Last week, the New York Yankees had their season come to an end in the ALDS for the second straight year.
They got swept by the Tampa Bay Rays (and lost the final game at home by a score of 4-3).
Yankee Insider Delivers Honest Aaron Judge Message
Three-time MVP Aaron Judge did not play in the 2026 MLB playoffs due to injury.
After their elimination, he made intriguing comments when he met with the media.
(Via: @YESNetwork)
On Tuesday, Ian O’Connor of The Athletic spoke about Judge (via The Michael Kay Show).
Kay: “We’re not all in? What does that mean? Who’s he criticizing? Is he criticizing Steinbrenner or is he criticizing his teammates? Who do you think he’s going at?”
O’Connor: “I don’t think he ever wants to publicly criticize Aaron Boone. He has a lot of respect for him. They have a very good relationship. So the Yankee payroll is not the problem. And so “all in,” I think the Yankees try to go all in pretty much every year. Sometimes they’re more successful at it than others, but their payroll isn’t the problem. It’s the players not responding to the pressure of the moment like the Rays did this year, like it appears the Guardians might now in this round, and of course Toronto last year. So I think that’s a captain’s cry for help, and that’s what I said earlier. He’s turning 35. He doesn’t want to be Don Mattingly. He doesn’t want to be Patrick Ewing. Those are great championship-level players who never won a ring, and that has stayed with them and will until their dying days, and that sucks, man. It really does. He doesn’t deserve that. Aaron Judge is one of the five or six best players in the history of a franchise with 27 World Series titles. He doesn’t need 10 like Yogi got. He just needs one.”
Looking At Judge
Judge was picked in the 1st round of the 2013 MLB Draft.
He has spent all 11 years of his career with the Yankees.
In 2024, Judge reached Game 5 of the World Series (which is the furthest he has gone).
New York Yankees Insider Delivers Brutally Honest Aaron Judge Message