Sometimes I have to remind myself that the baseball season is a 162 game grind. Fans and players alike use the word “grind” for good reason, because the game does in fact grind you down. Over the course of those 162 games, even the best teams are bound to hit a rough patch somewhere. The vaunted 1998 Yankees won a franchise record 114 games, and even they couldn’t prevent a dip in form during the season.
This version of the Yankees, the 2025 Yankees, are being carried by reigning American League MVP, Aaron Judge, who is having a historic season. He’s leading the AL in pretty much every statistical category that matters for hitters. The 33-year-old is already the overwhelming favorite to win his third career AL MVP, and the season isn’t even at the halfway point yet.
In the last week, Judge has 1 home run, 1 RBI, and is batting just .083, with an OPS of .362. That’s good for 2 hits in 24 at bats. In that same timeframe, the Yankees have lost 6 straight, and have scored just 7 runs. Yes, you read that correctly. 7 runs scored in a week. For a team that has averaged over 5 runs per game for the season, this stretch has been brutal.
The Yankees go as Aaron Judge goes. It’s obvious. The rest of the team is good, but not good enough to compensate for this drop off in performance. Let’s look at some of their key contributors, besides Judge, over this past week:
Paul Goldschmidt - 3 for 23
Anthony Volpe - 3 for 26
Cody Bellinger - 4 for 24
Austin Wells - 1 for 14
Jazz Chisholm - 5 for 17
DJ LeMahieu - 1 for 14
Ben Rice - 2 for 18
Yikes. Aside from Jazz Chisholm, the Yankees just aren’t hitting. Honestly, it’s not a huge shock, because a reversion to the mean was bound to occur. They were hitting far above expectations for the first two months of the season, and June has brought them back down to earth.
If you look at how they’re pitching, it’s a totally different picture. In this past week, the Yankees pitchers have a 1.70 ERA and just 3 home runs allowed. They’ve been great, so they’re not the problem.
I think this is going to be looked at as a blip on the radar, and nothing more than that. I dont believe the Yankees are heading towards mediocrity here. Judge will break out of this mini-slump, and the rest of the lineup will, too. As the old saying goes, hitting in baseball is contagious. They have a chance to right the ship today, against the Angels, at 1:00pm.