Yankees’ Aaron Judge-Ben Rice Duo off to Historic Start

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Yankees’ Aaron Judge-Ben Rice Duo off to Historic Start

Originally posted on Athlon Sports | By John Sparaco | Last updated May 17, 2026 5:35 PM ET

Aaron Judge and Ben Rice are on a home run pace that has only been seen twice before in New York Yankees history.

With a solo shot Sunday afternoon at Citi Field, Rice improved his home run total to 15 on the 2026 season, moving him into a tie for fourth place on MLB’s active leaderboard. The Yankees first baseman is only one homer shy of Judge for the team lead despite playing in five fewer games. Together, they have formed one of the most dominant one-two punches in baseball.

According to MLB.com’s Sarah Langs, Judge and Rice are just the third pair of teammates in Yankees history with 15 or more home runs each through the team’s first 47 games. The only other duos to accomplish the feat both included Mickey Mantle — in 1956 with Yogi Berra and in 1961 during the Hall of Famer’s historic home run chase with Roger Maris.

Yankees duos with 15+ home runs each in team’s first 47 games:

2026 Aaron Judge, Ben Rice
1961 Mickey Mantle, Roger Maris
1956 Yogi Berra, Mickey Mantle https://t.co/OvS5UWkXoT
— Sarah Langs (@SlangsOnSports) May 17, 2026

Rice, 27, is off to a monstrous start to his third season in pinstripes. In 42 games, the lefty slugger has posted a .301/.406/.671 slash line with a team-high 31 RBIs and an MLB-best 1.077 OPS. He entered 2026 with a career .683 OPS against left-handed pitching but has seemingly erased that blemish from his offensive profile, producing nearly identical platoon splits thus far.

Judge, meanwhile, is making his case to win the American League MVP award for the third consecutive season. The 34-year-old entered Sunday’s Subway Series finale ranking third in the majors with 16 home runs, fourth in OPS (1.018) and third in fWAR (2.5).

Despite the success of their top two sluggers, the Yankees have hit a cold spell lately. They dropped two of three games to the struggling New York Mets over the weekend and are 3-8 over their last 11 contests. The club will look to turn things around against the division-rival Toronto Blue Jays, who begin a four-game series Monday in the Bronx.

This article first appeared on Athlon Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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