How long can Judge's .400 batting average last?
Baseball fans wondered how Aaron Judge would outshine a season where he blasted 58 home runs and accumulated a career-best .322 batting average, culminating in his second American League MVP award.
Through nearly a quarter of this campaign, Judge has been baseball's best hitter and is the overwhelming favorite (-1000) to capture his fourth MVP. But he's chasing history instead of hardware.
The Yankees slugger has a .409 batting average through 40 games. Ted Williams is the last player to hit .400 for an entire season. That was in 1941. Maintaining a .400 average throughout a 162-game campaign is nearly impossible, especially when the league-wide average is .242.
Judge is +10000 to hit .400 for the season, a market offered exclusively on theScore Bet/ESPN Bet, giving him a less than 1% implied probability of attaining the improbable feat.
Reaching .400 when the All-Star break rolls around on July 14 is more reasonable, but it's still a long shot. He's +1100 to hold that average by the time the Midsummer Classic arrives.
There are 56 games left until the All-Star break, meaning Judge must have a .400 batting average through 96 contests. The last player to hit .400 through 96 outings was Larry Walker for the Colorado Rockies in 1997. He finished with a .366 average that season. Nomar Garciaparra is the most recent player to maintain a .400 average through 90 games when he did it with the Red Sox in 2000. Since then, Luis Arraez put together the longest pursuit of .400 when he carried the average for 78 contests in 2023 with the Marlins.
It's not unheard of to record a .400 average through 40 games. David Wright did it in 2012, followed by Troy Tulowitzki in 2014, Dee Gordon in 2015, and Cody Bellinger in 2019.
The difference is that Judge has shown no signs of slowing down. Although his average briefly dipped below .400 over the weekend, it climbed to .409 after a 4-for-5 performance Sunday against the Athletics.
Judge has blasted 14 homers, tying Kyle Schwarber for the MLB lead, and is -155 to finish as the league's home run king. He also tops the majors in RBIs (39) and hits (64), with +350 odds to finish as the hits leader. Judge's tear has the Yankees in first place in the AL East at 23-17.
ESPN Bet and theScore Bet offer a market for Judge to finish with a .330 batting average, a more reasonable accomplishment that would still be a career-best for the three-time MVP. He's -125 to achieve the mark and -105 to fall short. Over 60 players this century have batted higher than .330.
Judge has never won a batting title but is in first place by a comfortable margin. His teammate, Paul Goldschmidt, has the league's second-highest batting average at .349.
While it's highly unlikely Judge bats .400 for the first time in 84 years, it's worth tracking how long this streak lasts. The Yankees captain has claimed his stake as baseball's most dominant hitter. Individual honors will recognize that, but a historical milestone is on the line.
Sam Oshtry is a sports betting writer at theScore. You can follow him on X @soshtry for more betting coverage.