Aaron Judge just got an unexpected gift from the Red Sox and fans are stunned

Aaron Judge may have gone 0-for-4 with three strikeouts in Sunday afternoon’s series-ending loss to the Boston Red Sox, but even after the sweep, the New York Yankees’ rivals ended up giving him the best possible news he or any Yankees fans could have asked for.

Judge is, yet again, having an historic season for the AL East-leading Bronx Bombers. After we thought he couldn’t get any better after last year, when he won his second AL MVP with 58 home runs and career-highs in RBI (144), batting average (.322), OPS (1.159) and WAR (10.8), he has indeed been even better so far in 2025.

So much better, in fact, that the Triple Crown is well within his sights as the season quickly moves toward next month’s All-Star break.

Just one week after declining to participate in the Home Run Derby, a particularly pleasing development for the Yankees fans who witnessed his 2017 second-half decline after winning the fan-favorite event, his top competition for the AL RBI lead has been dealt to the NL.

Red Sox hand Yankees star Aaron Judge best possible gift

In a shocking turn of events that not many would have seen coming, the Red Sox sent designated hitter Rafael Devers to the San Francisco Giants for Jordan Hicks, Kyle Harrison, James Tibbs III, and Jose Bello, shortly after Devers inched closer to Judge’s AL RBI lead with another home run on Sunday.

FanSided’s Robert Murray was first to report the news.

The Red Sox, though 6.5 games out of the AL East lead, are in the thick of the AL Wild Card hunt at (37-36), but the Giants are clearly all-in, sitting only two games behind the reigning World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers for first place in the NL West at (41-31).

Devers, who is a natural third baseman and could help to replace the injured Matt Chapman, is a three-time All-Star and a two-time Silver Slugger. The 28-year-old is in the second season of a 10-year, $313.5 million deal.

The trade has given Judge the clearest path he could have possibly asked for when it comes to earning the historic Triple Crown.

Aaron Judge's Triple Crown pursuit heats up

Judge, who comfortably leads the league in batting average (.378) and is tied for the lead in home runs with Seattle Mariners catcher Cal Raleigh (26), also leads the AL in RBI with 60.

Devers is second with 58, but now he is out of the picture, and there is only one other AL player above 50 RBI at this point in the season: Raleigh with 54.

Raleigh is only batting .263, so you’ve got to believe that the law of averages should favor Judge here over time, and there is nobody else who is all that close to No. 99 in any of these three categories other than the Mariners slugger.

The next closest in batting average is Athletics rookie shortstop Jacob Wilson at .360, and the next closest behind Raleigh in home runs is Los Angeles Angels left fielder Taylor Ward at 18. In RBI, it’s Detroit Tigers left fielder Riley Greene who is next up on the list, and he has driven in 49 runs.

The Triple Crown has been won just once since Carl Yastrzemski won it in 1967, with Miguel Cabrera winning it for the Detroit Tigers back in 2012. If Judge is to become just the second hitter to win it in the last 58 years, he needs to capitalize on arguably his biggest threat having been dealt out of the AL at the absolute perfect time.

The fact that this stunning development comes at the hands of the Red Sox just makes it that much sweeter.