What could an MLB team achieve if they arguably had the two best outfielders in the majors? The New York Yankees are putting that to the test with Aaron Judge and Juan Soto. The results are nothing short of spectacular between the two, and the team, despite lots of flaws, is one of the best in baseball.
Judge leads all hitters in OPS with 1.149, embarking on another season of 50+ homers and almost certainly another American League MVP award. Soto, at .994, is second. He's just ahead of superstars like Bobby Witt Jr. and Shohei Ohtani for the next spot on the leaderboard.
The Yankees stars are the only players in MLB with over 120 walks, and only one other (Kyle Schwarber) has reached 100. They’re also the only two with on-base percentages north of .400. They’re pretty good.
USA TODAY Sports' Bob Nightengale laid out how historic of a season Judge and Soto are having together. Not since 1961 have two Yankees hitters reached the 40-homer threshold.
Yankees fighting to win 2024 AL East title
For all the sluggers the Yankees have employed over the years since the 1960s — including the likes of Reggie Jackson, Tino Martinez, Bernie Williams, Jason Giambi, Alex Rodriguez, Mark Teixeira, Curtis Granderson and Giancarlo Stanton — none have been able to hit 40 homers the same time that another teammate did.
Judge and Soto, who hit his 200th career homer, managed to make it there and are hoping to hit plenty of long bombs for the Yanks in October.
The Yankees are very likely to make the postseason but are still in a close fight with the Baltimore Orioles in the race for the division crown and the likely first-round bye that will go with it. The O's are 4.0 games behind them.
They’ll face each other in a three-game series in the Bronx soon. Judge and Soto will be ready to launch homers in the hopes of earning New York its second division title in three seasons.