MLB writer sends ominous warning to Yankees’ Aaron Judge on ending up like 521 home run hitter

The New York Yankees have been close, but no cigar as long as outfielder Aaron Judge has been around. Since Judge’s official rookie season in 2017, NYY has been a postseason fixture in the American League. Of note, though, was the increased number of teams that qualify for the postseason since 2022. Now, six teams per league make the postseason.

If you take a magnifying glass to the “close, but no cigar” narrative, you’ll notice the Yankees haven’t been that close after all. As MLB.com’s Mike Lupica notes, New York had a 27-25 record against the AL East, and six of those wins were against the Baltimore Orioles in September when their season was already essentially over.

And as Lupica adds, ending up like legendary Boston Red Sox outfielder Ted Williams, with individual accolades but no World Series win, is the path he’s currently on. Lupica listed a number of names Judge could end up like, but took the comparison with Williams further by pointing out the parallels.

“...here is a list from which Judge wants his name removed as soon as possible, maybe even as soon as next season, when he turns 34: The one with the greatest baseball players who never played on a World Series winner. That is the one with Ted Williams’ name on it, and Ken Griffey Jr., and Ernie Banks, and Barry Bonds; other Hall of Famers like Tony Gwynn and Rod Carew and Ichiro Suzuki and Harmon Killebrew. If you want to go back further, Ty Cobb never won a World Series, either. Mike Trout might never win one with the way his injury-filled career is playing out,” Lupica wrote.

“Williams played in just one World Series for the Red Sox across his career. Judge has only played in one so far. There is still plenty of time for Judge. Just not as much as there once was, back when he wrote his name on another list and became the first rookie to hit 50 or more homers in a season back in 2017.”

In this era of baseball, spending wins. The Yankees do that, just not as effectively as the Los Angeles Dodgers. Especially not when it comes to the international market.

Judge has seen highly-paid teammates come and go, with the best he ever had, outfielder Juan Soto, helping No. 99 bring the Pinstripes within three games of a World Series win last winter. Brian Cashman has been losing key guys in free agency and simply replacing them with highly compensated replacements.

We’ll see if a roster can be built with as much firepower as the 2024 team. And we’ll probably see if the Dodgers built an even better and more highly compensated roster on the other coast that’ll become another roadblock.