Gerrit Cole salutes Aaron Judge’s leadership despite Yankees’ difficult finish

In a lot of ways, Aaron Judge and the New York Yankees experienced a season of highs and lows in 2024. The group led by Judge and Gerrit Cole won the American League Championship Series after 15 years, but, when it mattered the most, in the World Series against the LA Dodgers, they fell short.

Judge and Cole made expensive blunders in the decisive Game 5 at the Yankee Stadium. Trailing 3-1 in the series, the Yankees couldn't afford to make any mistakes, but they did. Judge dropped a simple catch in center field, while Cole missed covering the bag at first, which started the Dodgers' offensive juggernaut, eventually winning the game 7-6.

Despite the outcome, the Yankees ace shared his admiration for the leader in Judge.

"Aaron was a huge part of that, even though he had a tough year that season," Cole said (25:00 onwards). "I mean, he's just such a great leader in that regard. He's there every day, pouring into everybody all the time."

---

Aaron Judge shares how he handled World Series loss

The first reaction that came out from the Yankees captain will remain etched in the memories of fans in the Bronx.

"I think falling short in the World Series will stay with me until I die," Judge said after losing against the Dodgers.

Even the best of them can feel lost after a disappointment like that especially when you are the face of the team and couldn't live up to expectations.

Coming into the spring training this year, Aaron Judge shared how he handled the loss.

"You flip it pretty quick," he said. "Even during the regular season, bad games, bad moments, you’ve got to move on and go to the next one. So just like anything, you lose out on a World Series, you gotta learn from it, learn what you can and move on to the next thing."

Going into the 2025 season, Aaron Judge lost Juan Soto, who joined the New York Mets, but saw the addition of two familiar faces, Cody Bellinger and Paul Goldschmidt. The Yankees will look to roll back the dice and end their World Series drought since 2009.