Los Angeles Angels slugger Shohei Ohtani leads the majors in home runs. Does have he a chance to break Aaron Judge's home run record set just one year ago?
The Los Angeles Angels have become appointment television this year. In contrast to years past, the Angels are in playoff contention. That can be attributed to how Shohei Ohtani has been playing through the first half of the 2023 MLB season, both in the batter's box and on the pitcher's mound. Regarding the former, Ohtani is crushing it…literally.
Through 84 games this season, Ohtani leads the majors with a .670 slugging percentage, a 1.060 OPS, 68 runs batted in, and 31 home runs. Regarding his home run total, he reached the same amount in as many games as New York Yankees outfielder did last year when he broke the American League home run record with 62. The record was previously held by former Yankee Roger Maris, who hit 61 in 1961.
Given Ohtani's home run total so far, does he have a legitimate chance to break the record that Judge set just one year ago?
Can Shohei Ohtani break Aaron Judge's home run record? Here's his pace
To calculate home run pace, we would have to divide Ohtani's home run total by the number of games the Angels have played. Then, you multiply that number by 162 games to get your final number. So, divide 31 by 86, then multiply by 162, and you get 58.4. With that, Ohtani is on pace to hit between 58 and 59 home runs as of right now, falling just short of Judge's mark of 62.
This doesn't mean that Ohtani definitely can't accomplish the feat. As is the case in any sport, an athlete can go on an incredible run and get past their current pace.
Ohtani had been on a roll recently, hitting a home run in six of his past 10 games played. In June, Ohtani hit 15 home runs, tying his home run total between April and May (15). Five more games are remaining for the Angels before Ohtani heads to Seattle for the All-Star Game, so it will be interesting to see if he can rack up more homers in that span.
Based on the math right now, Ohtani falls just short of breaking Judge's home run record. However, that's not to say he can't do it, as it's still in the realm of possibility.
