After nine games this season, the New York Yankees are the best team in Major League Baseball. With a record of eight wins and one loss, they have an exceptional winning percentage of .889. The Yankees only loss came on July 25, in their second game of the season, when they were beaten 9-2 by the World Series champions Washington Nationals.
During the hot start, Aaron Judge has been spectacular. In nine games, Judge is batting .314. He leads the Major Leagues with 11 runs scored, six home runs, 14 runs batted in and 31 total bases. Judge also leads the American League with a .886 slugging percentage.
In a span of five games from July 29 to August 2, Judge hit a home run in five straight games. In fact, he had a multi-home run performance in a 9-7 win over the Boston Red Sox at Yankees Stadium on Sunday.
Judge’s home runs have also been key. He is the first player to have hit five go-ahead home runs in his team’s first eight Major League Baseball games in a season according to the Elias Sports Bureau.
The Yankees have historically been known as the Bronx Bombers. They have a rich history of players who have hit with considerable power. The list includes Babe Ruth, Mickey Mantle, Roger Maris, Reggie Jackson, and Alex Rodriguez.
One must also realize that Judge is not the only Yankees slugger who has got off to a notable start. Giancarlo Stanton is looking for a bounce-back year after only playing 18 games in 2019. He is batting .296 with two home runs and six runs batted in. But it is the distance of the Stanton homers this season which has raised eyebrows. On opening night against the Washington Nationals in a 4-1 New York win, Stanton hit a home run that went 459 feet off of Nationals starting pitcher Max Scherzer, one of the best pitchers in the game today. Then he had a 483 foot home run two nights later.
