How many home runs is Cal Raleigh away from Yankees' Aaron Judge record?

Matt Sullivan

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How many home runs is Cal Raleigh away from Yankees' Aaron Judge record? image

The American League MVP race this season is a tight and contentious one. With Aaron Judge of the New York Yankees continuing his incredible offensive onslaught in MLB, and the emergence of Cal Raleigh as the greatest power-hitting catcher in baseball history, it's a close race for the MVP.

But the MVP race isn't the only one between Raleigh and Judge that's close. After Raleigh hit two home runs on Wednesday night, to reach 60 on the year, he's closing in on Judge's home run record from 2022.

With four games to go, there are two main questions surrounding Raleigh and Judge: Who's going to win the AL MVP, and can Raleigh catch Judge's home run record?

How many home runs does Cal Raleigh need to break Aaron Judge's Yankees home run record?

After launching two homers against the Colorado Rockies on the same night to clinch the AL West for the first time in 24 years, Raleigh sits at 60 home runs. He's the only catcher to reach such a milestone, and he's the first non-Yankees slugger to do so in MLB history.

But he still has to make up some ground to catch Judge. In 2022, when Judge set the record, he reached a remarkable 62 home runs, beating Roger Maris's 61 home runs for the AL record.

Other than Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa, and Barry Bonds, only Judge, Maris, Babe Ruth, and now Raleigh have reached 60 homers in a season. It's some incredible company for Raleigh and Judge to be in, and with four games left, Raleigh has a chance to climb the leaderboard.

Judge finished with 62 home runs, while Raleigh has 60 with four games left. With Seattle just one game back of the Toronto Blue Jays in the AL for the one-seed, there's no reason for Raleigh to sit during the final four games.

Judge has a two-homer lead over Raleigh, as the Mariners catcher has four games, and potentially 16 at-bats to catch Judge for the home run crown.

More: Yankees' Aaron Judge is about to join Ruth, Gehrig, Mantle in astounding MLB history

He has matchups against the Rockies, who are starting Bradley Blalock, who has a 9.16 ERA on the year in 13 games with 16 home runs allowed in 55 innings of work.

Raleigh then faces the Los Angeles Dodgers, who are likely to secure the NL West before that series comes to an end. And with the Philadelphia Phillies and Milwaukee Brewers clinching the two byes, the Dodgers could look to rest some pitchers for that final series.

The Dodgers' bullpen has also struggled a ton lately, and Raleigh could capitalize on a weak bullpen in the final games of the year to either tie or surpass Judge's 62 home run total from 2022.

While the MVP race is at the center of attention, with how close it is between Raleigh and Judge, if Raleigh can reach 62 or 63 home runs this season, his MVP case will be a lot stronger than it is now. It already took a jump when he reached 60 homers, but beating Judge's record could make the MVP race swing in the Mariners' favor.

Regardless of how it plays out, it's going to be a fun finish to the 2025 MLB season. Raleigh is only two away from tying Judge's 2022 home run record, and with four games left, he has a chance to set such incredible MLB history.

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Matt Sullivan

Matt Sullivan is a freelance writer for The Sporting News, predominantly covering MLB. Matt is a native of Pennsylvania and has worked with Athlon Sports, Last Word on Sports, and other outlets.