What makes the Yankees more than just Aaron Judge and a bunch of scrubs

SEATTLE, WASHINGTON - MARCH 31: Aaron Judge #99 of the New York Yankees reacts after a strike during the sixth inning against the Seattle Mariners at T-Mobile Park on March 31, 2026 in Seattle, Washington. (Photo by Steph Chambers/Getty Images) | Getty Images The Yankees’ road to the postseason is clear. They either get a full, healthy, good season from Aaron Judge, in which case they should skate in, or they don’t, in which case things get a lot darker.

It isn’t just local radio hosts saying that the Yankees are relying heavily on Judge; in his writeup of the Yankees’ 2026 ZiPS projections, FanGraphs’ Dan Szymborski also claimed, “The offense, of course, starts, ends, and runs through Aaron Judge. ” This isn’t to say that the Yankees aren’t a good team as currently constructed—they are—but it is concerning that so much of their hopes are tied to just a single player. Well, leave it to baseball to make prognosticators look like fools.

The Yankees received very little contributions from Judge in the first six games of the season, with the gargantuan slugger only able to muster a . 125/. 160/.

375 slash line across 25 plate appearances. And yet, they ended the first road trip of the year with a 5-1 record. So much for “As Judge goes, so do the Yanks.