NEW YORK — It's been 11 years since the New York Yankees drafted Aaron Judge. Eleven years of the towering slugger absorbing the franchise's unyielding championship doctrine.
Eleven years, from A-ball in Charleston to the scorching lights in the Bronx, of striving to meet that standard. World Series or bust.
Every year. «There's no other way to put it,» Judge said the morning of the Yankees' regular-season finale. «Ever since I've been a Yankee, getting drafted in 2013, all that was ever engrained in my head or what we were taught is win in New York.
Be a winner. Championship mindset. It's just always been the way I was raised, even before I got here it was: If you don't win, what's the point?» Judge has been a full-time major leaguer for eight years.