Where do Aaron Judge and Juan Soto stack up among MLB's best duos? Yankees pair having historically great year

You, the baseball observer, have likely noticed that the New York Yankees ' tandem superstars, Aaron Judge and Juan Soto , are having brilliant seasons. This is not especially surprising given that each is a brilliant player. However, the fact that each is enjoying perhaps his finest season in their first and perhaps only season as Yankee teammates is indeed notable.

We know Judge will be in pinstripes for years to come, but Soto's status as a pending free agent means that he might be one and done in the Bronx. So as the stretch drive deepens and so do the Yankees' designs on the World Series, it's time to appreciate what the team's No. 2 and No. 3 hitters are accomplishing as a duo.

First, know that if not for Judge and Soto, the Yankees would predictably be in real trouble right now. Soto and Judge together have a sky-scraping 2024 slash line of .314/.446/.666, whereas the remainder of the Yankee roster this season is hitting .234/.302/.382. There's doing the heavy lifting and then there's doing whatever Judge and Soto are doing for the Yankees offense this year.

Those other 2024 Yankees, however, are not the basis for comparison. We want to compare Judge and Soto to those other great pairs of teammates from across baseball history. We'll do this in two ways. First, we'll compare based on home runs, which is what Judge and Soto are known for and also what drives most of their overall value. Speaking of overall value, that will be our second comparison. Using Wins Above Replacement, or WAR ( what's this? ), which is the best public-facing measurement of a player's entire on-field worth (i.e., his hitting, defense, and base-running), we'll match up the Judge-Soto pairing to the most valuable teammate duos ever.

Now let's dive in.

Home Runs

Judge has an MLB-leading 51 home runs, which puts him on target to threaten the American League single-season record of 62 that he set in 2022. Soto, meanwhile, checks in at 37, which is tied for fourth in the league. Those tallies raise the distinct possibility that Judge and Soto will combine for 100 or more homers this season. As it turns out, just five pairs of teammates have ever achieved such a thing. Here they are, in order of their combined home run totals:

• Roger Maris (61) and Mickey Mantle (54), 1961 Yankees: 115
• Babe Ruth (60) and Lou Gehrig (47), 1927 Yankees: 107
• Barry Bonds (73) Rich Aurilia (37), 2001 Giants : 110
• Mark McGwire (70) and Ray Lankford (31), 1998 Cardinals : 101
• Alex Rodriguez (57) and Rafael Palmeiro (43), 2002 Rangers : 100

At the moment, Judge and Soto are on pace for a combined 108 home runs, which puts them second on the list above. Catching Ruth and Maris would obviously entail an increased pace, particularly out of Soto. On the other side, however, they have room to slack off a bit and still join the elite ranks of teammate tandems with 100 homers in a season.

As you can glean from the above, only one team, the '61 Yanks, has enjoyed two 50-home run hitters. Soto is not presently on pace to join Judge, but he's certainly within range. Right now, Soto is on target for 45 homers this season, so he's got some catching up to do. Soto four times in his career has reached double digits in home runs across a single month, including the current month of August 2024. His career monthly high is 11 in August of 2020. Finish strong this month and go on a September heater, and he's there. It's an ask but not an impossible one.

As for Judge, he's on pace for 63 homers, which would break the American League single-season record he set in 2022 with 62.

WAR

Now let's turn to total value. Presently, Judge has a WAR of 9.4, which leads MLB by a fairly comfy margin. Juan Soto checks in at fourth with a WAR of 7.5. Right now, Judge is on pace for a season-long WAR of 11.5. For some context, that would be the highest WAR in a season since Barry Bonds' 11.7 in 2002. Near at hand is Soto, who's in line for a 2024 WAR of 9.2. So how many pairs of position-player teammates have each managed a WAR of 9.0 or more in the same year? Just like above, we presently have a list of five teams. Presented in state-of-the-art chronological order:

• Nap Lajoie (10.0 WAR) and Terry Turner (9.3), 1906 Naps ( Guardians )
• Babe Ruth (12.6) and Lou Gehrig (11.9), 1927 Yankees
• Babe Ruth (10.2) and Lou Gehrig (9.5), 1928 Yankees
• Babe Ruth (10.5) and Lou Gehrig (9.6), 1930 Yankees
• Ken Griffey Jr. (9.7) and Alex Rodriguez (9.4), 1996 Mariners

Only one team, those juggernaut '27 Yankees, has had two teammates with a 10.0 WAR or higher (almost 12.0, if you can believe such a thing). Again, Judge and Soto have a chance to join such singular company, but Soto will need to elevate his current trendline just a bit.

However things play out over the remainder of the regular season, Judge and Soto have established themselves two of the greatest to ever do it in the same uniform and the same year. Barring the wholly unexpected, they'll join each of those lists above. If they maintain their very recent levels of performance, they might even top those lists.