For Yankees captain Aaron Judge, urgency to win is same as ever - ESPN

New York Yankees manager Aaron Boone glanced up at the scoreboard last Wednesday and noticed that Aaron Judge's OPS was approaching 1.100, a number he has topped three of the past four years. The kind of stats that would be astounding for nearly every other major league hitter has become inconceivably routine for Judge.

«It's like, 'How's he doing? Fine,'» Boone said. «It's unbelievable. It really is. So, I do have to catch myself every now and then and just realize how remarkable it is. I really think he's just playing a different game than the rest.»

A week later, Judge carries a 1.047 OPS into Wednesday's series finale at the Baltimore Orioles. He has slugged 16 home runs through 43 games, putting him on pace for 60 homers, just two shy of the American League record he set in 2022. He's squarely in early contention to become just the third player, and the first Yankee, to win three straight MVP awards.

In his decade in the Bronx, the Yankees' captain has checked just about every box possible. The title of best hitter in the world still appears to be Judge's to lose. Three weeks removed from his 34th birthday, only a World Series title is left to cement his place among the franchise's all-time greats. Only so many chances remain. But the urgency to accomplish that elusive goal, Judge said, has not fluctuated.

«The urgency's been the same since I stepped on the field,» Judge told ESPN. «So, that won't change with me if I'm 42 or if I'm 21.»

Urgency has been the external buzzword around the 2026 Yankees — initially for a perceived lack of it during the offseason and now for a presumed uptick since Opening Day.

A flurry of in-season moves at the trade deadline last summer was followed by a relatively quiet winter that