The New York Yankees took an early 6-3 lead over the Baltimore Orioles through the first four innings of Friday's contest. While the club is in direct competition for the AL East and No. 1 seed in the MLB Playoffs, Aaron Judge continues to do his thing with the bat. Judge managed to record his 52nd home run of the season.

In the bottom of the third with a guy on first, Orioles' starting pitcher Trevor Rodgers threw a pitch pretty much right down the middle to Judge. The 33-year-old slugger got a hold of it and sent the ball flying toward center field. Aaron Judge's 52nd home run had no chance of being caught as it went well over the fence.

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Judge's 52nd home run this season marks the fourth time in his career that he has hit at least 52 home runs in a single season. The previous three times, Aaron Judge ended the season as the league leader in home runs. That doesn't appear to be the case in 2025, though, as Cal Raleigh (60), Kyle Schwarber (56), and Shohei Ohtani (54) are all ahead of the Yankees star right now.

Aaron Judge is also involved in MVP talks in the AL, alongside Seattle Mariners catcher Cal Raleigh. The Yankees' slugger is one of the best hitters in baseball right now, and that trend certainly continued this year. He owns a league-high .330 batting average and .457 OBP while recording 52 home runs, 176 hits, and 111 RBIs, pending the end of the game against Baltimore.

After Friday's contest, New York only has two more games remaining in the regular season. It's officially crunch time, as the Yankees entered the three-game series against the Orioles tied with the Toronto Blue Jays for first place, not only in the AL East, but in the AL in general. Either way, New York has already clinched a spot in the playoffs, regardless of whether they win the division or not.