Yankees' Aaron Judge Falls Short of 2022 American League Triple Crown

Aaron Judge fell short in his quest to become Major League Baseball's first triple-crown winner in a decade.

Judge, the presumptive favorite to win the American League MVP award, finished five points behind Minnesota Twins star Luis Arraez for the batting title. The New York Yankees slugger sat out Wednesday's season finale, keeping him at .311 for the season.

Arraez went 1-for-1 with two walks in three plate appearances against the Chicago White Sox before he was pulled in the top of the third. His final average was .316.

Judge played 54 consecutive games dating back to Aug. 6. He did lobby to start Wednesday's game, but Yankees manager Boone told reporters he made the call to sit his superstar right fielder.

"I think in the end we’re good either way and I just decided," Boone said. "It was a short conversation."

Judge was in the starting lineup for both games of Tuesday's doubleheader. He hit his AL-record 62nd homer to leadoff the second game and was pulled in the bottom of the second inning.

Judge's final stat line for the 2022 regular season is .311/.425/.686 with 62 homers, 131 RBI, 133 runs scored and 16 stolen bases. He led MLB in on-base percentage, slugging percentage, homers, runs scored and tied for most RBI with New York Mets first baseman Pete Alonso.

After going 2-for-4 in a victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates on Sept. 23, Judge was hitting .317 and moved ahead of Arraez in the race for the batting title. His pursuit of the home-run record may have led to him pressing a little bit, as he only hit .216 over the next 13 games. He still got on base at a .473 clip during that span, so it wasn't all bad news.

But the brief dip in hitting production allowed Arraez to move back into the top spot. The 25-year-old closed the season on fire with a .385 average in his past 26 at-bats entering play on Wednesday.

Future Hall of Famer Miguel Cabrera remains the last MLB player to win the triple crown. He led the AL in batting average (.330), homers (44) and RBI (139) during the 2012 season for the Detroit Tigers to win the first of his back-to-back MVP awards.

Judge's next task will be helping the Yankees in their quest to win the World Series for the first time since 2009. They will host the winner of the Tampa Bay Rays-Cleveland Guardians series in the American League Division Series starting on Tuesday.