NEW YORK — Aaron Judge always has the best vantage in any room, one of many perks that standing 6 feet, 7 inches affords a man. And as Wednesday turned to Thursday and September gave way to October, he could be found near the back of the New York Yankees’ clubhouse, watching the champagne shoot and the beer fly in the room before him.
The New York Yankees celebrated this conquest – a two-game sweep of the rival Boston Red Sox in their American League wild-card series, capped by a 9-2 Game 2 rout – in the usual fashion, albeit a bit abbreviated. The lights came on before midnight, halting the party and reminding them there’s a plane to catch and an AL Division Series matchup with the division champion Tampa Bay Rays on deck.
Beyond surviving and advancing, though, there was something grander to celebrate: The Yankees played a postseason game without Judge for the first time since 2015 – and not only did they move on, they flourished.
Judge, their three-time AL MVP, sat out from June through mid-September this year due to a rib fracture. The Yankees won 93 games, anyway.
Judge suffered a calf strain in the final week of the season and, through gnashed teeth, sat out this wild-card series as his comeback attempt fell just short.
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The Yankees put on a punishing display of all-around excellent baseball without him, crushing the Red Sox by an aggregate 18-2 score over the two games and certainly making the Rays sit up in their easy chair and take notice.
Until ALDS Game 1 Saturday at Tropicana Field, the Yankees, their fans and the news media will engage in two more days of will-he-or-won’t-he, right up until ALDS rosters are released. Even with a little liquid courage – most of it worn on the skin rather than down the gullet – Judge stopped well short of predicting his availability.
“I’ll be ready,” he said, “as fast as I can.”
Judge loves to play coy, though he’s not nearly as good as it as he probably believes. Yet he could not suppress his satisfaction at the manner in which “his boys,” if you will, fileted the Red Sox:
Starting pitchers Cam Schlitter and Max Fried combined to give up one run in 12 1/3 innings, and their staff held the Red Sox scoreless the first 14 innings of the series.
Shortstop George Lombard Jr. had four hits in the two games, the first Yankee since, yes, Derek Jeter to record four hits in his first two playoff games.
Cody Bellinger and Ben Rice, the lineup bulwarks in a Judge-less Yankee universe, combined for three home runs and 10 RBIs; each had crucial fifth-inning hits on consecutive nights to turn a 1-0 Yankee lead to 2-0, only to follow with back-breaking bombs later.
And the Yankees ran wild in Game 2, stealing four bases, Spencer Jones keying a six-run sixth inning by lumbering down to first after striking out on a passed ball. They laid down bunts for base hits, guided line drives into the outfield rather than swinging wildly for the fences and strafed the Red Sox bullpen.
At 34, Judge is more than a decade older than some of his teammates. And sitting out this series gave him the chance to contextualize what he saw, a 10,000-foot view that looked downright picturesque.
“It’s incredible to see the resilience out of those kids,” says Judge. “It doesn’t matter the situation. Guys are stepping into bigger roles and accepting it and owning the moment.
“We all talked about it before this series started: The teams that play the cleanest baseball are going to be the ones who win these series and move on. That was our main goal. If we could clean up our bunting stuff, our baserunning stuff, our defense, moving guys over.
“These two games here, guys came up with some big hits for us. Guys got put in some tough situations and prevailed. I think we’re just going to really lean on those situations and take it into a tough opponent in Tampa.”
Wanna talk about a contrast? How about the way the Yankees went out in 2024, getting punked by the Los Angeles Dodgers in a five-game World Series defeat, losing Game 5 when Judge dropped a fly ball, a gaffe he said would “stay with me until I die.”
Well, the tables have turned.
These Yankees played excellent baseball, a byproduct of a deep roster that can morph into whatever manager Aaron Boone needs it to be.
Consider that in that 2024 Series, the left side of the infield was Anthony Volpe at shortstop and Jazz Chisholm at third, a combo that combined for a key error in that decisive Dodgers rally.
In 2026? They are a second-base platoon, Volpe yielding to Lombard and remaking himself into a utilityman after a humbling stint in the minors.
In Game 2, Chisholm got the start as Boone rolled out a lineup with eight left-handed hitters. It is what they can do with a roster this deep and Boone is pushing all the right buttons even in the face of significant injuries.
“It’s taken all of us, in that regard, to overcome the challenges. We’ve found a way to thrive with a hand behind our back and (Boone) is a big part of it,” says former Cy Young Award winner Gerrit Cole, who will start Game 1 of the ALDS. “Brian Cashman is a big part of that, too. You’ve got to go out and buy the tools.
“The roster looks really good at this point. We’re very competitive and we have a lot of different ways we can beat you.”
Aaron Judge injury prompted change
That wasn’t the case in 2023, when the season went south after Judge suffered a significant toe injury and was limited to 106 games. The Yankees went 82-80 and stayed home for the playoffs.
“Aaron has been hurt for a good portion of the year,” says Cole, “and we still figured out a way to play good baseball. I think we’ve learned some things from it.”
And gained some talent from it. Judge’s injury prompted Cashman to acquire outfielder Heliot Ramos and infielder Luis Garcia Jr. at the trade deadline. Garcia ripped a fourth-inning homer in Game 2 to break a scoreless tie. He had three hits, and is perhaps best emblematic of the club’s depth that Cole can only laugh when he notes they have three first basemen – Rice, Garcia and Paul Goldschmidt – somehow on a 26-man roster.
“It’s a great spot to be here, in this moment,” says Garcia, who had not played in the postseason until this series.
Even better if No. 99 is around for the next one. Judge had been largely invisible this week, opting not to get introduced on the baseline before Game 1. Yet he let himself get drilled with booze along with his teammates, even if he did not tangibly contribute.
“I’m wearing a Yankees uniform. I’ve got NY on my chest,” says Judge. “When the Yankees win, we all win. Doesn’t matter if you played, didn’t play, got the game-winning hit, pitched a shutout.
“We’re all wearing NY and we’re all celebrating together.”
And perhaps Judge will be playing with his boys come Saturday. If not, well, October is a long month. And the view from Yankee Stadium only looks better and better.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: MLB should be terrified of Yankees as Aaron Judge gets ready 'fast as I can'
