The words of Frank Sinatra’s “New York, New York” crooned at Yankee Stadium late last Wednesday night, except they didn’t come from the Stadium speakers following a Yankees win to extend the ALDS. They instead came from a champagne-soaked visitors’ clubhouse, as the Rays played the Yankees’ victory song in celebration of eliminating their divisional rival in the minimum three games.
The ritual was nothing new. It started eight years ago after the Red Sox eliminated the Yankees at the Stadium. Sinatra’s hit became the Red Sox’ victory song following the 2018 ALDS and for the rest of that postseason, when they knocked off the Astros in the ALCS and then the Dodgers in the World Series. It became their song all because of Aaron Judge.
After the Yankees won Game 2 of the 2018 ALDS to even the series at a game apiece, Judge walked out of Fenway Park blaring the song on a boombox for all to hear. Acting like the Yankees had accomplished something simply by splitting the first two games on the road, the face of the franchise’s foolish decision served as a rallying cry for the Red Sox, who had won the AL East over the Yankees by eight games that year.
Two nights later, in the series’ next game, the Red Sox handed the Yankees their worst home postseason loss in franchise history. The following night, the Red Sox eliminated the Yankees to start a near-annual tradition of the opposition celebrating the Yankees’ elimination on their field, with the song being played in the visitors’ clubhouse and continuing to play throughout the postseason even though the Yankees were no longer part of it.
Since his foolish antics on Oct. 6, 2018 at Fenway Park, Judge has spent his career acting like he has won anything other than individual awards. He carries himself like he has captained a dynasty, talks like he was part of the Yankees’ last dynasty and acts as if he has done anything other than get eliminated from the nine postseasons the team has played in during his career.
The narrative that the Yankees have failed Judge throughout his career makes me cringe. Judge has failed himself. He’s the one with a postseason OPS 200 points lower than his regular-season OPS. He’s the one who has played in 17 rounds of the postseason and has performed well in six of them. He’s the one who continues to back the manager who has overseen nine of his 10 full seasons in the majors. He’s the one who wanted the team to trade for Alex Verdugo, re-sign Anthony Rizzo and hang on to DJ LeMahieu. He’s the one who said he wanted the team to “run it back” immediately after their elimination in the 2025 ALDS. Judge isn’t absolved from the Yankees’ failures during the Aaron Boone era just because he’s the best player on the team. For as good as Judge is from late March through September, he has played a role in the disappointments of October.
Judge didn’t play in the latest postseason disappointment, but he had a lot to say about it. Judge spoke with the media for just under 10 minutes after the Game 3 loss and tried to sound as much like Derek Jeter would after his teams lost in the ALDS as he could, just without a full hand of rings to fall back on as a defense.
“It’s always tough. Any time you’re not the last team standing and lose at home like that in three straight games, it’s definitely tough, difficult.”
Then I guess Judge’s entire career has been tough since he has never been on a team that was the last team standing, just like his manager. Judge has now been on the team for five home eliminations, so it was nothing new for him. And as for losing three straight games and being swept in the ALDS, it was the first time in 25 ALDS appearances that the Yankees were swept in the series.
“You gotta tip your cap to the Rays. They had an incredible season: go out there and win a division and put the pressure on us all year.”
This answer felt a lot like Boone saying, “The league has closed the gap on us,” after the Yankees finished third in the division, fifth in the AL and were eliminated in the one-game playoff in 2021. The Rays didn’t have to put pressure on the Yankees since they led the Yankees in the division from June 28 through Game 162. The Yankees were the ones needing to apply pressure, and whenever they did, the Rays answered with extended winning streaks.
“I don’t like [the Rays celebrating at Yankee Stadium]. I don’t like other teams celebrating in our place. But if you don’t like it, you gotta play better.”
The 2026 Rays joined the 2025 Blue Jays, 2024 Dodgers, 2022 Astros and 2018 Red Sox as teams that have celebrated ending the Yankees’ season at Yankee Stadium. The Yankees have never won a best-of-5 or best-of-7 series at home during Judge’s career, so all he knows is other team’s winning series at his home ballpark.
When asked what his message is to Yankees fans, Judge said, “That’s tough,” then paused for six seconds to try to recall past years’ excuses in his brain, and responded, “We gotta be better. None of us are satisfied.”
I would argue they are satisfied, considering nothing changes. Each season, the Yankees start out well, slump during the summer months, rebound at the end of the regular season and then go home early in the postseason. Rinse and repeat. They show up, do enough to get by and then do it all again the next year. They are content with losing and satisfied with the results.
“We’re the Yankees. I feel like [the front office] should go all in and do what they need to do. If we got holes, if it’s finding certain players or personnel or whatever we need you gotta go out there and get it. That’s why I signed back here to play with the yankees is to fight for a championship and go all in.”
The Yankees have spent roughly $2.5 billion on payroll during the Boone era for zero championships. What does Judge consider all in? A $400 million payroll? A $500 million payroll? A team with roughly a $100 million payroll is going to win the 2026 World Series, whether it’s the Brewers, Rays or Guardians. Judge, Giancarlo Stanton and Trent Grisham made just under $100 million in 2026. Those three are equal to the combined payroll of the 26-man roster of whichever team wins the World Series.
“[The front office] give us a winning team every single year, but that’s not good enough here in New York. We’re the Yankees. You gotta go out there and expect championships and go all in every year.”
Let’s stop with the “expect championships” line. Judge has never won a championship. The organization hasn’t won a championship in 17 years. The championship-or-bust mantra is dead. At this point, it’s as meaningful as the Mets or Pirates saying they expect to win a championship.
“He’s our manger,” Judge said of Boone. “He’s running this ship. He puts us in the right position to go out there and succeed … He’s definitely had our back and is a guy.”
He’s definitely a guy, as in, yes, Boone is a male. If Judge wanted the Yankees to have a different manager, the Yankees would have a different manager. So whatever losing problem or culture problem or accountability problem the Yankees have, Judge has played a large part in them having that problem. He’s the team’s best player (when he plays). He’s the team’s highest-paid player. He’s the captain. He’s the face of the franchise. And he’s the one running out of time to change a legacy that will be one of being the face of the franchise during the team’s longest championship drought, an era of disappointment and underachievement.
It has been interesting to see Judge’s personality and media presence change in recent months. He used the media to have a back-and-forth with Boone when he was rehabbing his rib injury, openly questioned being pulled early from his first game back from that rib injury and handled the mid-September calf injury as poorly as he handled the fly ball hit to him in the fifth inning of Game 5 of the World Series.
Last offseason, in an interview with Kevin Durant, Judge said three players he was excited about were Jazz Chisholm, Austin Wells and Ryan McMahon.
“He can be one of the greats in the game,” Judge said of Chisholm. “I think this will be a big year for him to take that next step.”
Chisholm had the worst season of his career.
“I think this will be a big year for him,” Judge said of Wells, “he’s really going to take that next step.”
Wells had the worst season of his career.
“I think there’s just so much more potential,” Judge said of McMahon. “I think what he’s about to do with the bat this year, he’s going to take off for us.”
McMahon had the worst season of his career.
Just like when he walked by the Red Sox’ clubhouse with his boombox, when Judge speaks, nothing good comes from it.
Last modified: Oct 16, 2026
