On Aug. 22, after Aaron Judge hit his 48th home run in his 126th game, Giancarlo Stanton likened his Yankee teammate’s prolific production to video-game numbers. Three days later, after Judge struck homers No. 50 and 51, Marcus Stroman suggested Judge’s stats were “maybe even better” than what is possible in a video game. It’s been a challenge all year to adequately describe the season put together by Judge, who delivered hitting feats not seen since Babe Ruth, Mickey Mantle, Barry Bonds or, in some cases, ever before. Judge entered Saturday with 58 home runs, 144 RBI, 133 walks, a .461 on-base percentage, a .708 slugging percentage and a 1.169 OPS, all of which led MLB hitters, with two games left to play. His .325 average ranked third, and only seven points behind MLB leader Bobby Witt Jr.’s .332. Judge’s average was 82 points higher than the MLB average of .243. In each of those categories other than home runs, Judge trumped his 2022 numbers — an incredible accomplishment considering he set an American League single-season record that year with 62 homers en route to AL MVP honors. “Just always trying to improve every year,” Judge told the Daily News recently. “Every year that we don’t make it to the World Series and win a World Series, I kind of take that personal. I try to look in, instead of kind of putting the blame on everybody else. ‘Hey, what did I not do?’ Or, ‘What did I not do well to put us in the best position.’ Just trying to get better, and we’ve got a great team.” Judge, 32, is the first player to reach 140 RBI since Ryan Howard and Prince Fielder in 2009. The 15-year drought between 140-RBI seasons was the longest since MLB began tracking the stat in 1920. He is the first to record 140 RBI while hitting above .300 since Alex Rodriguez in 2007. Judge’s 58 home runs entering Saturday were the fifth most in a single season by a Yankee, a list that includes his 2022 campaign, as well as Roger Maris’ 61 in 1961 and Ruth’s 60 in 1927 and 59 in 1921. He became the fourth player in MLB history with multiple seasons of at least 58 home runs, joining Ruth, Sammy Sosa and Mark McGwire. “It’s crazy to see a guy hit a homer day after day,” Juan Soto said in August, contending that if anyone could break Bonds’ single-season record of 73 home runs, it was Judge. “It’s incredible. I’ve never seen somebody hit so many homers so consistently.” And Judge’s gaudy traditional stats don’t even tell the full story. Aug. 15, 2024: 300New York Daily NewsFront page for Aug. 15, 2024: Yankees’ Aaron Judge fastest to hit milestone with three-run blast in 8th inning against White Sox. His 10.9 wins above replacement (WAR) to begin Saturday, according to Baseball Reference, were the most by an MLB player since Bonds’ 11.7 in 2002. Judge is the 13th player to record a season with a 10.9 WAR or better — a list that includes Ruth, who did it six times, as well as Bonds, Mantle and Willie Mays, who each did it twice. Judge’s 10.9 WAR gave him the 20th-best single-season mark ever. His WAR was nearly two wins higher than that of Dodgers superstar Shohei Ohtani (9.1), the National League MVP favorite who became the first player with at least 50 home runs and 50 stolen bases in the same season. “There’s a handful of players out there that are obviously having tremendous seasons, and you kind of put his stuff up next to it and it still kind of dwarfs it a little bit,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “It’s another level from some guys that are having unbelievable seasons. His ability to control the strike zone has gotten better and better over the years, and then just the power that no one else really has, it’s really impressive.” Judge put these numbers up while primarily playing center field, one of the most demanding defensive positions. He entered Saturday with a 1.222 OPS on the days he played center field. Among the other players with at least 150 plate appearances as their team’s center fielder, the Twins’ Byron Buxton ranked a distant second in the category at .888. Aaron Judge is having a season for the ages. Remarkably, the gap between Judge and Buxton’s OPS production was larger than the gap between Buxton and the 36th-ranked player on the list, the Cardinals’ Michael Siani (.574). Judge’s season-long 1.169 OPS is the highest by someone who primarily played center field since 1957, when Mantle posted a 1.177 OPS. Since 1949, there have been only five instances in which a center fielder recorded an OPS of at least 1.100. Judge’s 1.111 OPS in 2022 is on that list, as are three seasons by Mantle. Not including the COVID-shortened 2020 campaign, Judge’s OPS this year is the highest by any player in a single season since 2004, when Bonds recorded a 1.422 OPS. Bonds famously walked 232 times that year — an MLB record that is widely considered unbreakable. On Aug. 14, Judge became the fastest to hit 300 home runs in terms of career games (955) and at-bats (3,431). Eleven days later, Judge hit his 18th first-inning home run of the year, tying an MLB single-season record set by Rodriguez in 2001. Judge’s numbers came in spite of an uncharacteristically cold start. He batted just .178 with four home runs through his first 27 games, then went on an unprecedented tear. He hit .377 with 47 home runs and 109 RBI over his next 102 games, marking the only 102-game stretch in MLB history in which a batter hit at least .375 with 47 home runs. Entering Saturday, Judge was averaging a .305 batting average, 61 home runs and 135 RBI per 162 games since the start of 2022. Judge moved from right field to center field this season to accommodate the arrival of Soto. He also shifted from the No. 2 spot in the lineup to No. 3, batting directly behind Soto, whose .418 on-base percentage and 127 walks both ranked second in the majors behind Judge. Judge’s historic performance helped lead the Yankees to the highest-scoring offense in the American League and to their first AL East title in two years. It almost certainly clinched his second AL MVP Award. “When you’ve got a great team, you have a great lineup around you, that allows you to just go out there and do your job,” Judge said. “We’ve got a guy like Juan Soto. I’ve got Stanton hitting behind me, Austin Wells hitting behind me, who’s been absolutely incredible all year. It just really allows me to go out there and play the game and have fun.”