Fastball

New York Yankees Star Hits 40-HR Milestone, Joining Elite Group in History

With his 40th home run on Friday night, New York Yankees star Aaron Judge became just the fourth person in franchise history to have at least three, 40-home run seasons.

Brady Farkas

New York Yankees center fielder Aaron Judge (99) hits a two run home run against the Toronto Blue Jays during the first inning at Yankee Stadium on Aug 2.
New York Yankees center fielder Aaron Judge (99) hits a two run home run against the Toronto Blue Jays during the first inning at Yankee Stadium on Aug 2. / Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports
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The New York Yankees lost to the Toronto Blue Jays 8-5 on Friday night at Yankee Stadium. The loss moved New York to 65-46 on the year and kept them in a tie for first place in the American League East with the slumping Baltimore Orioles.

Despite the loss and missed opportunity to move into the division lead, the Yankees did get another special night from superstar Aaron Judge. He went 2-for-4 with a home run, a run scored and two RBI. The home run was his 40th of the season and the RBIs were his 100th and 101st. He is the first player this season to reach both of those plateaus and he also became just the fourth Yankee in team history to have at least three different 40-homer seasons.

He joins Babe Ruth (11), Lou Gehrig (5) and Mickey Mantle (4) in that club and any time you can join those legends in history, you've done something right.

It's been an incredible year for Judge, who is now hitting .318 overall. He's carrying an absurd 1.144 OPS and was just named to his sixth career All-Star Game last month. Judge is closing in on the 300-career home run milestone as well. He's just three shy of that mark and should hit it within the month of August.

Judge is also on his way to winning his second American League MVP in the last three years. He previously won the award in 2022.

The Yankees and Blue Jays will play again on Saturday afternoon at 1:05 p.m. ET.

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Brady Farkas

BRADY FARKAS

Brady Farkas is a baseball writer for Fastball on Sports Illustrated/FanNation and the host of 'The Payoff Pitch' podcast which can be found on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Videos on baseball also posted to YouTube. Brady has spent nearly a decade in sports talk radio and is a graduate of Oswego State University. You can follow him on Twitter @WDEVRadioBrady. 

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