MLB Playoffs: Yankees' Aaron Judge seeks redemption in October

NEW YORK – It's been 11 years since the New York Yankees drafted Aaron Judge. Eleven years in which the massive slugger has adopted the franchise's unyielding championship doctrine. Eleven years, from A-ball in Charleston to the searing lights of the Bronx, of striving to meet that standard. World Series or bankruptcy. Yearly.

“There’s no other way to put it,” Judge said on the morning of the Yankees’ regular-season finale. “Since I was a Yankee and was drafted in 2013, all that was ever ingrained in my mind or what we were taught was to win in New York. To be a winner. Championship mentality. That's just how I've always been raised.” Even before I got here, people said, “If you don't win, what's the point?”

Judge has been a full-time major league player for eight years. By the Yankees' definition, the first seven ended in failure – but the eighth might be his best shot at avoiding that. The Yankees are in a prime position this October, thanks in large part to Judge's exceptional performances in the regular season.

After compiling the best record in the American League and securing home-field advantage all the way to the World Series, the Yankees opened their postseason on Saturday with a 6-5 victory over the Kansas City Royals in Game 1 of the American League Division Series.

However, Judge went 0-for-4 with three strikeouts and a walk, extending his personal struggles in October. Since 2020, the AL's likely MVP is 10-of-74 (.135) with five home runs and 28 strikeouts in 18 postseason games. His strikeout with runners on first and second in the sixth inning even drew a few boos from the Yankee Stadium crowd after hearing them during his disappointing postseason performance in 2022.

The Yankees are 10 wins after breaking a 15-year championship drought. But to pile up those wins — and close the biggest gap in Judge's legacy — Judge must turn his October fortune around.

“I think there's no doubt he's one of the greatest players in the franchise,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said before the series began. “But he's playing for this (World Series title)… That's why he's doing it. Not to collect personal accolades. So he embodies that. He lives that. And that's what we're all working on, and I.” I'm sure the win would definitely take his legacy to a new level.

In baseball, a player can only lead his team so far. But Judge blames much of the Yankees' recent title drought on himself.

“I like to take a lot of weight on myself when we don’t win,” Judge said. “I just feel like that’s the position I’m in. It depends on me.”

Judge carried that burden in 2022, when he went 1-16 in the ALCS and the Yankees were swept by the Houston Astros. He finished 5-for-36 in the playoffs, drawing boos from the same home crowd he had thrilled in his record-setting 62 home run season over the previous six months. He took on the burden again a year ago when, after missing nearly two months with a toe injury, the Yankees appeared in a 27-game cameo at the end of the season for the first time since Judge entered the majors in 2016 season missed the postseason.

“I think Judgey in particular has been through this a lot now, just like all of us,” Boone said. “We want to win a championship. That is the focus. I know he's focused on that and I feel like he's in a really good position right now. It's not about individual things at all. It’s about us going out and doing things to win baseball games and compete for a championship.”

“There’s a lot of unfinished business, man,” Judge said. “In the off-season it drives me crazy. During the season I try not to think about it.

The 32-year-old judge is on his way to Cooperstown. He is a six-time All-Star and captain of one of the most famous sports franchises in the world. He has cemented his place in Monument Park, from hitting 52 home runs and winning American League Rookie of the Year honors in 2017 to setting a new AL home run record in 2022. His No. 99 will one day become The Longs include a list of retired numbers honored there.

And this year he was better than ever. He authored perhaps the best season by a right-handed hitter in MLB history, leading the majors in home runs (58), RBIs (144), on-base percentage (.458), slugging percentage (.701) and walks (133 ) on ), intentional runs (20), fWAR (11.2) and bWAR (10.8) while playing out of center field. He finished third in batting average (.322), fourth in runs scored (122) and eighth in hits (180). He teamed with newcomer Juan Soto to create the game's most prolific one-two punch since Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig. He is the overwhelming favorite to win his second MVP Award.

Based on Weighted Runs Created Plus (wRC+), a metric that attempts to qualify a player's offensive value while accounting for park effects and run environment, Judge recorded the seventh-best offensive season in MLB history. The only players with better results than Judge's 218 wRC+ were left-handed hitters: Barry Bonds (three times), Ruth (twice) and Ted Williams (once).

Zoom out and Judge's 173 career wRC+ ties Bonds for third in MLB history, behind Ruth and Williams. It was a career that almost anyone would describe as fulfilling.

And yet Judge balks when asked. “We play to win, so…” the judge said.

But can't you still have a great career without winning a championship?

“Yeah, but that’s not why I play,” Judge said. “I’m not playing for Player of the Month or MVP. That's not why you play. You play to be the last team to hold up the trophy, where you look back at all your teammates and just think about the hard work that you put in throughout the year and having that connection.”

Judge sees this connection every summer, just before the final leg of the 162-game marathon, when the Yankees host Old Timers' Day. This year the celebration celebrated the 2009 Yankees, the last Yankees team to win it all. Players from that team in attendance included Hall of Famers Derek Jeter and Mariano Rivera, as well as Jorge Posada, Andy Pettitte, CC Sabathia, Hideki Matsui, Alex Rodriguez and Johnny Damon.

Jeter described Judge's season as “amazing” and marveled at his seemingly impossible improvement. Rodriguez called him a “unicorn” who will eventually become a World Series champion with his sheer determination.

But does he need a title to complete his legacy?

“I think he's going to leave a legacy whether he wins or not because he's a special player,” said Joe Girardi, the team's 2009 manager. “But I think it would mean a lot to him personally the work he does and the work his teammates do – because there is nothing better than being a champion. A bond is created that is made for life. You don't see boys.” For years, and when you come back you feel like you just saw them the day before.

“So I think as far as that part goes, you’d like to see it happen. You'd love to see it happen to such a great player who has such an impact on a game, but it needs so many more players. A man can do it.” “I can't do it. It takes a lot. And I hope he succeeds.”

Soto won a ring five days after his 21st birthday. He was a force in the Washington Nationals' improbable World Series run in 2019, hitting five home runs in 17 postseason games with a .927 OPS surrounded by a star-studded cast. He's seen Judge's hunger for a championship up close since he reported to spring training in February.

“He always talks about winning a championship,” Soto said. “From the first day I got here, he always talked about how he wanted to win a championship, how he wanted us to win a championship, how he wanted to win a championship for the Yankees and be a part of history.” .”

This year's Yankees are far from perfect. They are prone to sloppiness. They have gaps in defense. The numbers showed they were the worst baserunning team in the majors during the regular season.

But the route to the pennant is cheap. The Astros, the Yankees' postseason nemesis for the last decade, were sent home, leaving three low-salary AL Central contenders between them and the World Series. The Yankees are the favorites on paper with a talented ensemble around Judge, whose development as a clubhouse leader has helped integrate the various personalities in the room.

Last month, with the Yankees stuck in neutral and unable to separate themselves from the mediocre Baltimore Orioles at the top of the AL East, Judge called a players-only meeting in Texas. The Yankees went 12-6 over the next three weeks and built a six-game lead in the standings.

“I try not to do it too often,” Judge said. “I mean, things don't go well if you do that a lot. So usually good teams don't have too many such meetings. If it's necessary, you have to do it. You have to.” Get in there and do things like that.

Now it's about being on the field when it counts. Seven years after falling one game short of the World Series in Judge's rookie season, and 11 years after Judge joined the organization, the Yankees have a great chance to win the No. 28 World Series. To achieve this, Judge must be Judge.

“When we wear pinstripes here in New York, it’s about the World Series. That makes it easier for us to focus on what we need to focus on,” Judge said. “You might have a good year, but it’s not really a good year if you haven’t won everything.”