The AL home run record is quaking in its boots

All rise for the Honorable Judge with the Big Dumper: Aaron Judge's New York Yankees and Cal Raleigh's Seattle Mariners face off tonight in the final matchup of a three-game series, with both players in the hunt to break the AL single-season home run record.

• Judge, with 34 taters through 92 games, is pacing ahead of his 2022 record-breaking campaign, where he deposited 62 balls into seats. He’s also chasing his fourth 50-homer season, which would tie Sammy Sosa, Mark McGwire, and Babe Ruth for the most.
• Raleigh, while known for his rear, is actually ahead of Judge, with 36 bombs. That puts him on pace for 63 in the season—if he can continue overcoming his not-so-homer-friendly home ballpark and the wear-and-tear of catching.

It’s shaping up to be a record year: Royals SS Bobby Witt Jr. is chasing his third-straight 30-30 season (30 HRs, 30 SBs), something only Barry Bonds has done. Mets OF Juan Soto is flirting with his eighth-consecutive season with a .400 OBP or above to start his career, something only Frank Thomas, Ted Williams, and Wade Boggs have done. And Tigers SP Tarik Skubal is turning in even better numbers this year than in his Cy Young-winning 2024 campaign, when he captured the pitching Triple Crown (leading the league in ERA, strikeouts, and wins).

Not to be overlooked: Dodgers SP Clayton Kershaw last week recorded his 3,000 career strikeout (which we probably won't see done again for a while)—while Padres 3B Manny Machado signed up for Orangetheory joined an exclusive hit club on Monday, when he became the fifth active MLB player to reach 2,000 career knocks.