The American League East is going to be an amazing 162-game show, and there’s no doubt who the top attraction is. It remains the one and only Aaron Judge, the best hitter in the game, and very likely the most clutch, too.
Judge did it again Tuesday night at Yankee Stadium, sparking the biggest win of the season against the impressive upstart Orioles while re-establishing the slow-starting Yankees as a threat by helping cut the lead in baseball’s best division to five games — exactly half of where it once stood behind the first-place Rays. With one swing — the biggest of the season so far — Judge saved the Yankees from a disheartening loss, and also saved a couple teammates, and possibly manager Aaron Boone, as well (more on that later) from some moments of deep regret.
Judge spared good friend and Yankees ace Gerrit Cole from his first loss of the season in his first truly rough outing and also Boone at least from having to spend too much time explaining the most inexplicable play of the season to date — a bunt by DJ LeMahieu that surprised everyone but the Orioles (among the surprised was base-runner Gleyber Torres, who was easily tagged out at home on the misguided strategy.)
Judge is that guy who can overcome a multitude of flaws and foibles, and he did it again with his game-tying, ninth-inning, no-doubt home run. Never mind that he was facing the second most unhittable pitcher of this season so far, Orioles Closer Felix Bautista (only Orioles setup man Yennier Cano is more unhittable). And never mind that Judge was down 0-and-2 in the count.
“That’s not good-looking odds there,” Boone said later.
Unless of course it’s Judge. And we’ve all come to expect the improbable.
“He’s the best player in the world,” rookie Anthony Volpe told YES reporter Meredith Marakovits and the Yankee Stadium crowd in an on-field interview after Volpe’s sacrifice fly in the 10th inning secured the 6-5 victory for the Yankees.
One inning earlier, Judge rocketed that pitch, a split-fingered fastball that cut the plate in half, well into the left-field stands to tie a game the Yankees should have tied an inning earlier if not for that crazy bunt try.
The Bronx Bunters they are not.
With a chance to tie the red-hot, rival Orioles, the Yankees showed either a lapse in logic or a lack of confidence when two-time batting champion LeMahieu tried to bunt home relatively slow-footed Torres from third base with one out. LeMahieu made a so-so bunt, Torres got an ultra-slow break toward home and was out at home by 20 feet.
“He probably felt like he could get it by the pitcher,” Boone said about LeMahieu. “I didn’t have a problem with it.”
Boone then threw a monkey wrench into the line of questioning by declining to say whether the bad bunt idea was his or LeMahieu’s (if it was his idea, we should assume he didn’t have a problem with it!). Since it came after a bunt attempt earlier in the at-bat that he fouled off, it was a doubly bad idea by one or the other. LeMahieu is the Yankees’ cleanup hitter for a reason.
The Stadium crowd understood the foolishness of the play, and it booed following the inning. If anything, it showed at least a brief lack of faith that he could hit Cano, which shouldn’t be the Yankees’ way. Beyond just being the Yankees, they’d already garnered two hits off Cano in the inning, setting up the opportunity.
The game and series represents an opportunity for the defending division champion Yankees. The Orioles have taken flight, rising quickly from perennial patsy to powerhouse.
The American League East, always tough, is certifiably ridiculous this season. All five teams possess winning records, and the third-place Yankees are looking up at the teams with the two best records in baseball — the Rays and these shockingly tough Orioles.
The East is a beast, maybe even moreso than ever.
“You better bring your lunch box every day, and you better be ready to put on your hard hat,” Anthony Rizzo said. “There’s no easy days, that’s for sure.”
The biggest break the Yankees got this winter — beyond Judge loving his time here and deciding to remain a lifetime Yankee — was the schedule being made more balanced. Because frankly, the divisions are more unbalanced than ever. The Jays, in last in the AL East, would be near the top in both Central Divisions.
The Rays, with a rather robust $127 million payroll for competitive balance purposes, at least compared to the Orioles’ $82.7 million, easily have outplayed everyone. But those Orioles somehow lurk, just three games out of first, thanks to a young, balanced offense, unusual cohesiveness and a shutdown bullpen back end featuring the unhittable duo of Cano and Bautista.
“They’re legit,” Boone said. “They’re a force to be reckoned with.”
The Yankees might wind up being an even bigger force, too, thanks largely to the great Judge.
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