NEW YORK — Aaron Judge approached the on-deck circle in front of the first-base dugout with two outs in the bottom of the seventh inning in Game 4 of the American League Division Series at Yankee Stadium. Actually, he moved a bit closer to the field.
There he was, the Yankees’ hulking 6-foot-7 slugger, not near the branded ALDS covering of the on-deck circle, but rather with the toes of his right foot inching well onto the grass in foul territory, eagerly awaiting his turn to hit. Trailing by three, New York had runners on first and second with Trent Grisham stepping to the plate to face Toronto left-hander Brendon Little.
Judge lurked not far behind the left-handed-hitting Grisham, who simply needed to find a way on base so he could pass the baton to New York’s captain. Nearly 24 hours after the biggest postseason moment of Judge’s career — a game-tying three-run homer off the left-field foul pole that sparked a comeback win to save the Yanks’ season — he was itching to possibly do it again.
However, there would be no repeat heroics.
Grisham popped out on a nice play by Blue Jays shortstop Andrés Giménez in foul territory down the left-field line. Judge retreated to the dugout as the seventh inning ended. And the Yankees went on to take a 5-2 loss and were eliminated from the postseason by AL East rival Toronto, which won the ALDS in four games to reach the AL Championship Series for the first time since 2016.
If Judge had gotten to the plate in the seventh — whether that was with the bases loaded and a 4-1 deficit, or with a smaller margin and runners still on base — perhaps New York’s fate could have been different.
Instead, the Yankees, who haven’t won a World Series championship since 2009, came up short in October again. A year after losing to the Dodgers in the Fall Classic, the Bronx Bombers didn’t make it nearly as far this time.
“That’s what you play for, you play to win,” Judge said, “and when you don’t win, it’s not a good year.”
Through 10 MLB seasons, the 33-year-old Judge has racked up an impressive list of accolades.
However, Judge has never been a World Series champion, never getting to lift the Commissioner’s Trophy in celebration while surrounded by his pinstriped teammates, despite being among MLB’s biggest stars for the past decade.
“That’s sports. It doesn’t mean it’s not going to happen, and he and I wholeheartedly believe that it will,” manager Aaron Boone said. “You keep working your tail off to get back to this position and punch through.”
As Judge spoke to reporters at length following another disappointing conclusion to what felt like a promising postseason, he never once uttered words to make it seem like he was sorry for himself. Rather, he issued apologies to nearly everybody else.
“It just sucks for the guys that this might be their last time wearing pinstripes, they’re not getting a chance to have a long run with them and end it in a championship,” Judge said. “Especially to the fans all year that have been showing up, supporting us, even these postseason games. Even when we get down, they stayed right in their seats cheering us on.
“So it’s just disappointing we let all those guys down.”
Judge is the face of the Yankees’ franchise. But he also doesn’t view himself that way, nor does it matter to him how he performs as an individual if his team isn’t having success.
“This is a team game, so we didn’t win as a team,” Judge said. “You lose as a team, you win as a team. There’s definitely more I can do, and I’m going to figure it out and get back to work.”
It’s hard to imagine how Judge could do much more than he did in 2025.
In the regular season, Judge had another spectacular showing by leading the AL in WAR per Baseball Reference (9.7), runs (137), walks (124), batting average (.331), on-base percentage (.457), slugging percentage (.688), OPS (1.145), OPS+ (215) and total bases (372) while earning an AL-record 36 intentional walks. And, oh yeah, he swatted another 53 homers to boost his career total to 368.
Then, Judge put together the best postseason performance of his life, batting .500 (13-for-26) with seven RBIs and a 1.273 OPS over seven playoff contests.
“It’s almost like we take it for granted because he only hit 50-something homers and not 60,” veteran first baseman Paul Goldschmidt added. “He’s the best that I’ve ever been around. He’s also just the greatest teammate I’ve been around, the best leader, cares about this organization and the fans and the people of New York. He cares about the people in this locker room.
“I know it’s all cliché, but it’s the truth.”
It’s also why all of Judge’s teammates feel especially bad they couldn’t finish the job again.
“You want to win it for him,” outfielder Cody Bellinger said, “of course.”
But Judge and his Yankees will again have to wait to get another crack at ending the organization’s championship drought.
“I want to get back out there right now,” Judge said. “But ultimately, we didn’t finish a job, and that’s what it comes down to.”
