Ryan Garcia
One of the biggest criticisms of the Yankees during the Aaron Judge era centered around their lack of firepower around the three-time AL MVP.
At times the offense was so reliant on Judge that if he was anything short of incredible, they would stop dead in their tracks and become fodder for an opposing pitcher.
Very quietly, last year’s team began to shed this label by having a wRC+ that still would have ranked inside the top 10 of MLB teams if you removed Aaron Judge from it.
There wasn’t much fanfare about that change in offensive identity, but last night we saw what the run-it-back Yankees are capable of even when The Captain has an 0-5 night.
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It’s Time to Start Respecting the Yankees’ Offensive Depth
The Yankees have five qualified hitters record an OPS at or above .800 including Aaron Judge, and that doesn’t even mention the incredible contributions from Giancarlo Stanton once he returned from the IL.
When you removed Judge from the equation, the Yankees would have had a 108 wRC+ last season which would have made them baseball’s ninth-best offense ahead of teams such as the Athletics, Red Sox, and Brewers.
Last night we saw that on full display, they have patience and power up and down their offense which is why GM Brian Cashman chose to run back Trent Grisham and Cody Bellinger when free agency began.
One game does not prove that the 2026 Yankees will 100% be a dominant offense, but at this point the group has played enough games together to get the benefit of the doubt.
Expected numbers attempt to describe whether a hitter’s success (or lack thereof) was due to poor offensive abilities or unsustainable luck; they suggest that this group deserved their league-best offensive results in 2025.
Projections on the otherhand attempt to predict future outcomes…and they expect this to be one of the five best offenses in the game as well.
Maybe injuries ravage this lineup and leave it without its key players for large periods of time or maybe the aging curve hits some guys harder than expected, but barring unlikely events, they should mash again.
They might not be a premiere American League threat without Aaron Judge, but they’re certainly not a team that needs him to be piping-hot 24/7 in order to put up runs.
We shouldn’t be looking for them to prove they can hit, they now have to prove they aren’t a good offense for the thought to even enter my head at this point.
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