AARON JUDGE’S NUMBERS ARE SO MONSTROUS, HIS SLASHES ALMOST PRODUCE BLOOD
He’s having a better season than Ohtani as the Yankees, without a struggling Soto, are ahead of the Dodgers, who must avoid health issues that aren’t guaranteed with a record $500 million payroll
Bigger than the rivalry, bigger than Dodger Stadium and almost bigger than his team allowing facial hair, the Aaron Judge we cogitate about this season is bigger than even Shohei Ohtani. We might not make the same remark when Ohtani returns to the mound after the All-Star break. But at the moment, the Yankees hardly have died without Juan ($765 million) Soto and Gerrit ($324 million) Cole.
They are the best team in baseball, while Soto is booed across New York at Citi Field as the Dodgers know billions cannot guarantee the health of a pitching staff. No one is claiming on May 30 that the Yankees will overcome the organizational gut bomb of blowing a World Series in five games. Yet they arrive in Los Angeles this weekend while Judge has more slashes in his statistics — .391/.488/.739/1.227, for batting average, on-base percentage, slugging percentage and OPS — than a blood-producing gang.
He doesn’t want us to explain how he’ll likely win his third American League MVP and might win a Triple Crown with 18 home runs and 47 RBIs. He just wants to bring up his father. “My dad would always give me the quote, ‘If what you did yesterday still seemed big today, then you haven't done anything today,’ ’’ Judge said. "So, it doesn't matter what you did yesterday. If you're still happy about your good game last night, then you probably haven't done anything today.”
Compare his production to Ohtani, who is looking at his fourth unanimous MVP and leads the majors with 20 homers and 59 runs. Do you realize he might follow last year — 54 homers, 59 stolen bases — with at least 50 homers and 150 runs scored? And when he returns to the rotation, that he could approach 10 victories? Wouldn’t that be the all-time season? Leave it to Yankees manager Aaron Boone to separate the two. “I think Judge has been the best hitter in the sport now for a number of years, but what Shohei does with his speed and, when he’s healthy, being an ace on the mound, and his ability to swing the bat … we haven’t seen that,” he said. “Ohtani, when you add in the pitching element, is just so unique, like nothing we’ve ever seen in this game.”
“If it kind of works out as it should, he's a top-end starter,” said Dodgers manager Dave Roberts, referring to injuries, “so that’s kind of all of our expectations.”
Health always is a concern for Judge. Five times, he has missed between 18 and 54 games with a broken wrist, a strained oblique, a strained calf and a strained right hip. If he misses major time, forget glory. “It's all about staying on the field,” Judge said. “You stay on the field and you're going to produce. And I was kind of sick and tired of having little nagging things that kind of pop up throughout the season. So if I was going to do something that my team could rely on for quite a few years, you can't be playing only 100 games a year.”
Will the Dodgers and Yankees meet again in the Series? Roberts is without three significant starters — Blake Snell, Tyler Glasnow and rookie Roki Sasaki — and a variety of relievers, which reminds us why owner Mark Walter approves insane expenditures. The record is 34-22, which means they can forget about a record 117 victories in the regular season. But Ohtani, Mookie Betts, Freddie Freeman and Teoscar Hernandez are present. There are hopes in curious places, such as Philadelphia and Detroit. And on Chicago’s North Side, where Pete Crow-Armstrong finally is emerging as a thrill, the sport’s most charismatic young player. He’s a freak, capable of doing almost anything with his looks and energy. PCA is the only player in baseball with 15 homers and 15 stolen bases. He also won’t discuss a contract extension for a team that could win 100 games with the majors’ most prolific offense.
“There’s been a general understanding that we’re not going to let it be a distraction throughout this year,” Crow-Armstrong said. The Cubs have him through the 2030 season, which should lock him in, but he also wants owner Tom Ricketts to produce at least $450 million for Kyle Tucker. With those two monster players, are the Cubs actually National League contenders?
We thought the same could be said about the Mets. If it’s true Soto switched boroughs because his parents adored owner Steve Cohen and his wife, yikes. This week, he was booed as was batted .224 and couldn’t hit the ball out of the infield. Is he sad about leaving the Yankees? Anyone who makes a record amount of $765 million cannot be sad about anything. He doesn’t have a homer since May 9, with seven hits in his last 59 at-bats. With runners in scoring position, he is batting .130. When he returned to Yankee Stadium, the horrors exposed themselves with rotten chants.
Now he is a topic in the clubhouse. “He looks the same as he looked in spring training. He comes to work every day. He cares about winning,” Francisco Lindor said. “He pays attention to the little details. He works in the cage. He does his stuff. And then he goes home, he comes back, he does the same thing every day. From what I’ve seen, he looks like Juan Soto.”
David Ortiz said Soto is misidentified as an almighty slugger. He is not Judge. “People think Juan Soto was paid to do what Barry Bonds did. Soto was paid to do what he always does: hit 30 homers, push 90-100 runs across, hit .280-.290, and have a great on-base percentage. The problem is that Juan Soto entered free agency at the perfect time with the perfect agent, you know what I mean?” Ortiz said. “So since everyone wants to be involved in the negotiations for a player of his caliber, and because of the Mets’ owner, who said, ‘The only way he doesn’t play for me is if he goes somewhere else for less money.’ He won with that argument alone. We’re not talking about the best player in the big leagues nor the most complete. He’s a great player who at the end of the season will have the numbers he consistently has.”
Soto’s manager, Carlos Mendoza, insists he “will be Juan Soto.” But he has eight homers and seven steals in 247 plate appearances. “You’re going to see frustration, especially with a competitor like he is,” he said.
Soon enough, a widespread story will break through. Are the Dodgers too loaded, with a payroll and taxes certain to be above $500 million, to not win another World Series? They really should win again. But not long ago, Hal Steinbrenner made a comment never thought possible from the Yankees owner.
“It's difficult for most of us owners to be able to do the kind of things that they're doing,” he said of the Dodgers. “We’ll see if it pays off.”
This weekend, we’ll have a glimpse. Steinbrenner is the underdog
“This isn’t the one we wanted, boys,” Giancarlo Stanton said of AL title rings.
“A participation trophy,” pitcher Clarke Schmidt said.
“First loser,” pitcher Carlos Rodon said.
With Aaron Judge, no one is a loser.
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Jay Mariotti, called “without question the most impacting Chicago sportswriter of the past quarter-century,’’ writes general sports columns for Substack while appearing on some of the 1,678,498 podcasts and shows in production today. He is an accomplished columnist, TV panelist and talk/podcast host. Living in Los Angeles, he gravitated by osmosis to film projects.