Aaron Judge made us wait.

But what a way to do it.

With just two games remaining on their regular season schedule, Judge stepped to the plate for the New York Yankees in the first inning in Texas, with fans around the world wondering if and when he would set a new American League single-season home run record.

Then he did it.

In the first at-bat of the game, Judge absolutely crushed the third pitch he saw from Jesus Tinoco to left field for his 62nd home run of the season.

Judge now stands alone as the AL single-season home run record holder. His 62 home runs are the seventh-most in a single season in MLB history.

So, what’s next for Judge and the Yankees after last night’s epic celebration?

Here’s the Morning Coffee for Wednesday October 5th, 2022.

What’s Next For Yankees After Judge’s Record Home Run?

The final day of the MLB regular season is finally here. While the official winners won’t be declared until after the World Series, FanDuel’s updated betting odds for season awards paint a pretty clear picture for several categories.

Judge is -30000 to win AL regular season MVP.

That number represents a 99.7 per cent implied win probability.

Justin Verlander is -20000 to win the AL Cy Young award.

Sandy Alcantara is -20000 to win the NL Cy Young award.

Paul Goldschmidt is -6000 to win NL regular season MVP.

Meanwhile, the Yankees will enter the postseason as the fourth choice to win the World Series at +550.

The Los Angeles Dodgers (+300), Houston Astros (+380) and Atlanta Braves (+500) are the three teams with shorter odds than New York to win it all.

As for the most likely World Series result, FanDuel has the Dodgers beating the Astros as the favoured outcome at +850 odds.

While the Yankees are the fourth choice to win it all, their New York rival is right behind them as the Mets are the fifth choice to win the World Series at +950.

FanDuel has the Yankees and Mets to play in the World Series at +1900 this morning.

There will be plenty of experts making their World Series predictions in the coming days as we get set for October baseball.

I’d love to know what you think will happen, so hit me up @DomPadulaEDGE on Twitter and let me know your World Series prediction.

NHL Futures Bets Revisited

While my main focus is always on the NFL at this time of the year, I figured it’s worth reminding you all at this point that the puck drops on the NHL season in two days.

The season begins on Friday when the San Jose Sharks and Nashville Predators meet in Prague, Czechia.

A lot has changed since the Colorado Avalanche won the Stanley Cup last spring.

Big names like Johnny Gaudreau and Matthew Tkachuk have new teams, 10 teams made head-coaching changes, and several contenders have new goaltenders they will lean on to lead them to glory.

For the record, I’m usually fairly conservative with my NHL futures plays, especially when it comes to point totals and goal totals where for the most part we are being asked to lay juice on bets that won’t become final for months.

As far as I’m concerned, there are better ways to bet in October. However, there are a couple of NHL futures that I’ve locked in.

Last week, I bet on New Jersey Devils forward Jack Hughes to go over 70.5 regular season points at FanDuel.

While I didn’t love betting it at -110, 70.5 seemed far too low for a 21-year-old that averaged over a point per game last year and is entering his fourth NHL season, so I was willing to bet that number at FanDuel.

Meanwhile, I also rolled the dice on Hughes to win the Hart Memorial Trophy at +6000.

The way I see it, Connor McDavid and Auston Matthews are the obvious top two choices, but Hughes and the Devils have the potential to take a major step forward this season, and if they do then I think Hughes at least has the potential to be in the conversation as a superstar playing on a team that has several talented players that might be a tad underrated at this point.

I’m also riding with the New York Rangers to win the Stanley Cup at +2800.

You can currently find the Rangers at +1800 to win it all on FanDuel.

The Colorado Avalanche (+450), Toronto Maple Leafs (+1000), Carolina Hurricanes (+1000), Florida Panthers (+1100) and Tampa Bay Lightning (+1200) remain the top five choices to win it all heading into this season.

As far as I’m concerned, it will be very interesting to see whether any team is capable of preventing the Avalanche and Lightning from meeting again in the Stanley Cup Final.

I think the Rangers have the potential to do exactly that in the Eastern Conference, so I was willing to take a chance on them to win it all at long odds.