KANSAS CITY, Mo. — And on the 68th game, Aaron Judge rested.
For the first time all season, the sizzling Yankees captain was out of the starting lineup as his team won their series opener with the Royals 4-2 at Kauffman Stadium.
Trent Grisham made the start in center field and Jahmai Jones in right on a night Juan Soto served as DH.
Aaron Boone cited a late arrival — the team flight having landed at about 3 a.m. — as well as the rigors of a long season prompting the manager to finally sit the superstar.
“Having played every day, you get to this time of year a little bit beat up, too,” Boone said of Judge. “This [game] is one I kind of had marked down.”
If it felt as if Boone was benching a god, well, there’s reason for that.
No one in baseball this season, including standouts whom Judge shared a field with this weekend from Shohei Ohtani to Mookie Betts to Freddie Freeman to even Soto, has risen to the level to which Judge has ascended recently.
But Judge is not just outpacing many of this year’s best sluggers: He might be outdoing himself from two seasons ago.
The first two-plus months of Judge’s season have been statistically stronger than the first two-plus months of Judge’s 62-homer 2022.
“It feels like it’s 2022 again,” said Nestor Cortes, who has watched both seasons up close.
Entering play Monday, Judge had played in all 67 games and owned a better OPS (1.139, up from 1.026 at this stage in 2022), batting average (.305, up from .301) and RBI count (59, up from 50) than his record-setting season.
Through the Yankees’ first 67 games two years ago, Judge played in 65 and did manage one more home run (25) than he entered play Monday with (24). Only Judge can boast a 58-homer pace that is a bit shy of his personal best.
“I would say it kind of looks the same,” Cortes said of 2022 and 2024 Judge. “It feels like every at-bat we’re expecting a home run now, like it was in 2022.”
And at least on the periphery, the Triple Crown is in play. Judge entered play leading the majors in homers, was second (to Cleveland’s Jose Ramirez) in RBIs and was fourth in the AL in batting average, a stat led by series opponent Bobby Witt Jr. (.320).
For a second time in his career, Judge might be better compared against ghosts of the past than his contemporaries. Except this time around, the 32-year-old is going head-to-head with the 30-year-old version of himself.
Everything is impressive about Judge’s numbers, but the manner in which he has vaulted himself again in the discussions of the best players in baseball — going from chilly to scalding hot in a blink — especially stands out.
It was only a little over a month ago that there was great wonder about what had happened to him. Judge was hitting .197 with six homers and a .725 OPS through his first 33 games, a span in which Soto took the reins and led the offense. Maybe it was an injury-shortened spring training; maybe Judge was the victim of inordinate bad luck; maybe Judge simply had not found his stroke yet.
Regardless of the reasoning, the following roughly five weeks has been remarkable.
In 34 games since May 3, Judge had posted an inhuman 1.566 OPS with 18 home runs and .540 on-base percentage. In the past week, Judge entered play hitting .500 (10-for-20) with three homers, 12 RBIs, a 1.200 slugging percentage and .630 OBP in six games, which added up to a nod for AL Player of the Week.
“Obviously he’s playing out of this world,” Boone said. “I never like him out of the lineup, of course. … But I feel like he needs a day.”
Judge, at 32, is again flirting with the type of history he made at 30.
He has to slow down at some point, right?
“He takes good care of his body and prepares very well,” Cortes said. “I don’t think he’s going to downgrade from what he’s doing for a while.
“What he’s doing is impressive and hard to sustain. But if there’s a guy who can do it, it’s him.”
