The New York Yankees found out their opponent for the American League Division Series as the Kansas City Royals swept the Baltimore Orioles.
After finishing the 2024 regular season with the American League’s best record of 94 wins and 68 losses, the Yankees will have home-field advantage for the American League playoffs.
A big reason for their success this season was due to Major League Baseball’s home run champion Aaron Judge who hit 58 home runs.
Believe it or not, there is another stat by Judge that could be even more incredible.
According to The Athletic’s MLB analyst Chris Kirschner, Judge led the league in wRC+ by a large margin.
Aaron Judge just had one of the greatest offensive seasons ever. His 218 wRC+ was 37 % points higher than Ohtani’s.
“The game is easier for him than it is for everyone else.”
How Judge transformed his ‘terrible’ swing to become the world’s best hitter:https://t.co/6pdLCO4Std
— Chris Kirschner (@ChrisKirschner) October 3, 2024
WRC+ in baseball stands for weighted runs created plus, which measures a player’s batting performance by taking external factors into account.
An example of 1 of the external factors is what ballpark the player plays in.
A field like the Colorado Rockies home ballpark Coors Field would be different than a field like the Seattle Mariners home field T-Mobile Park.
If 2 players had the exact same stats at both fields, the player with the home field of T-Mobile Park would have a better wRC+ due to it being a pitcher-friendly ballpark.
Judge held a wRC+ of 218, and to put this in perspective, a wRC+ of 100 would be considered league average.
The wRC+ of 218 was 37 points higher than Shohei Ohtani of the Los Angeles Dodgers who also had an incredible season and appears to be headed for a Most Valuable Player award.
This stat shows just how dominant Judge’s regular season was, and the Yankees will hope these stats continue into the playoffs.
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