Yankees' Aaron Judge Talks Shohei Ohtani's HR Pace: 'Records Are Meant to Be Broken'

Los Angeles Angels superstar Shohei Ohtani is on pace for 60 home runs, just two shy of New York Yankees outfielder Aaron Judge's American League-record setting 62 from last year.

On Tuesday, Sarah Valenzuela of the Los Angeles Times asked Judge about Ohtani's season and home run pace and whether he was nervous about getting passed prior to the Yankees' road game against the Angels.

"Records are meant to be broken," Judge said. "It's just a record. It'd be exciting for the game if he went out there and got 63-plus, so we'll see what happens."

Judge was also asked about his thoughts on Ohtani's season in general.

"It's incredible," Judge said. "It's fun to watch. I don't like watching it in person when he's playing against us doing what he's doing. It's fun when you turn on the TV and see that he's throwing eight inning, striking out 10 and hitting two homers in a game. It's pretty impressive, so excited what he's done so far and looking forward to whatever else he does when we get out of town here."

Ohtani has an MLB-high 35 home runs through 94 games. His 35th home run was a dead center field shot against the Yankees on Wednesday that tied the game at three in the seventh inning en route to a 4-3 victory.

He'll need 28 home runs in 66 games to beat Judge's record, or about one for every 2.36 games on average. Ohtani has hit one every 2.69 games thus far.

It's not impossible to see him get there. Ohtani authored a torrid 25-game stretch this season in which he hit 16 home runs from June 6 to July 2.

Ultimately, Ohtani is a little behind the pace, but even if he falls short, he's putting forth one of the greatest seasons in the history of baseball and all of sports. He leads the league with seven triples and a 1.072 OPS, and that's in addition to another solid year on the mound with a 7-5 record, 3.50 ERA, 1.12 WHIP and 139 strikeouts in 105.1 innings.

For now, Ohtani is trying to guide the 48-48 Angels into the playoff picture with the team four-and-a-half games behind the Houston Astros for the final AL Wild Card spot. They'll look to jump over .500 in the interim with a sweep of the Yankees on Thursday at home.