Aaron Judge, Cal Raleigh and History: MLB’s 2nd-Half Milestone Watch Begins Now

MLB’s mathematically incorrect second half kicks off on July 18, and since we’re already on the subject of math, let’s talk milestones. There are loads of milestones big and small that MLB’s players are on pace for or could reach before the end of the 2025 season, and we’ve collected the most impressive of the bunch for you here.

Is your team already out of contention? Or are you just a bit of a baseball history nerd? Maybe it’s both, and you’re looking for something to latch on to outside of the postseason chases. From home runs to hits to what could be the worst team ever, we’ve got you covered.

Aaron Judge

Yankees’ slugger Aaron Judge isn’t on pace to set a specific record, no, but he is in the midst of one of the greatest offensive seasons in the history of MLB. One with so much going on worth paying attention to that he merits his own section.

Judge has 35 homers, which puts him on pace for 59 through season’s end. That would be the second-most of his career — Judge is already the AL record holder for the 62 bombs he launched in 2022 — but it would also give him a chance at leading the league in home runs. And Judge will need the homer lead if he’s going to win a Triple Crown — something he hasn’t done yet. Judge exits the All-Star break leading the majors in batting average (.355), second in homers (three behind Cal Raleigh), and second in RBIs (81, one behind Raleigh). 

He’s also the current leader in the slash stat version of the triple crown, which isn’t officially recognized the same way but is plenty impressive itself. Judge is batting .355/.462/.733, and all three of those stats lead not just the AL, but MLB. 

Judge has 258 total bases, also good for first in the league and puts him on pace for 435. For all of Judge’s accomplishments, he’s yet to have a season of 400 total bases: there have been just 30 such years in MLB, so he’s far from alone in this. If Judge were to get to 435, that would be good for sixth all-time, but he needs just 420 to get into the top 10. For reference, Shohei Ohtani’s 2024 with 54 homers and 99 extra-base hits total is tied for 16th with Barry Bonds’ 73-homer 2001, at 411. Given that context, a 435-total base pace this late into the season is absurd.

Speaking of extra-base hits, Judge has 61 of them through 96 games (and 96 team games). That puts him on pace for 103, which would be just the 16th season with at least 100 extra-base hits. Were Judge to get 103, it would put him in a seven-way tie for the sixth-most ever. Another two beyond that would get him into the top five.

Judge has 7.1 wins above replacement, per Baseball Reference’s accounting. That puts him on pace for 12 bWAR, which would be good enough for the sixth-most ever by a position player in a single season. In both of his MVP campaigns, Judge produced 10.8 bWAR. 

Cal Raleigh

Raleigh is deserving of his own section, too, as he leads the majors in homers with 38. He’s played in 94 of the Mariners’ 96 games, putting him on pace for 65 homers. That would be a new AL record, and tied for fourth all-time with Mark McGwire’s 1999. Raleigh just needs to hit more than 62 homers, however, and he’ll pass Judge as the AL’s single-season leader.

What is much more likely than either of those things happening — it’s not that Raleigh can’t go deep 65 times, we’re just talking probability here — is that he becomes the single-season leader for catchers. Salvador Perez hit 48 homers in 2021, which led the majors and also is the most any primary backstop has ever managed in a season. Raleigh is 10 dingers shy of tying that with 66 more team games to go.

If Raleigh ends up leading the majors in homers like Perez did, it will be a rarity. Johnny Bench led the majors in long balls in both 1970 and 1972. Mike Piazza never did it despite being the all-time leader at the position, and neither did Carlton Fisk. It’ll be tough, with Judge right behind him, but Raleigh might pull this off, too.

Raleigh does have potential for one more record in 2025. The most home runs by a switch-hitter in a season is Mickey Mantle’s 54 in 1961. The closest anyone has gotten since is Lance Berkman’s 45 in 2006 — Mantle has the only two seasons of at least 50 homers for a switch-hitter. Even if Raleigh doesn’t make it to 63 homers or lead the league, there’s still plenty of history to be made due to his position and handedness, even if he “just” gets to 50 long balls by year’s end.

Home Run/Stolen Bases Club

Pete Crow-Armstrong has 25 home runs and 27 stolen bases through 95 games (and 96 team games). The Cubs’ star outfielder is on pace for 42 homers and 46 steals, which would make him just the seventh-ever player to join the 40/40 club, joining Shohei Ohtani, Ronald Acuna, Alfonso Soriano, Alex Rodriguez, Barry Bonds and Jose Canseco. 

Bobby Witt Jr. has made the 30/30 club in the past two seasons, but he’ll need to keep up his recent homer pace if he’s to do it a third time: of Witt’s 14 homers, eight of them have come since June 1. He’s already at 25 steals, so that part will be much simpler. 

Jose Ramirez has 18 homers and 29 steals through 92 games (95 team games), putting the Guardians’ third baseman on pace for 31 homers and a career-high 50 steals. 

Oneil Cruz has played in just 85 of the Pirates’ 97 games, which hurts him a little bit here, but he’s on pace for 28 homers and 51 thefts. Both would be career-highs, and if he can go on a little power tear there, he might even get to 30/30.

Elly De La Cruz hasn’t missed a Reds game yet, so his 18 long balls put him on pace for 30 on the dot, and he projects to 42 steals, too. 

Kyle Tucker projects just shy of the feat at present, with 17 homers in 95 games (96 team) putting him at 29, whereas his 22 steals put him on a 37-stolen base pace. One big game — or two littler ones in succession — would change that equation, though.

Randy Arozarena might come up just shy on both, as he has 17 homers and 16 steals. Jackson Chourio is at 16 and 16. Francisco Lindor is at 19 and 15, Christian Yelich at 19 and 14.

The Rockies

The Rockies are 22-74, with a .229 winning percentage. That puts them on pace for 37-125, which would be a new record for the most losses in a season — four more losses than the very recently anointed record holder, the 2024 White Sox. A .229 winning percentage would also mark the worst of those, as the 1916 Philadelphia Athletics currently top that list at .235. 

Regardless of whether the Rockies end up as the worst in either or both, with just over two months to play, it seems very likely they’ll end up in at least the top five of both categories. Or bottom five, as it were.

Home Runs

There are five players with over 30 home runs in MLB as the league exits the All-Star break. Cal Raleigh (38), Aaron Judge (35), Shohei Ohtani (32), Eugenio Suarez (31) and Kyle Schwarber (30). Schwarber, despite bringing up the rear, is on pace for 51 home runs. If — and this is a huge if — all five of these players hit at least 50 homers in 2025, it would be the first time that this has ever happened.

There have been two seasons of four players with over 50 home runs, in 1998 and 2001. In both instances, there were two players with over 60 homers, with one of them hitting at least 70. Mark McGwire hit 70 in ‘98, with Sammy Sosa’s 66 finishing second, and in ‘01 it was Barry Bonds’ 73 and Sosa once again, this time with 64. 

In MLB’s long history, there have been all of 13 seasons with more than one 50-homer player: 1938, 1947, 1961, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2001, 2002, 2006, 2007, 2017 and 2024. There have been just 32 players to hit at least 50 homers, with 10 of them managing to hit that mark more than once. Even if all five of these players don’t actually reach 50, the results are going to be significant in some way, whether it’s four, three, two or just the one.

Mike Trout is five home runs from the 400th of his career. Bryce Harper is just four from 350. Carlos Santana is 15 from 350, but as he has 11 on the year, chances are good he’ll have to wait until 2026 to get the rest of the way. Similarly, Salvador Perez is 14 from 300, but has hit 13 so far. He did hit 27 just last year, however. 

Giancarlo Stanton sits at 433 homers, the 50th-most ever. If he could go deep eight more times before 2025 ends, he’d rank 44th all-time, surpassing Jason Giambi. Another 10 homers for Paul Goldschmidt — he’s at 370 — would have him 75th. As he has just eight homers this year, however, that might have to wait. 

Nolan Arenado, Aaron Judge, and Bryce Harper are all approaching the top 100 in career homers. Arenado needs just one more, and he’ll jump from a tie at 101 to a three-way tie for 99th. Judge needs two more to do the same, while Harper needs six more. Once they all get to 355 — and Dodgers’ first baseman Freddie Freeman hits two more, too —  this foursome will have pushed Luis Gonzalez, Torii Hunter, Ellis Burks and Ryan Braun out of the top 100. 

For general context on what being top-100 all-time means, just know that per Baseball Reference’s recordkeeping, the 23,500th player to appear in an MLB game debuted in 2025. You’re talking better than 99th percentile here when you get to the 100 most of anything in league history.

Runs

Christian Yelich is six runs from 1,000 for his career. Arenado needs another 17 to hit 1,000. Francisco Lindor is a bit further away, at 957, but he’s on pace for 107 — he could just get there. Marcus Semien needs just three more runs than Lindor, but he’s hit much worse this year and for a team with a worse offense, so that’s unlikely. Lindor’s former teammate Jose Ramirez might be able to sneak it in, however, as he’s 48 shy — the Guardians can’t hit, either, but at least Ramirez is a threat to drive himself in.

Freddie Freeman has 1,344 runs in his career, putting him 42 shy of reaching Lou Whitaker and a tie for 100th all-time. That’s probably a long shot, but maybe he and the Dodgers will get real hot again in the last two months.

Hits

Trea Turner has 1,464 hits — another 36, and he’ll have 1,500 for his career. Amed Rosario is just four knocks from 1,000, while Kyle Schwarber needs another eight. Shohei Ohtani will get his 1,000th career MLB hit with another 20 of them: between Nippon Professional Baseball and MLB, however, Ohtani is already at 1,277. 

RBIs

Paul Goldschmidt is 27 RBIs shy of 1,250 for his career, which would bump him to 137th all-time, while Mike Trout needs another five for 1,000. Salvador Perez is 30 away from 1,000. Freddie Freeman needs another 45 RBIs to make it into MLB’s all-time top 100 — he’s currently in 126th place with 1,281.

Times on base

Freddie Freeman has been on base 3,514 times in his career — that’s hits, walks and hit by pitches. Another 28 times on base, and he’ll reach the top 100, tying him with Brett Butler. The Pirates Andrew McCutchen is 67 away from doing the same.

Doubles

Nick Castellanos is six doubles away from 400 for his career, a threshold that just 198 players have reached. Paul Goldschmidt is on pace for 37 doubles this year, and if he gets there, he’d jump from a tie for 92nd all-time to sole possession of 81st. Freddie Freeman is already 43rd in history with 533, and on pace for 44 doubles. If he gets there, he’d jump ahead of former teammate and Hall of Famer Chipper Jones for 31st all-time, passing the likes of Alex Rodriguez, Manny Ramirez, Derek Jeter, Tony Gwynn, Rogers Hornsby, Dave Winfield and Lou Gehrig along the way.

Walks

You would think that there’s nothing else that Freddie Freeman could possibly accomplish in 2025, but there’s one more thing: walks. If he gets 26 more free passes — he has 33 and is on pace for 58 — he’ll reach MLB’s top 100 there, too, tying Bernie Williams.

Stolen Bases

Starling Marte is the active steals leader with 359, and has five on the year. If he can squeeze four more out of 2025, he’ll enter into a tie for 100th in MLB history with Hal Chase. Another 28 stolen bases for Jose Ramirez will put him at 300, though, that’s probably an early 2026 milestone as he’s on pace for another 21 before the year ends. 

Wins

Justin Verlander has 262 career wins, putting him 41st all-time. He’s also been at 262 career wins all season long: Verlander is 0-7. If he can pick up a few in the second half, though, he could make it into the top 40: Gus Weyhing has 264, and Jim McCormick, in 39th, has 265.

Max Scherzer only recently returned from the IL, and he’s in a three-way tie for 85th with 217 victories. Six more would create a four-way logjam for 75th. Clayton Kershaw is just one win behind Scherzer in his career. Given how much rarer pitcher wins are these days than even during the prime of their careers, they might be the last three anyone can watch the wins of for years — Gerrit Cole is fourth on the active list with 153, tied for 250th ever.

Strikeouts

Verlander can’t pick up a win to save his life at the moment, but he’s at least still pitching well enough to miss some bats. Another 17 strikeouts, and he’ll reach 3,500 for his career: just nine pitchers have ever managed the feat. There might be 11 sooner than later, however, as Scherzer is all of 69 punch outs back of 3K. 

Walter Johnson sits ninth with 3,509 strikeouts. With 27 more, Verlander would bump him to 10th. Scherzer, meanwhile, needs another 79 to pass Johnson, securing his spot in the top 10 behind the moving target that is Verlander. For Scherzer, both of these accomplishments are more likely in 2026 given the time he’s missed this season, but you never know if he’ll flash a bit of the old Max for the rest of the summer.

Tarik Skubal

The reigning AL Cy Young winner and a favorite for the 2025 award, Skubal leads the majors in both strikeouts per nine and walks per nine. According to MLB’s Sarah Langs, no qualified pitcher has ever led the majors in both in the same year. Skubal has a slight lead on Zack Wheeler in K/9 — 11.380 to 11.361 — and a bit more breathing room on the walks side, at 1.190 compared to Zack Littell’s 1.315.

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