Would Yankees' Aaron Judge be true home run champ with 62?

Aaron Judge hit home run No. 61 in the New York Yankees‘ Wednesday night victory over the Toronto Blue Jays. The home run tied Roger Maris for the most home runs in a single season in both Yankees and American League history.

Yankees’ Aaron Judge hits 61st home run of the season, tying Roger Maris for most by AL player

Aaron Judge crushed his 61st home run of the season for the New York Yankees which tied Roger Maris for the most hit in a single season by an AL player.

Only three players have topped 61 in a season – Barry Bonds, Sammy Sosa (three times) and Mark McGwire (twice) – and they all did it within a four-year span. Bonds’ 73 home runs in 2001 is the MLB record.

However, Bonds, Sosa and McGwire are linked to using performance-enhancing drugs, which has renewed debate on whether Judge should be considered the single-season home run champion if he hits No. 62 over the Yankees’ remaining seven games.

Roger Maris Jr. reiterated his thoughts on the subject moments after Judge tied his father’s mark.

“He should be revered for being the actual single-season home run champ,” Maris told the Associated Press on Wednesday night. “I mean, that’s really who he is if he hits 62, and I think that’s what needs to happen. I think baseball needs to look at the records and I think baseball should do something.”

With that said, Judge expressed to Sports Illustrated earlier this month that Bonds’ 73 “is the record.” FS1’s Craig Carton vehemently disagreed with Maris Jr.’s stance, as well.

“To say that he [Judge] is the single-season record holder along with his dad [Maris] is just not accurate,” Carton said on “TThe Carton Show.” “Listen, everybody knows that Barry Bonds did steroids, everybody knows that Sammy Sosa did steroids, everybody knows that Mark McGwire did steroids. That’s not up for debate. The question is, does it matter?”

Cohost Cody Decker concurred with Carton, feeling that Bonds is still the real home run champion regardless.

“They all did [PEDs] in the 90s and 80s, so I’m not going to make Barry Bonds the pariah of an entire generation,” Decker later said. “That’s ridiculous. … If you ask Aaron Judge, he’ll tell you it’s not [the record],” Decker said. “He’s from San Francisco. He’s a San Francisco Giant fan, and he loves Barry Bonds, and he’s been on the record that 73 is the record.”

The Yankees have clinched the AL East and the No. 2 seed in the AL Playoffs. They end their regular season with a three-game series at home against the Baltimore Orioles and a four-game series on the road against the Texas Rangers.