The verdict is in. Aaron Judge is the American League’s all-time, single season home run slugger.

With the baseball world on high alert, the New York Yankees’ outfielder socked his 62nd long ball on Oct. 4 in the 161st game of the season against Texas in Arlington.

The historic blow came off Rangers’ right-hander Jesus Tinoco, a rookie from Venezuela, in the first inning with Judge batting leadoff.

Judge’s 62nd round-tripper broke the mark of 61 set by the Yankees’ Roger Maris in 1961. It came in the second half of a double header. Judge had gone 23 plate appearances since his 61st blast.

Judge, who wears Pinstripes No. 99, and Maris, who wore No 9, had eerily similar seasons.

In 1961, the lefty-swinging Maris had 698 plate appear- ances and 590 official at-bats. In ’22, Judge had 696 plate ap- pearances and 570 at-bats from the right side. Walks, being hit by pitch and sacrifices do not count as at-bats.

Along with leading the AL in homers, Judge also was the league leader in RBI (131), runs (133) on-base percentage (.426) and slugging percentage (.686).

Even with the historic performance, Judge is no lock for MVP. The Los Angeles Angels Shohei Ohtani, the 2021 MVP, was brilliant in his own right.

The Japanese pitcher/slugger was 15-9 as a pitcher with 219 strikeouts in 166 innings with a 2.35 ERA. As a hitter, Ohtani hit. 273 with 34 homers and 95 RBI.

The Yankees start the play-offs next week while the Angels are finished for the season. MVP voting is based on regular-season statistics only. It is announced following World Series.