"Nobody pitches to Aaron Judge anymore" - Fans react as Dodgers Shohei Ohtani closes in on Yankees’ Aaron Judge on the homer leaderboard

Fans reacted to Los Angeles Dodgers designated hitter Shohei Ohtani closing in on New York Yankees captain Aaron Judge in the home run race this 2024 season. Ohtani recently passed the 50-50 threshold and is now on pace to achieve 60 homers and 60 stolen bases.

The Japanese superstar currently has 52 home runs, 122 RBIs, 77 walks, and a 1.013 OPS. Meanwhile, Aaron Judge leads the league with 53 homers, just one ahead of Ohtani. Judge also leads the league with 122 RBIs, 126 walks, and a 1.137 OPS.

Fans reacted to the home run race and shared their thoughts on it.

“Look at the numbers Judge is a better hitter and it’s not close,” a fan said.

“Dodger fan, but judge, per the usual missed 2 months and is still leading... there bother very special players, but judge is the king when it comes to hitting.. not taking anything away from Ohtani,” another fan said.

“Homers may be close now but not the other numbers. Also, Judge has abour 50 more walks,” another fan wrote.

Many other fans continued to react, with some blaming Aaron Judge’s lack of home runs on receiving more intentional walks compared to Shohei Ohtani.

“Unfortunately 60 more abs is the only reason it's close since nobody pitches to judge anymore,” a comment reads.

“Nobody pitches to Judge,” another comment reads.

“Yet how many actually intentionally walks Ohtani compare to judge?” someone wrote.

Shohei Ohtani, who has more at-bats than Aaron Judge, has 49 fewer walks than the Yankees superstar. In 151 games played, Ohtani is hitting .297, while in 152 games, Judge is hitting .319.

Aaron Judge reacts to the proposal of limiting intentional walks

According to Pete Caldera of NorthJersey.com, Aaron Judge has recorded 20 of his walks as intentional. Discussing the idea of limiting intentional walks per game, Judge reacted:

“I always want to hit. If that situation ever comes up again where I’m getting walked like that, I’d like to have a rule like that in place."

"But it honestly doesn’t matter to me. If I can get on base and it sets up our team to have two guys on base now, or if they walk me to lead off an inning… I know my job is to get on base."

“If I can get on base as many times as I can, I’ll take the walk when I can.’’

The New York Yankees (90-64) have a .584 winning percentage and are leading the AL East. They are on a road trip to Oakland for a three-game series against the Oakland Athletics.