizes abound. It is impossible to believe that someone who hits 2 home runs on Opening Day is on pace to hit 324 for the season.

However, we aren’t one game or even one week into the season. The Yankees have played 32 games. That’s a full 1/5 of the season behind us.

And Aaron Judge is dominating the sport this year like has never been seen before. 

Here’s Judge's stat line at the moment:

30 runs scored, 52 hits, 10 HRs, 18 XBH, 32 RBIs, 91 TBs, 3.0 WAR, and a slash line of .430/.521/.777/1.298

So if he could, by some miracle, continue this pace, he’d have the following stats, with 2 games remaining:

150 runs,

260 hits,

50 HRs,

90 XBHs,

160 RBIs,

455 TBs, and

15.0 WAR, along with that insane slash line. 

Obviously those numbers aren’t feasible. No one can maintain this level of excellence… Or can they?  Aaron Boone just said the other day that as crazy as it sounds, Judge really hasn’t gotten hot yet. He hasn’t gone on one of his patented 10 games stretch with 8 HRs and 20 RBIs. 

So let’s just imagine for a moment that he was able to keep his pace up. How would it rank among some of the best seasons ever?

150 runs: would join Jeff Bagwell as the only players since the Korean War to score 150+. 

260 hits: would trail Ichiro Suzuki by 2 for the all time single season record. 

50 HRs: would top 50 for the 4th time, joining Ruth, Sosa, and McGwire. Remember he hasn’t gone on a tear yet and the umpires called one foul that was clearly fair.

90 XBH: would join Pujols as the only players in the past 70+ years with 3 seasons of 90+.

160 RBIs: top 25 all time joining Ramirez and Sosa as the only players to accomplish that since before WW2.

455 TBs: would trail Ruth by 2 for the all time record. 

.430 avg: highest average since Hornsby’s .423 in 1924. 

.521 OBP: top 15 all time and the walk treatment hasn’t started yet. 

.777 SLG and 1.298 OPS: top 10 all time, trailing only Ruth and Bonds in both. 

267 OPS+: one point behind Bonds for the best season ever. 

15 WAR: highest of all time, eclipsing Ruth’s mark of 14.1 achieved in 1923. He would also join Ruth as the only two players with 3 top 25 WAR seasons. Judge started the year with 52.5 career WAR. He has already passed 15 Hall of Fame players in career WAR this season. He would pass an additional 35 HOFers!!!

And had the home run had not been called foul this is how his projections would really look:

155 R, 265 hits, 55 HRs, 95 XBH, 170 RBIs, 475 TBs, and a slash line of roughly .434/.523/.781/1.304.

This is a fun little exercise into the world of “what ifs”.  But, I recommend watching the real show. It’s been much more unbelievable and is extremely entertaining.