With another wild trade deadline in the 2022 MLB season, some major deals were signed in the final hours on Aug 2. Most notably, the San Diego Padres became the biggest “winners” of this year’s trade deadline as they signed superstar Juan Soto from the Washington Nationals while offering a six-player package, which includes four of the Padres’ top 5 prospects. The Padres already had a strong core lineup consisting of strong batters like Manny Machado and Fernando Tatís Jr, but adding Soto to the lineup shows they are going all-in to win their first title in franchise history. They also acquired new first baseman Josh Bell through the Soto deal, and through other trades, received Brewers pitcher Josh Hader and utility man Brandon Drury, making huge leaps to significantly optimize their roster.

The Padres, however, were not the only winners of this year’s trade deadline. Though done in a more subtle fashion, the New York Yankees polished their roster with a prized signing of Frankie Montas, who, as a No. 2 elite starter, looks to gain a spot in the pitching rotation after Gerrit Cole, which may be crucial once October playoffs come. At the same time, Yankees slugger Aaron Judge is making history. Cashing in 43 homers in only 106 out of the 162 games in a regular season, Judge is on pace for 66 home runs, which would be the third-most in any single season. He is one of the four players in MLB history to bank 43+ homers in 106 games, with the likes of Babe Ruth, Mark McGwire, and Barry Bonds on this list. In order to make this the historic season, Judge will need to increase his home run pace as Bonds and McGwire did — both recorded 70+ by the end of their historic runs. Judge has 56 games remaining to provide an answer to the nagging question: Will this be the record-breaking home run season?

August 2, 2022, also went down as the day legendary sportscaster Vin Scully died. Not only did Scully witness 67 seasons of baseball history by calling games for the Los Angeles Dodgers, but he was also the voice of baseball, making some of the most memorable calls of all time. In his final season, Vin gave the monologue “People Will Come” from the movie Field of Dreams to mark the start of the season of a game he and everyone loved dearly. That fall, on his final day at the booth, he brought his mic closer and closed his career with “I’ll miss our time together more than I can say.”