The 2022 Major League Baseball (MLB) season has been one for the ages. With the final chapter closing on the regular season, teams are gearing up for the postseason. But two players have hogged all the spotlight as teams duke it out for the final playoff spots. Those players? Albert Pujols and Aaron Judge.
On Friday, Sept. 23, Pujols reached one final career milestone. That night, the 42 year-old launched not one, but two home runs deep into the Los Angeles night; home runs number 699 and 700. The Cardinals first baseman, who returned to St. Louis for his farewell season, is just the fourth player in baseball history to reach 700 home runs and the first since the great Barry Bonds.
In his 22nd season, Pujols has continued to rock the baseball world, launching 22 home runs, a mark that very few saw coming. As if he needed more records to cement himself into the Baseball Hall of Fame, this unimaginable milestone will cement Pujols into baseball immortality.
With all the talk going into the 2022 season being about Pujols and people questioning whether he could reach the 700 home run mark, a different home run chase snuck up on baseball fans. Judge, the 30 year-old outfielder for the New York Yankees, has torn it up this season. Week after week, Judge inched closer and closer to Roger Maris’ Yankee record of 61 home runs in a single season. Now, he has finally caught him.
On Wednesday, Sept. 28, Judge finally did it. After a bit of a cold stretch in the home run department, he belted his 61st home run, tying Maris and moving the slugger into 7th all-time on the single-season home run leaders list. Then, on Tuesday, Oct. 4, Judge hit #62 over the left field wall in Texas, giving him ownership of the single-season Yankee home run record. This season could not have come at a better time for Judge, as his current contract with the Yankees is set to expire after this season. Needless to say, he is due a big-time payday this off season.
There is also debate over whether Judge should be seen as the home run king for a single season. Of the players ahead of Judge on the list, which includes Bonds, Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa, he is the only player without serious steroid allegations towards his name. Regardless, the season Judge has had is nothing short of impressive and it should be seen as one of the greatest single seasons in baseball history.
This season, fans have been blessed with incredible storylines and greatness on the baseball diamond. It has had surprise teams making a run at the playoffs, electric rookies setting the baseball world on fire and much more. At the end of it all, the 2022 MLB season will always be remembered as the one where Pujols cemented his legacy and Judge broke the late great Maris’ Yankees home run record.
