Aaron Judge’s October ended the same way the Yankees’ did: without a win, without a plate appearance, and with a fresh round of questions about what comes next in the Bronx.
The Yankees were swept by Tampa Bay after a 4-3 loss at Yankee Stadium on Oct. 7, when rookie Victor Mesa Jr.’s two-run homer off Max Fried snapped a sixth-inning tie. That defeat closed the book on a season that stretched New York’s championship drought to 17 seasons.
Judge, 34, never got the chance to impact the postseason. A right calf strain kept him out of both playoff rounds, after a rib stress fracture had already interrupted his regular season. He played 66 games and hit .241 with 18 home runs and 41 RBIs.
That absence changes the conversation around him. This was not another October built around his strikeouts or missed chances at the plate.
The Yankees got past Boston without him, then failed to win a game against the Rays. Still, his standing in the organization made him impossible to ignore.
The Yankees named Judge their 16th captain on Dec. 21, 2022, according to the club’s announcement. When he’s healthy, he’s the centerpiece of the lineup. When the season goes sideways, he’s also one of the voices people expect to hear.
After the sweep, Judge did speak up. He pushed the organization to add more talent and made it clear that simply getting to October wasn’t enough for a franchise with New York’s expectations.
“We’re the Yankees,” Judge said. “I feel like they should go all-in and do what they need to do.”
That line aimed at the roster, not at Aaron Boone. Judge also credited the front office for building winning teams, while stressing that the standard had to be higher than another decent season.
On Oct. 8, WFAN host Tommy Lugauer took the criticism in a different direction. He said Judge shares blame for what he sees as a too-comfortable clubhouse under Boone.
“I think Aaron Judge is part of the problem,” Lugauer said.
He went further, describing an environment he believes Judge accepts.
“I think Aaron Judge is comfortable with this country club,” Lugauer said. “He is the captain, he is the star player, and I think Judge is comfortable with the soft atmosphere, with the country club atmosphere… If Aaron walked into Hal’s office or Cashman’s office with other players on the team and said, we want this Boone out of here, Boone would be out of here. But I think the players, especially Aaron Judge, they like this type of atmosphere and this type of environment.”
Lugauer argued that Judge and other players could push owner Hal Steinbrenner or general manager Brian Cashman to move on from Boone. He pointed to the Knicks’ coaching change involving Tom Thibodeau as his comparison.
The split between those views is sharp. Judge’s public message was about improving the roster. Lugauer’s was about the captain applying pressure inside the clubhouse.
There’s also the availability piece, and it’s not a small one. Judge appeared in 66 of 162 regular-season games, which means he missed 96 - 59.3% of the schedule. That’s a huge gap for a team that needed him for most of the year and then had to play the entire postseason without him.
His career postseason line remains part of the wider debate, too. Entering these playoffs, Judge was at .236 with 17 home runs and 41 RBIs in 65 games. His October totals didn’t change this year because he never got into a game.
And the scrutiny around him didn’t begin here. His dropped fly ball in Game 5 of the 2024 World Series still hangs over his postseason résumé. But that moment doesn’t explain this series, because he never played in it.
So the Yankees are left with a familiar offseason question, only with a few more layers this time: does the answer lie in the roster, in the leadership structure, or in both?
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