Will Aaron Judge's return help save the Yankees' season? - ESPN

The 2023 New York Yankees are a mystery, even to some of those who helped construct this team. «Have you seen anything like this?» said one staffer over the phone, in what sounded like a small plea for therapy. «Does this make any sense to you?»

You look at the roster and its players' career statistics and sure, it is a puzzle. Anthony Rizzo is approaching his 300th career homer; over the last 38 games, he's got a slugging percentage of .239. Less than three years ago, DJ LeMahieu won a batting title with a .364 average; now he's hitting more than 130 points lower than that. Since June 3, the date that Aaron Judge got hurt, the only team that has scored fewer runs than the Yankees — the Bronx Bombers! — is the Kansas City Royals, and no team has a lower batting average than the Yankees' .220. Their left fielders are collectively batting .227 — and somehow have been significantly better offensively than defensively.

Earlier this season, when the Yankees played in Boston, manager Aaron Boone used a question about the impact of Judge's injury to attack the «narrative» — his word — that the Yankees are a sterile team without the slugger.

Judge is finally returning to the lineup for a crucial series in Baltimore, and now Boone and the staffers have to hope that the narrative was real — that the Yankees are a different team when Judge is present in the batting order (he went 0-1 with three walks in the Yankees' 1-0 loss on Friday). There is sincere belief within the organization that this team could be well-suited to make a deep run through the postseason — if they make it there. As of today, with the trade deadline only a few days away, the Yankees wouldn't even qualify to play October games. After the Yankees were swept in