Aaron Judge and the New York Yankees put on a show in San Francisco last weekend. Instead of Judge following in the shadow of Barry Bonds, he re-upped with the Yankees. That didn’t make Judge a fan favorite in the Bay area, especially after San Francisco radio host Matthew Steinmetz had harsh words for Judge, via Steiny & Guru. It was a preposterous take to make altogether but it didn’t stop Judge or the Yankees from doing more damage on the road, sweeping the Giants and finishing their West Coast trip with a 7-2 record. After winning their series win against the Minnesota Twins, the Yankees have the best record in baseball. That, and the Judge-led Yankees are breaking records and making franchise history at the same time. Judge has unfinished business in New York as he continues to cement his legacy as one of the greats in the storied franchise.
But he’s not alone, his Yankee teammates are right behind him, marching forward and breaking records each day. Let’s list them.
The Yankees Keep on Marching
Judge has had a stupendous month of May. He hit 12 doubles that gave him 26 extra-base hits and surpassed Jorge Posada for eighth place on the Yankees’ all-time home run list. The 26 extra-base hits in May are also the most by a Yankee since Joe DiMaggio had 31 in July 1937. His 1.145 OPS is the best regular season month ever, surpassing 1.356 in May 2023, 1.352 in September/October 2017 and 1.323 in September/October 2022.
The Yankees had three players with 15-plus home runs after 61 games for the first time in franchise history. Judge (21), Soto (17) and Giancarlo Stanton (15) are responsible for that. It’s the first time since 1961 that the Yankees have hit seven-plus triples and ten-plus home runs in a seven-game span.
Here’s a particularly crazy historical stat, per Jon Heyman of the New York Post, Judge and Soto’s combined 20 is the highest by any duo since records began for 162-game regular seasons. One other notable part of the Yankees is Soto, who’s been an offensive machine. He has no weaknesses and takes every pitch personally. If a pitcher dares to throw a pitch by him, they can guarantee the next one is going high into the night somewhere. Case in point, his jaw-dropping game-winning two-run moon shot in the ninth inning against the Giants, that almost landed in the Bay. He’s officially reached the priceless stage in his contract talks this offseason.
Luis Gil is the King of the Hill
Luis Gil has been sensational replacing the injured Gerrit Cole in the starting rotation. The Yankees rookie is doing incredible work on the mound with one of the greatest pitching months in franchise history. Gil’s 0.70 ERA is the seventh-lowest ERA by a Yankees pitcher in a calendar month. He went 6-0 with 44 strikeouts in six starts and he has an American League-leading 1.82 ERA and 85:34 K:BB in 12 starts. If he can continue to pitch at this level, he could be in line to be an All-Star for the first time in his career. He’s been fantastic and everything the Yankees had hoped for.
Once Cole returns, the Yankees rotation will look as an intimidating rotation as the offense.
More Franchise History Benchmarks Set
The Yankees rotation set a major league record for 16 consecutive starts of five-inning starts with two runs or less. It starts with the supporting cast of Marcus Stroman and Carlos Rodón. The latter picked up his sixth consecutive win on Wednesday, notching a quality start in each of those victories. The left-hander also dominated with 18 swinging strikes en route to a season-high nine strikeouts. All of that shows Rodón has bounced back nicely from a disastrous first year in New York to post a 3.08 ERA through 73 innings. Ahead of Thursday’s start, Stroman has pitched into the eighth inning in two of his last four starts, allowing three runs over 26 2/3 innings in that span with a 15:7 K:BB.
Anthony Volpe has been on fire this year as he’s providing a boost for the Yankees as the leadoff hitter. Volpe’s 21-game hitting streak was one hit shy of tying DiMaggio for the longest hit streak in team history. He had a 22-game hitting streak at the 22 in 1937. His six triples tie him with Bobby Witt Jr. for second in the majors. Volpe’s current 31-game on-base streak, along with teammate Judge, is the first time teammates had an active streak of 30-plus games since Andruw Jones and Rafael Furcal in 2003 with the Atlanta Braves.
These Yankees continue to cause damage thanks to their recent franchise and league records. At 44-19, their win pace has them breaking their franchise record of 103 wins in 1998. It promises to be a fun summer for New York.
Main Photo: © Vincent Carchietta-USA TODAY Sports
