Yankees even AL East standings as Aaron Judge hits two home runs, joins exclusive 50-homer club

Gary Phillips, New York Daily News on Sep 24, 2025

Published in Baseball

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NEW YORK — Aaron Judge joined a small group of sluggers on Wednesday night, as the Yankees’ captain recorded the fourth 50-homer season of his career in an 8-1 win over the White Sox.

The victory coincided with yet another Blue Jays loss, as they fell to the Red Sox, 7-1, in Toronto. With four games left in the regular season, the Yankees and Jays are now tied for the best record in the American League East, though Toronto holds the tiebreaker thanks to an 8-5 record in head-to-head play.

On Tuesday evening, the Yankees made it known that they still have their eyes on the East as they celebrated a postseason berth.

“Our ultimate goal is to win the division,” Judge said during the party. “It’s still right there for us. We’re excited about getting in, but we got bigger things ahead of us.”

Judge helped his club take another step toward achieving that goal Wednesday, as his 50th homer — a three-run blast off White Sox reliever Jonathan Cannon in the second inning — gave the Bombers a 3-1 lead after it landed in the Yankees’ bullpen. He later added a solo shot in the eighth inning, giving him 51 dingers on the season.

Judge, now in his 10th season, also crushed 50 homers in 2017, 2022 and 2024. Only three other players in major league history have enjoyed four 50-homer seasons: Babe Ruth (1920, 1921, 1927, 1928), Mark McGwire (1996-1999) and Sammy Sosa (1998-2001).

No player has recorded five 50-homer seasons, giving Judge a chance to create his own exclusive club down the road.

Judge is now the first Yankee with back-to-back 50-homer seasons since Ruth. Meanwhile, his 46 multi-homer games ties Mickey Mantle for the second-most in franchise history. Only Ruth had more (68).

Judge’s latest 50-homer season could earn him his second consecutive MVP Award and his third overall, as he leads the majors with a .328 average, 1.136 OPS and a 202 wRC+ after going 3 for 4 on Wednesday. The right fielder, who ranks fourth on the Yankees’ all-time home run list after recently surpassing Yogi Berra and Joe DiMaggio, is up to 109 RBIs, too.

Seattle’s Cal Raleigh is considered Judge’s primary competition for the MVP trophy, as he has put together a historic offensive season while catching. Raleigh recently broke Mantle’s single-season record for homers by a switch-hitter; he entered Wednesday with 58 dingers and 121 RBIs.

With some voters still debating the MVP race, Judge and the Yankees are more focused on the AL East and their championship aspirations.

Judge didn’t power the pinstripers’ offense by himself on Wednesday, as Paul Goldschmidt shot an RBI single the other way after Ben Rice tripled in the third. Jazz Chisholm Jr. then doubled Goldschmidt home.

Trent Grisham also went deep in the eighth, belting a two-run homer before Judge smoked his second homer of the game.

On the mound, Max Fried held the White Sox to one earned run — a Lenyn Sosa sac fly — across seven innings in his last start of the regular season. He also permitted four hits and two walks while striking out seven batters over 107 pitches.

Signed to an eight-year, $218 million deal over the winter — the largest guarantee ever for a southpaw — Fried went 19-5 with a 2.86 ERA in his first season with the Yankees.

The ace set career highs in wins, starts (32), innings (195 1/3) and strikeouts (189).

Wednesday marked the first time that the lefty-swinging Rice caught Fried. Prior to the game, Yankees manager Aaron Boone explained that he wanted to emphasize left-right lineup balance with the White Sox throwing a bullpen game and the righty-swinging Goldschmidt starting at first. However, it did occur to the manager that the Fried-Rice combo could help the Yankees in the playoffs, as the catcher, who can also play first, has cemented himself as a lineup fixture.

“If we do make a deep run in the postseason — and who knows what comes up — getting them together at least once, there’s some benefit in that,” Boone said.