Yankees' Aaron Judge Could Overtake Shohei Ohtani in This Historic Stat

MLB’s two MVP frontrunners are competing for historic supremacy in one offensive statistic.

Sep 22, 2024; Oakland, California, USA; New York Yankees center fielder Aaron Judge (99) is congratulated by teammates after hitting a home run against the Oakland Athletics in the third inning at the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: Cary Edmondson-Imagn Images

Heading into the final week of MLB’s regular season, both the AL and NL’s respective MVP races already appear decided.

For the AL, all indications are the New York Yankees slugger Aaron Judge will secure his second MVP award in three seasons. And in the NL, Los Angeles Dodgers superstar Shohei Ohtani appears to have his third MVP award locked up.

However, despite these two budding MLB legends not competing for MVP, they are competing for a historic statistic: Reaching 400 total bases in a season.

A September 22 article from MLB.com discussed how either MVP favorite reaching this mark would make their seasons even more historic.

“Ohtani has a real shot at reaching 400 total bases on the season – something that’s not happened since Sammy Sosa (425), Luis Gonzalez (419), Barry Bonds (411) and Todd Helton (402) each accomplished the feat in 2001,” the article wrote.

“Entering play Monday, Ohtani leads all players with 391 total bases and is on pace to finish with 406… Judge was on pace for 400 total bases for much of the season but has trailed off in recent weeks and is a long-shot at this point. As of Monday, Judge has 379 total bases and is on pace for 394. It’ll take one of Judge’s classic heaters to get him there, but we’ve seen enough from him to know that a sudden power surge could happen at any time. Should Judge get there, it would be the first season of 400 total bases in the AL since Jim Rice in 1978.”

The article continued, saying, “It takes a really special season to reach 400 total bases, which is why it’s only happened eight times since 1960. It requires a strong mix of high average and exceptional extra-base ability. But even then, there are no guarantees. Even a few mini-slumps over the course of 162 games can sink a hitter’s chances.

“But if both Ohtani and Judge have big final weeks, 400 total bases are in reach for both of them — which would be the perfect conclusion to their already rock-solid MVP cases,” the piece concluded.

Judge’s 16-game home run slump earlier this month may have ruined his chances of reaching the 400-base milestone. But given what the AL MVP frontrunner is capable of, we wouldn’t put it past him to not only reach 400 total bases but also surpass Ohtani’s total.