As the temperatures are rising, hinting at the summer heat to come, there's perhaps been nothing or no one hotter on the planet than Aaron Judge. The New York Yankees' slugger is scorching and should undoubtedly lead him to earning the American League Player of the Month honors for May.

Judge ended his month-long scorcher in a significant, dramatic way. He went 3-for-4 with a single, two home runs, and four RBIs. The significance was that he once again cemented his name as part of Yankees history. He now ranks fifth all-time in franchise history for extra-base hits in a calendar month with 25, per MLB's Sarah Langs.

The rest of those guys, you ask? Oh, just Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, and Joe DiMaggio. No big deal. Bunch of nobodies.

The drama came in that Judge did it against the San Francisco Giants in Oracle Park, the site where he grew up watching games as a kid and being a fan of the team. It's a place that Judge could have spent the majority of his career playing at, too, if not for him turning down the Giants' nine-year, $360 million offer back when he hit free agency in the winter of 2022.

Giants' fans didn't forget that, either, as they rained down a chorus of boos upon him as soon as he entered the batter's box on Friday night. The Yankees won 6-2.

Aaron Judge loves the month of May

Yankees designated hitter Aaron Judge (center) hits a home run against the San Francisco Giants during the sixth inning at Oracle Park
Darren Yamashita-USA TODAY Sports

For the month of May, Judge's numbers were astonishing to the point you would think it came from a kid playing MLB The Show. He hit 14 homers, knocked in 27 runs, and slashed .371/.488/.928 with an absolutely ridiculous OPS of 1.415. Only Luis Arraez bested him in average (.389) and Jose Ramirez in RBIs (33). Judge owned everything else.

Though the chapter of May is closed, the Yankees and Judge are definitely hoping this wasn't the final chapter of this storied season he's having.

No one is expecting The Captain to put up these sorts of monstrous numbers all season long. Rather, a level of consistency, which hasn't been the case over the last couple of seasons when the calendar turned to June.

For whatever reason, Judge loves the month of May, as that's usually when he's played some of his best baseball. Going back to the beginning of his career in 2017, Judge has belted 57 homers in the month, with 36 of those just over the last three seasons. He has a combined 94 extra-base hits, 126 RBIs, and slashed .323/.427/.703. He also has an OPS of 1.130, falling just under 1.000 in 2018 and 2021. He was injured during 2019 and 2020.

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June… not so much

June resembles a much different story, where not only his production takes a dip but injuries have occurred. In 2019, he not only missed all of May, he only played in seven games in June, totaling just 31 plate appearances. Last season, he played in only two games during June after suffering a torn ligament in his right big toe after crashing into the right-field fence at Dodger Stadium.

In comparison, Judge's June career numbers are 35 homers, 86 RBIs, and just 17 extra-base hits. Not accounting for this weekend, he's slashing .257/.370/.560, though his OPS is still good with a .930. Some of that can be attributed to the 30 walks he had during his first season. He's only had double-digit homers twice in the month of June, back in 2017 (10) and 2022 (11).

Including the pending one from last month, Judge will be a seven-time Player of the Month award winner. Guess which month he's won the most? If you guessed May then, ding, ding, ding, you're the winner. Judge will have won the award three times in May (2022, 2023, 2024), twice in September (2017, 2022), once in July (2022) and actually once in June back during his rookie season in 2017.

Judge's numbers aren't atrocious during the month of June — he's had two seasons hitting over .300 for the month — it's just odd that he favors the month of May so much and then typically cools off the next month.

Good news — Aaron Judge hasn't slowed down yet

Through just one day of June, Judge hasn't slowed down yet. Maybe he hasn't looked at a calendar. If that's the case, then nobody tell him. Or maybe it's that in the five games that Judge has faced his childhood favorite team he's gone berserk. He's batting right at .500 with 10 hits, five homers, 10 RBIs, and seven runs scored, per StatMuse.

The current series against San Francisco is also the first that Judge is playing the Giants at Oracle Park. He missed the series back in 2019 with a strained left oblique. He seems to be making up for lost time. On Saturday night, he followed up his two-homer performance from Friday by going 2-for-3 with another homer in the first inning, this one a monster shot that went 464 feet off Logan Webb. He now leads the league with 21. The Yankees won 7-3 and have won eight out of their last 10.