For much of the second half, the New York Yankees were in a hotly-contested battle with the Baltimore Orioles for the AL East. In fact, after games played on September 3, the O’s were up 0.5 games at the top of the division. But the Bombers have been playing amazing ball this month and Baltimore, well, hasn’t, the last series notwithstanding.
Aaron Judge called a players-only meeting in September
As it turns out, there is a reason behind the Yankees’ surge in September. It’s not the only thing behind their solid, consistent play, but it’s sure a big one — The Athletic’s Brendan Kuty reported that captain and team star Aaron Judge called a players-only meeting near the beginning of the month in Texas.
“The captain’s message: Ignore the outside noise. The Yankees then went on a roll, separating themselves from the O’s and winning the AL East,” he wrote on his X account.
It’s a simple message, but one that means the world coming from the captain’s mouth. It’s also not as simple as it seems, because nearly every professional in any field cares and tends to listen when someone criticizes his or her performance. It’s the same with baseball players: they are human beings who don’t want to play badly.
The Yankees captain led the way with the key meeting
Judge basically urged everyone to do their job as they trained for while trying to focus on that and silencing the noise from outside. The results, he thought, would come. And boy, did they follow.
“I thought it was a good idea for me to say a couple of words and kind of talk it out, get guys focused.”
The Yankees are now AL East champs and increased their lead over the O’s to five games. It seemed impossible before the start of the season, when most analysts and specialists thought Baltimore’s young, ascending core was too much for the Yanks to handle over six full months.
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These two excellent squads can still meet later this year, in the postseason, in more of a level playing field. It’s also important to point out that Baltimore won eight of the 13 games they played this year and are very much capable of winning a playoff matchup.
However, the important takeaway here is that the Yankees captain has a big influence over his teammates, and he used it positively in early September to spark an improbable run that delivered another AL East title to the Bronx Bombers.
