Yankees' Aaron Judge Juan Soto pens various playoff narratives

Aaron Judge is the only man in the pinstripe suit who has a chance of breaking into the Yankees pantheon that includes Babe Ruth, Mickey Mantle, Joe DiMaggio, Lou Gehrig and Yogi Berra.

With all due respect, Derek Jeter couldn't quite crash the exclusive party and was just one of the lynchpins of five World Series championships in his 19-plus seasons in the Bronx.

It doesn't matter how many career hits No. 2 collected, although the final tally was 3,465, the most in franchise history and the sixth-most in major league history.

Without all the bells and whistles it wouldn't have meant much in this area.

The first sentence of Judge's hagiography refers to his American League home run record of 62 in 2022 and his 58-homer season in 2024, as well as countless acts of regular-season dominance that awaited this unique 32-year-old, who seems to manage it better depending on the season.

But there are no moments that compare to Jeter's home run at Shea Stadium in Game 4 of the 2000 Subway Series. There is no moment that compares to Jeter's game-winning home run off Byung Hyun Kim in the fourth inning of the 2001 series against Arizona.

If there are any postseason moments for Judge, they are few and far between. A drop in the ocean. He is the greatest natural offensive force in the game, perhaps since Mantle's heyday over six decades ago. No. 99's BWAR of 11.7 this season has only been bettered five times by Ruth and once by the struggling Barry Bonds.

But the ring representation remains poor and one of the reasons, at least in 2022, when the Yankees were swept by the Astros in the ALCS was that Judge went 1-for-22 with four strikeouts against Houston.

Overall, Judge hit .206/.307/.451 with a .758 OPS and 13 home runs and 25 RBI in 45 games in seven postseason series. In 18 games this decade, the stats resemble an optical illusion: The game's preeminent hitter batted .135/.207/.338 with a .545 OPS, five home runs and eight RBI while recording 28 hits in 82 plate appearances.

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That includes Saturday night's 6-5 win in Game 1 of the Division Series at the Stadium against the Royals, in which Judge went 0-for-4 with three strikeouts, a walk and a run scored. He struck out in the first inning with runners on second and third and no one out in a scoreless game. He struck out in the fifth inning when the men were playing in the first and second innings and once when his team was down 5-4. Then he struck again in the eighth round without anyone there and his team was ahead 6:5.

By the way, his running catch in the first inning at the warning strip in left-center off the bat of Bobby Witt Jr. might have saved a run or two. Moments can also be created in the field. Mantle saved Don Larsen's perfect game in 1956 against Brooklyn.

Of course, the Yankees won the game and the series.

The Forever Yankee was unable to produce a Forever Swing of the Bat in the postseason. He did not repeat Mantle's game-winning ninth-inning home run against the Cardinals' Barney Schultz in Game 3 of the 1964 Series, which broke the tie with the Babes for most home runs in what was then known as the Fall Classic.

It's a small sample size, of course, and #99 can change the narrative at any time. But I always remember that in every Ted Williams retrospective, his 5-for-25 failure (five singles) in his only World Series – a seven-game loss to the Cardinals in 1946 – was always front and center.

The man positioned to Judge's left and one spot above him in the batting order offers a different story.

At this point, Juan Soto is a transient Yankee who has used this run year to polish his credentials before hitting the market and seeking (and likely receiving) the most lucrative contract in baseball history. More than the nine-year, $360 million contract Judge signed as a free agent two winters ago. Much more.

The soon-to-be 26-year-old right fielder could become a Forever Yankee if CEO Hal Steinbrenner extends the highest offer to this committed, charismatic Scott Boras client.

But even if he's only here for this season, he would become a Forever Yankee if he creates Forever Moments that lead to the series title, regardless of where he escapes to after the deed is done. (Even Queens? Maybe not Queens.)

Soto has a summary of meeting the postseason moment. He went 9-of-27 with three home runs and seven RBI for the Nationals in their seven-game World Series victory over Houston in 2019. He went .276/.359/. .509 in Game 2, an .867 OPS and seven home runs and 21 RBI in 30 games after going 3-for-5 with a double in Game 1.

Forever Moments are always a beat away.

For the Forever Yankee and the Transient Yankee alike.