Aaron Judge becomes fastest to 350 homers, doing so in 1,088 games, bettering Mark McGwire's 1,280

NEW YORK (AP) — Aaron Judge didn't just become the fastest player to hit 350 home runs, he did it in 192 fewer games than Mark McGwire.

“I just think he’s playing in a different league,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said after Judge's ninth-inning drive in Saturday's 5-2 loss to the Chicago Cubs.

Judge homered to right-center on a high 0-2 fastball from Brad Keller, a two-run shot a couple of rows into the right-center field seats.

He reached 350 in his 1,088th game. McGwire hit No. 350 in his 1,280th game, against Detroit's Brian Moehler on June 2, 1997, bettering Harmon Killebrew in his 1,319th game.

“Big Mac did a lot of great things in this game, and he’s definitely a legend,” Judge said.

Judge, who turned 33 in April, debuted with the Yankees at age 24 in 2016. The two-time AL MVP also doubled twice and is hitting a major league-leading .358 with 35 homers and 81 RBIs.

“Would have been great if we got a win today,” Judge said. “I’ve been surrounded by a lot of great teammates, been on some good teams, so they really put me in the best position to go out there and perform at my best.”

McGwire finished in 2001 at age 38 with 583 homers, currently 11th on the career list. He admitted in 2010 he used performance-enhancing drugs and has been denied entry to baseball's Hall of Fame.

The Yankees captain has spoken with McGwire.

“I think it started with when I broke my first rib,” Judge said. “I think his son was kind of going through the same thing, so he was first asking me how did I heal? What do we do? So I kind of gave him some tips on that. And then we just kind of chit-chatted a little bit and kept in contact.”

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New York Yankees' Aaron Judge (99) celebrates with designated hitter Giancarlo Stanton (27) after hitting a two run home run during the ninth inning of a baseball game against the Chicago Cubs, Saturday, July 12, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)

New York Yankees' Aaron Judge (99) celebrates with Cody Bellinger (35) after hitting a two run home run during the ninth inning of a baseball game against the Chicago Cubs, Saturday, July 12, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)

New York Yankees' Aaron Judge (99) runs after hitting a two run home run during the inning of a baseball game against the , Saturday, July 12, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)

New York Yankees' Aaron Judge (99) hits a double during the seventh inning of a baseball game against the Chicago Cubs, Saturday, July 12, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)

MUMBAI, India (AP) — Shreyas Iyer was provisionally named in India’s squad on Saturday for the home one-day international series against New Zealand starting Jan. 11.

India will host the Black Caps in a white-ball engagement — three ODIs and five T20s — in the build-up to the 2026 T20 World Cup.

Iyer returns to the international fold after sustaining a spleen injury during an ODI against Australia in Sydney last October.

His selection is subject to fitness clearance from BCCI’s medical team and he will return as India’s vice-captain for the three-match series.

Skipper Shubman Gill also returns, after he missed the ODI series against South Africa in December. He had a neck spasm in the test series earlier, and subsequently played in the T20s against the Proteas.

Ruturaj Gaikwad and Tilak Verma missed out. Gaikwad had scored a maiden ODI hundred against South Africa in Visakhapatnam.

Rishabh Pant is retained as second keeper-batter behind Lokesh Rahul, who had stood in as captain against the Proteas.

Star batters Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma had both participated in the domestic List A tournament — Vijay Hazare Trophy — and return to the international stage for the ODIs.

All-rounder Hardik Pandya is fit, but not sufficiently enough to bowl 10 overs in an ODI. Thus, he has been rested further ahead of the 2026 T20 World Cup (in India and Sri Lanka) starting Feb. 7. Nitish Kumar Reddy is included in the squad.

Pacer Mohammed Siraj returns to lead the bowling lineup with Jasprit Bumrah rested again. Siraj had missed the South Africa series because of workload management.

The three ODIs will be played in Vadodara (Jan. 11), Rajkot (Jan. 14) and Indore (Jan. 18), with the five-match T20 series starting Jan. 21.

Squad: Shubman Gill (captain), Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, KL Rahul, Shreyas Iyer, Washington Sundar, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Siraj, Harshit Rana, Prasidh Krishna, Kuldeep Yadav, Rishabh Pant, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Arshdeep Singh, Yashasvi Jaiswal.

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FILE - Captain of Punjab Kings Shreyas Iyer addresses a news conference on the eve of the final match of Indian Premier League at Narendra Modi stadium in Ahmedabad, India, Monday, June 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Ajit Solanki, File)