David Lennon: Could Aaron Judge have provided the Yankees a much-needed jolt? We'll never know.
Yankees centerfielder Aaron Judge looks out in the fourth inning in Game 3 of the ALDS against the Tampa Bay Rays at Yankee Stadium on Wednesday. Credit: Newsday/Thomas A. Ferrara
If it’s any consolation for the Yankees, their caution with Aaron Judge’s right calf strain undoubtedly will have their three-time American League MVP at full strength by Opening Day of the 2027 season.
Whenever that is. Hopefully there is one.
But as second-guesses go, keeping Judge sidelined for two playoff rounds while activating the creaky Giancarlo Stanton for a pair of strikeouts as a pinch hitter should be added to the pile, along with batting Trent Grisham leadoff in the do-or-die ALDS Game 3 and starting Ryan McMahon at all this October.
Was Judge a viable option to take a swing in a pivotal spot? The Yankees could have used him, considering Stanton came up empty in 1-0 and 4-3 losses. But the truth about the captain’s condition has remained elusive ever since he suffered the calf strain on Sept. 16 in Minneapolis.
Even in the aftermath of Wednesday night’s October-ending defeat, Judge maintained that he was ready to contribute.
“Feeling great,” he said. “That’s why we were pushing forward. We had meetings, talking back and forth. Just didn’t happen.”
Ultimately, if you are to believe manager Aaron Boone, Judge’s limited mobility made him unplayable. But to what extent?
Ideally, the Yankees preferred to use him in rightfield because their DH spot was occupied by Ben Rice and Luis Garcia Jr. was at first base, and that was unrealistic.
Still, we did see Judge take BP on numerous occasions, and he also faced high-velocity pitching in simulated games and with the Trajekt machine, which is basically a robot that replicates a major-leaguer’s arsenal.
Boone alluded to potentially saving him for later rounds, but that still came across as wishful thinking. Now we’ll never know.
If the Yankees did have any regrets about resting Judge, it’s not as if they’d say so publicly after being swept by the Rays in the Division Series and not leading in any of those three games because their bats didn’t show up.
“I feel it was the right thing,” Boone said Wednesday night.
Before Game 3, general manager Brian Cashman agreed with the decisions on Judge.
“I know what he would like to do, but that’s the warrior in him,” Cashman said. “Physically, he wasn’t a choice. There’s no different opinion. The grade that he suffered made it pretty impossible for him to be available to us in the [Division Series], especially in the previous one, too.”
As torturous as the Yankees’ previous playoff exits were for Judge, nothing can compare to being a spectator for this one, powerless to stop the Yankees’ championship drought from extending to a 17th year.
If you subtract Rice’s production from the Division Series, the rest of the Yankees batted .110 (9-for-82) with zero homers and two RBIs in three games.
Maybe Judge hasn’t always been Mr. October in the course of his career, hitting .236 with 17 homers and an .822 OPS in 65 postseason games. But in last year’s ALDS, the captain did bat .600 (9-for-15) with two doubles and the tying three-run homer off the foul pole in Game 3 to keep the Yankees alive for one more day.
Other than Rice, nobody else was capable of stepping up to save them this time, and that was excruciating to watch for Judge.
“It definitely hurts,” he said. “You want to be out there. You do all the rehab, all the work. Come early, stay late. Any time you’re banged up, you try to get out there as soon as you can. Definitely hurts not getting a chance to be out there and battling.”
Judge also has to be aware that the clock is ticking for him personally. He will turn 35 in April, is coming off a significant rib injury that cost him 3 1⁄2 months and now heads into Year 5 of his nine-year, $360 million contract.
While Hal Steinbrenner routinely has spent enough to be among the top three payrolls in the sport in an attempt to surround Judge with talent, the Yankees have gone backward since their five-game World Series loss to the Dodgers in 2024. They have had two straight ousters from the Division Series and only one win in seven games.
Late Wednesday night, Judge was among the last to leave the dugout, after watching the Rays celebrate on the field, just as the Blue Jays did a year ago.
“Just hating every single moment of it,” he said. “So I don’t forget.”
The Yankees were 52-43 in games in which Judge did not play during the regular season, and their thrashing of the Red Sox in the Wild Card Series — they outscored Boston 18-2 — made them think they could stay afloat long enough for the captain to join them. But that false hope was soon punctured by the Rays, and the Yankees again became nothing more than a luxurious turnstile for their rivals to pass through en route to the ALCS.
Despite having arguably the planet’s most dangerous hitter in Judge, they consistently discover they don’t possess the championship aura of these other teams — something that Steinbrenner’s money hasn’t been able to buy for nearly two decades.
“There’s a standard to winning a championship,” Judge said. “It’s black and white. There is no gray area. It’s every day you show up to work, every little thing you do — are you working toward a championship or are you not? I think that’s the biggest thing. Just everybody in the room understanding you got to bring it every single day, especially here in New York.”
It’s Judge’s clubhouse. His team. But he never saw the field and instead stood witness to another playoff failure.
David Lennon is an award-winning columnist, a voter for baseball's Hall of Fame and has covered six no-hitters, including two perfect games.
