No matter how loud Aaron Judge’s bat has been in the regular season, October has kept putting the Yankees in the same uncomfortable spot: close enough to dream, never quite close enough to finish. In the Judge era, New York has managed one World Series trip and three ALCS appearances, but the trophy case is still empty.
With Judge now 34 and unavailable for New York’s 2026 postseason run, the pressure only sharpens. The Yankees are already trailing the Rays in the ALDS, and another early exit would deepen the feeling that this group has spent too much of Judge’s prime coming up short.
The pattern stretches back nearly a decade, and it starts with Judge’s rookie season in 2017. After sitting out the postseason in 2016, the Yankees surged into October behind Judge’s 52-homer campaign and earned a wild-card spot.
They opened by beating the Twins in the AL Wild Card game, then knocked off Cleveland in the ALDS before pushing the Astros to the edge. New York won three straight in the ALCS to grab a 3-2 series lead, but Houston answered with Justin Verlander in Game 6 and then blanked the Yankees 4-0 in Game 7.
The following year brought another regular-season heavyweight that couldn’t carry over. The 2018 Yankees won 100 games, leaned on a lineup with six 20-homer hitters, and still exited quickly.
After beating the A’s in the one-game Wild Card matchup, they ran into the eventual champion Red Sox and lost the ALDS in four games. Boston’s 16-1 rout in Game 3 was the loudest reminder that regular-season firepower doesn’t guarantee October control.
In 2019, New York looked even more dangerous. The Yankees won the AL East for the first time in the Judge era and piled up 103 victories, then swept the Twins in the ALDS to set up yet another ALCS meeting with Houston.
Once again, the Astros had the answer. The series went six games, and it ended on Jose Altuve’s walk-off home run off Aroldis Chapman in Game 6 to send Houston to the World Series.
The shortened 2020 season gave the Yankees another path, but not a different ending. They went 33-27, grabbed a wild-card spot, and swept Cleveland in the Wild Card round.
Then the Rays stopped them in the ALDS. Judge did homer in the decisive Game 5, but New York scored only that one run, and Chapman allowed the Mike Brosseau homer in the eighth that swung the game and the series to Tampa Bay.
A year later, the Yankees didn’t even make it past the opening hurdle. They reached the 2021 Wild Card game after a 93-win season, but Boston handled them 6-2. Nathan Eovaldi worked 5.1 strong innings, and Xander Bogaerts and Kyle Schwarber each homered as the Red Sox ended New York’s season before it could really start.
The Astros showed up again in 2022, and the result was even more one-sided. The Yankees won 99 games and got through the Guardians in the ALDS, but Houston swept them in the ALCS. Verlander, Framber Valdez and Christian Javier shut down the Yankees’ offense, while Chas McCormick and Jeremy Pena each hit two home runs in the series.
Then came 2024, the breakthrough that still didn’t finish the job. New York bounced back from missing the postseason in 2023, won 94 games and finally returned to the World Series for the first time since 2009 - and for the first time with Judge.
The Yankees beat the Royals in the ALDS and the Guardians in the ALCS, only to run into the Dodgers. Los Angeles seized a 3-0 series lead behind Shohei Ohtani, Freddie Freeman’s Game 1 walk-off homer, and strong work from Walker Buehler and Yoshinobu Yamamoto.
New York did win Game 4 with 11 runs, but it was too late. The Dodgers closed it out in Game 5, 7-6, after scoring two late runs, and Ohtani claimed his first World Series title.
Last year brought another October setback, this time against an AL East rival. Judge won his third MVP, the Yankees got past the Red Sox in the AL Wild Card series thanks in part to a dominant Game 3 start from Cam Schlittler, and then Toronto shut the door in the ALDS.
Vladimir Guerrero Jr. powered a Blue Jays lineup that beat New York in four games, sending the Yankees home early once again. In Judge’s three MVP seasons - 2022, 2024 and 2025 - the Yankees never gave him a ring.
In Other News...
Aaron Judge Turns Rays Sweep Into Yankees Front Office Pressure
Even while sidelined, Aaron Judge still found himself at the center of the Yankees latest postseason disappointment after Tampa Bays ALDS sweep sent New York home early. The injured captains absence only sharpened the frustration around a season that ended with the same old October questions, and his comments afterward pointed directly at the people who have to answer them. He said the Yankees ownership and front office need to go all-in this offseason if they want to put together a roster capable of making a real championship run.
Judge also took a moment to acknowledge how hard the elimination hit, while noting that his own rehab remains ongoing as he works his way back. For the Rays, the sweep was a statement series and another reminder of how quickly the balance can shift in the division. For the Yankees, it became something bigger than a loss - it turned into an uncomfortable prompt about urgency, expectations and what kind of push the organization is willing to make next. [Read more 🡒]
Rays Fans Had Every Reason To Hate This ALDS Replay Call
The ALDS swung through another jarring replay sequence in Game 3, when Anthony Volpes two-run homer was taken off the board and turned into a double after review. The call hinged on fan interference, with the replay official determining that a spectator reached over the wall and touched the ball before it could finish its path beyond the fence or into the glove of the defender.
For Rays fans, it was the kind of ruling that can linger long after the inning ends. The Yankees still got a run-scoring double out of it, but Tampa Bay kept its edge in the series, even as the replay decision left plenty of frustration behind and added another layer of tension to a postseason game already being dissected pitch by pitch. [Read more 🡒]
Jazz Chisholm Just Put His Yankees Future In Focus
The Yankees season ended at the hands of the Rays in an ALDS sweep, and the focus in New York is already drifting toward what comes next. Among the players caught in that uncertainty is Jazz Chisholm Jr., whose status is part of a larger offseason picture for a club with several unresolved roster decisions.
Chisholm is a free agent after a down year, which could make him expendable as the Yankees sort through their infield plans. Still, he made clear he wants another shot in New York, saying he hopes to return for the 2027 season, a sentiment that only adds another layer to a winter in which the Yankees will have to decide which pieces still fit their future. [Read more 🡒]