Yankees' Aaron Judge on chasing elusive World Series title: 'I'll never be satisfied' until we win it
TAMPA, Fla. — Aaron Judge is entering his 10th full season in the big leagues.
Since making his major-league debut on Aug. 13, 2016, at the Stadium — and homering off the Rays' Matt Andriese in his first at-bat — Judge has carved out a resume that someday will land him in the Hall of Fame.
Judge’s home run off Andriese that sweltering afternoon in the Bronx landed in the netting that overhangs Monument Park — a fitting end for the baseball, many might say, because the man responsible for hitting it will be recognized there someday.
Judge, a three-time American League MVP who has captured the last two awards, is well aware of his status as a franchise great. Yet he continues to project the same “awe-shucks” vibe he has featured since his 52-homer Rookie of the Year season in 2017 each time he reaches another milestone and finds himself on another list of luminaries.
And just as Judge, certainly privately, is aware of his standing among some of those baseball immortals, he is aware of something the vast majority of those players have done that he has not: win at least one World Series championship in a Yankee uniform.
In many of those cases — Ruth, Gehrig, DiMaggio, Mantle, Ford, Berra, Jeter et al — it’s multiple World Series championships.
But Judge, who has played on one World Series team (2024) and three teams that came up short with losses in the American League Championship Series (2017, ’19 and ’22), will happily start with one title.
“Any time you’re not the winner, it’s a tough offseason, it’s a tough everything,” Judge said early in spring training. “I think I’ll never be satisfied until we go out there and finish it. No matter the awards, the MVPs, All-Star [Games], all that stuff, it doesn’t matter. What matters is putting New York back up on top, putting this organization back to where it belongs, which is being the best organization in the game.”
Some offseasons are tougher than others.
Late last September, the Yankees felt as good as they ever have in the Judge Era entering the postseason.
Aaron Boone — who now is entering his ninth season as the Yankees' manager — gave organizational voice to that, saying before the Wild Card Series against the Red Sox that it was “the best” he’d felt about any of his teams going into October.
After barely surviving the Red Sox, the Yankees got flattened in four games by the Blue Jays in the Division Series. A team that ran them over in the regular season did the same in the playoffs.
The Yankees’ response to that, and the 94-68 regular season that tied them with Toronto for the best record in the American League, was to return almost their entire 2025 team.
The phrase “run it back” quickly became as much a part of the description of the 2026 Yankees as anything.
The Yankees' decision to return 25 players from their 26-man Division Series roster didn’t do much for excitement. There were few truly new acquisitions for the fan base to conjure big dreams about, lefthander Ryan Weathers consistently throwing 100 mph in February notwithstanding.
But rival teams see a deep and diverse Yankees roster that should excel in scoring runs and preventing them.
“They’ll probably win their usual 90 to 95 games, do whatever they do at the deadline, take their shot in the postseason,” one rival team scout who has been assigned to the Yankees for the better part of the last decade said early in spring training. “Not a lot to it.”
Judge, who has narrowly missed winning the AL Triple Crown in three of the past four seasons, remains at the height of his powers. He anchors an offense that led the AL in runs last year and again should be among the league leaders.
The rotation, even with Gerrit Cole, Carlos Rodon and Clarke Schmidt set to start the season on the injured list (all are expected back at some point), still looks formidable. Opening Day starter Max Fried will be followed in some order by Cam Schlittler, Will Warren, Luis Gil and Weathers. The latter three’s end-of-season futures are all but certain to be in the bullpen because of the returns of Cole, Rodon and Schmidt.
There is further organizational anticipation about its top two pitching prospects, Elmer Rodriguez and Carlos Lagrange, both of whom shined during spring training. Lagrange's 103-mph fastball caused jaws to drop throughout camp.
“Never seen anything like it,” Cole, among those whose jaws dropped, said of the 6-7 Lagrange.
The bullpen does have some question marks, but it is anchored by closer David Bednar. In his two months in pinstripes last season, the trade-deadline acquisition showed that the spotlight that comes with being “closer of the Yankees” wasn’t too bright.
There are reasons for optimism with Fernando Cruz, Camilo Doval, Tim Hill, Paul Blackburn and Ryan Yarbrough.
It is, longtime Yankees general manager Brian Cashman often says, his job to “think about the problems” and not necessarily focus on what’s right with a given year’s team. But while acknowledging all that can go wrong, even Cashman has sounded more optimistic than he usually is at this time of year.
“I just think we have a good, strong, deep roster of players that are capable of great things,” he said near the halfway point of camp. “And so we’re going to look forward to testing that theory.”
Erik Boland started in Newsday's sports department in 2002. He covered high school and college sports, then shifted to the Jets beat. He has covered the Yankees since 2009.
More Yankees headlines
