On June 14th, the Yankees beat the Boston Red Sox 8-1, improving to 50-22, the best record in baseball.
Then Boston won the next two games of the series, including a game where they stole 9 bases on the Yankees. 9 stolen bases. Straight up embarrassed New York. And the team hasn’t been the since.
It’s July 5th and the Yankees have another series with Boston coming up but they’re a far different position than they were in mid June. The Yankees went from the best team in the Majors to second place in the AL East. They’re 54-35. They’ve won 4 games in 3 weeks and they just got swept by the Cincinnati Reds who were 6 games below .500 when they flew into New York.
Aaron Judge’s 32nd home run of the season makes it a one-run game! pic.twitter.com/Bnqx2k8YwV
— Talkin’ Yanks (@TalkinYanks) July 3, 2024
Let’s look at the season Aaron Judge is having so far:
- 32 homers (1st in baseball)
- 83 RBIs (1st in baseball)
- .314 batting average (4th in baseball)
- .433 on-base percentage (2nd in baseball behind teammate, Juan Soto)
- .702 slugging (1st in baseball)
- 212 wRC+ (1st in baseball)
Judge is on pace to shatter the home run record he set in 2022. We are witnessing the modern day Barry Bonds and like Barry Bonds, he’s stuck playing for a team that cannot figure out how to win baseball games.
Every time this alien steps into the batter’s box, he generates a run. Opposing pitchers have no idea how to stop him from sending balls into the Bronx River. He is a machine created in a dark lab with one sole operating function: smash baseballs into outer space.
At 32 years old, this may be the best version of Judge but also the final year he’s capable of producing at a high level and the Yankees have lost 5 of their last 6 series, including getting swept by the New York Mets.
The Yankees face the Red Sox this weekend, the same Red Sox that broke them. Prior to that June 15h loss to Boston, the Yankees led the Majors with a 2.77 ERA. In the 17 games since, their starters have a 7.76 ERA.
Gerrit Cole, one of the greatest pitchers ever, made his 2024 debut on June 19th as the Yankees were starting to look like the Chicago White Sox. I don’t think that’s a coincidence. Suddenly the rest of the pitching staff went from an All-Star team to a group of guys who seem to have some sort of clubhouse bet to see who can get pulled from their starts the soonest.
Meanwhile Aaron Judge is singlehandedly keeping the Yankees afloat as he jogs around the bases following a 900 feet homer to cut the opposing team’s lead to 10.
Aaron Judge is about to have one of the greatest 3 year runs in MLB history, truly unprecedented greatness, and these motherfuckers won’t even make it past the ALCS while Aaron Boone and Brian Cashman gaslight fans with meaningless cliches as they seem to have some sort of lifetime contracts with the team, regardless of how their seasons end.
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Can the Yankees turn their season around? Leave a comment below. Respond on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram. Or shoot me an email at Deadseriousmailbag@gmail.com. Let’s chat, bay-beeeee. Let me know if you think there’s a MLB player better than Aaron Judge so I can send you advanced stats neither of us understand.
