Twitter Study and Map Shows Home Run King: Bonds vs. Judge
(Panama City) - Aaron Judge and the Yankees begin their ALDS postseason series against Cleveland tomorrow, but the "Home Run King" debate rages on after Judge blasted his 62nd bomb last week.
Some (including Judge) believe that Barry Bonds, even with an asterisk by his name, is the home run king since he holds the official MLB record (73). Others contend that Judge is the true king since he broke the AL record without any performance-enhancing assistance.
One sports betting website, BetOnline.ag, polled the Twitterverse to find out which player each state in America considered to be the HR king.
Tracking geotagged Twitter data through a trends software program, BetOnline analyzed tweets, hashtags and phrases that were pro-Bonds like "Bonds still has the record," "The record is 73," "73 is the record," "Bonds is still the home run king," etc. These were weighted against similar tweets for Judge such as "Judge has the REAL record," "clean record," "Judge's record," "new home run record," "record without steroids," etc.
In the 72-hour sampling immediately after Judge broke the AL record, more than 250,000 tweets were used in the sampling.
As you can see from the below map, it was close, but Bonds ultimately edged out Judge by taking 27 of the 50 states.
HR King infomap:
The state breakdown was is as follows:
Bonds - 27 states
Judge - 23 states
Additionally, below are the latest postseason, pennant and World Series odds, via BetOnline.ag.
ALDS Odds
Seattle Mariners vs Houston Astros
Seattle Mariners +195
Houston Astros -225
Cleveland Guardians vs New York Yankees
Cleveland Guardians +180
New York Yankees -210
NLDS Odds
Philadelphia Phillies vs Atlanta Braves
Philadelphia Phillies +165
Atlanta Braves -190
San Diego Padres vs Los Angeles Dodgers
San Diego Padres +200
Los Angeles Dodgers -230
Pennant Odds
American League
Houston Astros
+140
New York Yankees
+210
Seattle Mariners
+450
Cleveland Guardians
+500
National League
Los Angeles Dodgers
+140
Atlanta Braves
+200
Philadelphia Phillies
+475
San Diego Padres
+525
World Series Odds
Los Angeles Dodgers
+275
Houston Astros
+400
Atlanta Braves
+550
New York Yankees
+550
Seattle Mariners
+1000
Cleveland Guardians
+1200
Philadelphia Phillies
+1200
San Diego Padres
+1200
