Just how historic will Aaron Judge's season be if he wins Triple Crown?

Aaron Judge is having an incredible 2022 season -- there's no denying that -- but many baseball fans may not truly understand the type of year the Yankees slugger is having.

Yes, he’s going to break Roger Maris’ AL home run record -- barring a complete collapse. Yes, he’s going to pull a struggling Yankees team into the playoffs. And yes he’s likely going to win AL MVP -- sorry Shohei Ohtani fans -- but what is more impressive is that Judge has a legitimate shot at winning the Triple Crown.

Before Miguel Cabrera achieved this feat in his 2012 MVP season, it took 45 years before Major League Baseball saw another Triple Crown winner. And I’d argue that if Judge does it this season, it would be even more impressive than Cabrera’s.

Let’s look at the three major categories for the Triple Crown and see where Judge stacks up with Miggy 10 years later.

HOME RUNS

We’ll start with the home runs since it’s the stat that sticks out the most.

In 2012, Cabrera led the league with 44 long balls, which was also a career-high. That was just one more than Josh Hamilton.

That campaign was impressive because Hamilton possessed prolific power and Cabrera wasn’t known for his slugging. Although he has 506 homers in his career, the future Hall-of-Famer averages around 25 home runs a season. To outslug Hamilton that year was something to behold.

Entering Tuesday, Judge has 59 home runs and is chasing Maris single-season AL home run mark of 61 that was set back in 1961. And while Judge technically has a shot at Barry Bonds’ MLB single-season record of 73 home runs, that's a story for another day.

Historic pace aside, Judge leads Houston Astros slugger Yordan Alvarez (37) for the AL home run lead. Heck, he leads the National League leader -- the Phillies’ Kyle Schwarber (39) -- by 20.

If the margin stays the same, or increases, it would be the largest lead since Babe Ruth led the majors in five different seasons with a range of 19 to 35. Jimmie Foxx is the only non-Ruth hitter to have a similar margin, and he won the home run crown by 17 in 1932.

RUNS BATTED IN

Cabrera drove in 139 Tigers in 2012 (also a career-high), 11 more RBI than Hamilton’s 128 for the AL and MLB lead. That performance put Cabrera at No. 115 of single-season RBI leaders in major league history, and was the highest mark baseball had seen since Prince Fielder and Ryan Howard’s 141-RBI years in 2009.

Judge has a career-high 127 RBI entering Tuesday. He’s on pace to hit 65 home runs, which if they were all solo shots would have Judge sitting at 133 RBI. Of course, that number is not likely to stand and Judge could eclipse the 140 RBI mark, which hasn't been done in the American League since Alex Rodriguez’s 157 in 2007, according to Baseball Almanac.

Cleveland Guardians third baseman Jose Ramirez is the closest AL hitter to Judge’s RBI mark with 113 -- 14 behind -- and is nine up on Mets first baseman Pete Alonso for the major league lead.

The only aspect of this season that could hold Judge back from piling on the RBI total is where he hits in the lineup. Judge has hit in the leadoff spot 19 times this season, including in the last eight games, which naturally doesn’t lend to RBI opportunities.

It also doesn’t help that Judge is being intentionally walked more times than anyone else in the league. So far, Judge has walked an American League-leading 92 times, 17 intentionally, with 16 games to go.

For context, Cabrera walked just 66 times, 17 intentionally, that MVP year.

BATTING AVERAGE

Here’s the big question mark surrounding Judge's pursuit of the Triple Crown... 

Currently, Judge is hitting .316, tied for second in the AL with Xander Bogaerts, with Judge and Bogaerts trailing Luis Arraez’s .317 batting average. Prior to this season, the highest batting average Judge had was .287, which he accomplished last year.

Cabrera, a lifetime .308 hitter, hit an incredible .330 in 2012, just four points higher than Mike Trout.

And while Judge won’t sniff Freddie Freeman’s major league leading .329, he has a shot at overtaking the AL mark and completing the Triple Crown thanks to a .491 average in September. What would prevent Judge from adding onto his RBI lead can benefit him in the average department.

Walking as much as Judge does would keep his average hovering in the .315 range. Bogaerts (50) and Arraez (47) don’t walk nearly as often as Judge. Also, Arraez -- who was hitting .338 in the first half of the season -- is hitting just .284 since the All-Star break. Bogaerts has hit .316 in both halves, so his consistency could be Judge’s undoing.

If Judge does win the batting title, it could be argued it was more impressive than Cabrera’s 2012 if you factor in that sluggers usually sacrifice batting average for the long ball.

There have been only four 50-plus home run seasons since 2010, and none of those hitters had a batting average at or above .300. Jose Bautista in 2010 (.260) Giancarlo Stanton in 2017 (.281), and Alonso in 2019 (.260), and the closest was none other than Judge in 2017 (.284).

Coupling 50-plus homers with a .300 average would put Judge in the conversation for one of the best hitting seasons ever.

OTHER STATS

Just for fun, these other stats show how insane of a season Judge is having...

- This season, Judge’s slugging percentage is .701, which would be the highest since Bonds in 2004 and would be the first .700-plus slugging season in the AL since Mark McGwire in 1996. Cabrera’s slugging percentage in 2012 was .606.

- As for OBP, Judge currently sits at .419 which would be more than 20 points higher than Miggy’s .393 in his Triple Crown season.

- Over the past 50 years, only eight position players have finished the season with a 10-plus WAR, according to FanGraphs: Bonds five times, Trout twice, Mookie Betts, Rickey Henderson, Joe Morgan, Buster Posey, Alex Rodriguez and Cal Ripken Jr.

Judge is close to adding his name to that list with a 9.6 WAR. Cabrera had a 7.1 WAR in 2012.