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Turning 34 in April, Aaron Judge is increasingly likely to join Don Mattingly as the only New York Yankees captains without a World Series ring in the modern era.
Judge is coming off his third MVP season in the last four years, but he is still without what really matters in the Yankees universe: a title.
Well, after Judge’s Yankees were eliminated in the American League Division Series last season, they return with a nearly identical team.
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Aaron Judge of the New York Yankees reacts after striking out during the eighth inning against the Toronto Blue Jays in Game 4 of the American League Division Series at Yankee Stadium on October 8, 2025 in New York City. (Al Bello/Getty Images)
At one point, the Yankees’ offseason looked bleak or, as Judge put it, “brutal.”
“I’m seeing other teams in the league get better. They’re making trades, they’re signing great prospects or great players and we were sitting there for a while, making smaller moves,” Judge said.
“At first, it was pretty hard to watch. I was like, ‘Man, we’re the New York Yankees, let’s go out and get the right people, let’s get the right pieces to go out and finish this.’
Aaron Judge of the New York Yankees watches from the dugout in the first inning during Game 3 of the American League Wild Card Series between the Boston Red Sox and the New York Yankees at Yankee Stadium on Thursday, October 2, 2025 in New York, New York. (Daniel Shirey/MLB Photos via Getty Images)
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But after the Yankees re-signed Cody Bellinger, Trent Grisham and Paul Goldschmidt, Judge was happy.
“I think once we got Bellinger back, we got Trent to be our center fielder, our leadoff hitter for another year. If you add a guy like Goldy, some of the back-end bullpen pieces that we’ve been doing, I think we’ll be in a good place…” Judge said.
“We have a special group of players here. We have a good core, a good young staff. It was frustrating, but I think we’re right where we need to be.”
The Yankees finished with 94 wins and tied for the best record in the American League, but lost the tiebreaker to the Toronto Blue Jays, who dominated them in the ALDS.
Cody Bellinger, Aaron Judge and Paul Goldschmidt of the New York Yankees in the game against the Boston Red Sox at Yankee Stadium on September 30, 2025 in New York, New York. (New York Yankees/Getty Images)
But the talk in the clubhouse seems to be that they believe the team is doing well, as the Yankees look to win their first title since 2009.
