With Or Without Aaron Judge, The Battle-Tested Yankees Can Beat The Top-Seeded Rays

YANKEE STADIUM (New York) – After the Yankees eliminated the Red Sox on Wednesday, Aaron Judge held court in the center of a wet and sticky Yankees clubhouse. He gave earnest answers about his injury progress, all while his teammates lifted his collar and poured champagne and beer down his shirt.

Catcher Austin Wells, third baseman Ryan McMahon and outfielder Trent Grisham stood off to the side of the room, their feet submerged in a puddle of unidentified brown alcohol, and took a selfie.

Infielder Jose Caballero lurked behind media scrums and threatened to remove his thumb from the top of a red aluminum Budweiser bottle he’d already primed, ready to blast it on an unsuspecting teammate.

At one point, the white plastic sheet that was hung up around the perimeter of the clubhouse to protect lockers from becoming soiled with beer began to fall off. Within seconds, the sheet was drilled back onto the walls, the sound of the machine resembling a quick succession of backyard fireworks. 

The smell of musty beer seeped out of the Yankees clubhouse and into the tunnel, where parents of players formed a crowd and patiently waited for their sons to finish celebrating. It was nearing midnight.

By most accounts, this was a subdued celebration by the Yankees. And yet, the relief in the room was palpable. It was the culmination of weeks and months of grit and resilience, a real celebration of how hard the Yankees worked to rise above their season-long challenges and win, convincingly, the first round of their playoff odyssey. 

The Yankees disposed of the Red Sox after a 9-2 win on a jubilant Wednesday night in the Bronx. New York advanced to the American League Division Series, where the division-rival Tampa Bay Rays await on Saturday. 

The Rays were the best team in the AL this year. The Yankees were the most battle-tested.

During the regular season, New York was faced with the prospect of winning without Judge as early as May. That was on top of Giancarlo Stanton missing nearly the entire season with calf strains. 

Later in the summer, Cody Bellinger missed a month with a hamstring strain. Left-handed starters Max Fried, Carlos Rodon and Ryan Weathers, infielder Jazz Chisholm, Grisham, Wells and McMahon all spent time on the injured list. The Yankees sustained enough injuries to break any team. 

And yet, every time, they rose above it. 

"We're never out of any ballgame," Judge told me recently at Yankee Stadium. "We were missing Stanton, missing Belli for a while, missing me, kind of the heart of the order. We played in certain games where we were down a couple runs, the team rallied, and suddenly we're up, right back in the game.

"Just the no-quit attitude, that was the coolest thing I saw this season. That's postseason baseball, and we’ve been doing it all year."

On Tuesday in the Bronx ahead of Game 1 against Boston, Judge didn’t join his teammates for pregame introductions before the Yankees defeated the Red Sox in a 9-0 laugher. Yankees manager Aaron Boone said the captain was getting treatment on his strained calf while the team took the field. 

At the time, everyone wondered whether the Bombers would be cooked without him. They weren’t, of course, outscoring Boston 18-2 in a two-game wild-card sweep. These weren’t scrappy, lucky wins; they were dominant ones. 

Beginning on Saturday at Tropicana Field, the Yankees face their toughest challenge of the season yet. Again, they might be without their best player against a Rays team that never faded and is hardly showing any flaws. What’s more, Tampa Bay went 55-26 at home this season, far and away the best home winning percentage (.679) in the major leagues. 

But here’s why the Yankees don’t need to worry: They’ve been learning to live without Judge all year. 

"The adversity has been crazy," Yankees ace Cam Schlittler told me after Game 2 against Boston. "We've had a lot to deal with. A lot of guys out. We still got the best player in baseball out right now. We're playing really good baseball. Everyone's been able to contribute. I'm really happy with where we're at as a team, and we just have to take that into Tampa."

Judge was limited to just 66 games this season after nursing a fractured rib and a strained calf. Throughout his season-long absence, the Yankees stopped waiting for one man to carry the offense. They became a gritty, battle-tested unit that never counted themselves out, knowing it would take their elite starting rotation, solid lineup, plus their bench and role players to scratch and claw their way to wins. 

The combination of Schlittler, Fried, Gerrit Cole, Rodon and Weathers helped the Yankees finish the season with the top starting pitching ERA (3.30) in the majors. It’s a ridiculous starting staff that can beat anyone in a short series, and pitching is the main reason the Yankees should not feel threatened by the Rays. 

Then, there are the weapons on offense.

First baseman Ben Rice stepped up and had an MVP-caliber year, slugging 41 home runs in the regular season, tied for sixth-most in MLB. Trade-deadline pickup Luis Garcia Jr. had his share of key moments since joining the Yankees in August, none louder than his solo shot off Sonny Gray that put the Yankees on the board in Wednesday’s win. 

A pair of rookies – infielder George Lombard Jr. and outfielder Spencer Jones – have added a youthful hunger to a solid roster mix of veterans and key players in their prime.

"We're resilient. That's what this season has been built upon," Rice told me. "We've had some tough moments, some tough stretches, and some hops not going our way. But we gotta stay with it."

At no point was this year easy for New York. When Judge returned from his fractured rib in early September, there was legitimate belief the Yankees could catch the Rays and take the division. 

Instead, Judge played just seven games before landing on the injured list again, this time with a calf strain. Quickly, the Yankees' division-title hopes faded, replaced by the pressure of a wild-card berth against their division rivals.

Everything was set up for the Yankees to collapse. Instead, they responded. 

"We were faced with the reality of some of those challenges early," Cole told me. "It gave people opportunities that otherwise maybe wouldn't have, and they've taken advantage of them. As a group, we made it a point to not have a drop-off in the type of play, and always pursue the best versions of ourselves and the cleanest brand of baseball that we can play, regardless of who we have on the field."

The job’s not done. Beating an 87-win Boston team is not the same as beating the 98-win, well-rounded Rays. Tampa Bay consistently picked up key victories when it needed them and held the Yankees at bay throughout the stretch run. It will be daunting for New York to play on the artificial turf at Tropicana Field; the Yankees went 2-7 there this season. 

Even so, the Yankees have built the right habits to beat anyone. They don’t need to be the best team on paper. They need to win a short series, and that has always been more about excellent pitching, timely hitting, confidence and nerve. Of course, all the extra depth on their bench helps, too. 

"This team has been resilient, I feel like, developed a really nice grit to them," Boone said. "We've been through a lot this season – not just Aaron, but a number of different challenges we've faced, injuries we've faced. And these guys have never wavered and found ways to win a lot of games. And that's a credit to who they are and the makeup of the team."

In the meantime, Judge is doing everything he can to convince the Yankees that he’s ready to play and be included on the ALDS roster. As of now, his status remains unclear. 

But that’s pure upside for these plucky Yankees. If Judge returns, the Yankees add a generational hitter to a team that already knows how to win. If he doesn’t, they’ve shown they can still win without him. Plus, it will likely take some time for Judge to get his feet wet, get his timing right, and find his groove. 

That’s why the Yankees’ next-man-up mentality is crucial. Their World Series dreams don’t hinge on Judge. Whether or not No. 99 is standing on the line for introductions on Saturday, the team around him has earned the right to be taken seriously. 

The Yankees won big when they were supposed to be diminished. If, in the end, they’re hoisting a championship trophy for the first time in 17 years, it will be a credit to their unwavering refusal to quit and an elite starting rotation that is the envy of the world.