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Throughout the 2022 season, fans of the New York Yankees could find little to complain about when it came to their team's offensive performances indicators.
The 99-win 2022 squad belted an MLB-best 254 home runs, an AL-best 794 RBIs, and their star outfielder, Aaron Judge, broke the single-season home run record after clobbering 62 long ones.
Although the season came to an end by virtue of an ALCS sweep by the Houston Astros, many believed that the Yankees' offense would sustain them for years to come. Now, however, it is looking like the team is missing out on the magic potion from drove their success last time around.
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Following the team's 3-2 loss to the Boston Red Sox on June 11, the Yankees are 2-4 since captain Aaron Judge hit the IL with a toe injury on June 5. While Judge's absence has been used as an excuse by team apologists, one Yankees fan recently took to Twitter to espouse ideas that the problem with the team is bigger than Judge.
"The Yankees losing back-to-back series to the White Sox and Red Sox is horrible. Can’t even play the Aaron Judge IL card because they lost a lead late in each individual series.
"Anthony Rizzo and Giancarlo Stanton slumping at the same time has hurt them a ton. With Judge out, those two are going to be key. Hopefully they snap out of it sooner rather than later. Other vets on this team are straight up feeble so they have to step up where others just can’t." - Joe Randazzo
In his post, well-known New York Yankees critic Joe Randazzo called on other hitters like Giancarlo Stanton and Anthony Rizzo to do more to pick up the slack left by the captain. Over their past seven, Stanton and Rizzo have been awful, hitting just .143 and .038 respectively. Randazzo's followers seemed to agree with him.
Randazzo pointed to the games in the recent series with the Red Sox, as well as their three-game set against the Chicago White Sox during the previous week. With all three losses coming by virtue of a late run allowed, Randazzo wondered if Aaron Judge's absenteeism is to blame for the New York Yankees' ills.
However, despite having the fourth best ERA in the month of June, the New York Yankees have little to show for it. As a team, the New York Yankees have only managed to hit .181 since the beginning of June, ranking them 28th out of 30 teams in the category. Would-be stars like DJ LeMathieu and Anthony Volpe have also struggled to hit the .180 marker during that time.
New York Yankees offense needs to be more than Aaron Judge
Having a player like Judge on your offensive corps can render a team lazy. In Judge's unavailability, the team has an opportunity to prove that it can score runs and contend, now 9.5 games behind the Tampa Bay Rays in the AL East, they just have yet been able to demonstrate as much.
