The Yankees without Aaron Judge showed why this might be their best chance to win with him

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As the New York Yankees’ young ace Cam Schlittler mowed down Boston Red Sox batters in a way that felt not only effective but deliciously vindictive, chants of “M-V-P!” rained down from the Bronx crowd.

There was a tinge of hometown bias to the honorific, but not enough to call it hyperbole. It was also a key sign of what’s different about these Bronx Bombers from past seasons.

Schlittler, the New England native now pitching in enemy territory, will almost certainly win the American League Cy Young award for his sub-2.00 ERA in his first full season. Playoff appearances don’t factor into awards voting, but Game 1 of the American League Wild Card Series was more than worthy. Schlittler is at his best in a big moment – especially if there’s the chance to piss off a bunch of his former fellow Bostonians. And so he did that and the fans declared him the most valuable in return.

“I mean, we already got an MVP in this locker room. He’s won three of them,” Schlittler demurred when asked about the cheers after the Yankees’ first victory of the series.

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A dutiful deference to the captain. Even sidelined with a calf injury, Aaron Judge loomed large as the Yankees embarked on the run that they hope ends in a 28th World Series title. His absence from the introductions became a source of speculation on social media. Any incremental update to his status was fodder for pre-game questions even with a playoff series on the line.

The hyper focus is merited. Judge is arguably the greatest power hitter the game has ever seen. He has those three MVP awards Schlittler mentioned. The first was won the same year Schlittler was drafted out of Boston’s Northeastern College (Judge was Rookie of the Year while Schlittler was still rooting for the Red Sox in high school in Weymouth, Massachusetts) and the third was won just last season. This year, the Yankees had the best offense in the AL before Judge was placed on the injured list with a rib fracture at the end of May; they were bottom three the remainder of the season largely without him.

“If he were in there this whole season, he’d probably have it,” Schlitter concluded of Judge and the award some fans say he deserves instead.

Perhaps. It’s easy to understand how it might be sacrilege to suggest otherwise within these hallowed halls. The Yankees are an organization of icons, of men who became monuments. And maybe they will still erect a monument to Judge that mentions the 2026 season – but not for what he’s accomplished so far this year. If he has a hero moment on a bigger stage later this month, it will be because the rest of the team didn’t need him to get there.

In a routing, rousing, definitive sweep of the Red Sox in the wild card, the current iteration of the Yankees looked like the best chance the team has had to win it all with Judge. They looked like that because they won without him.

The stats from earlier this season, which suggested it would have probably been a successful – but not quite superlative – year for Judge, matter less than a simple fact: Judge will be 35 next year and he has already been great for nearly a decade. This is not to say that he is washed or his prime wasted. The Yankees have won a lot in the Aaron Judge era. They won because of Judge. In a sport that generally rewards complete, deep teams, Judge looks like someone who could carry a whole club himself and the Yankees’ results supported that supposition.

Except when it matters most.

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The Yankees haven’t won the World Series in 17 years and MLB’s most famous franchise would like you know that, in a sport with 30 teams, their drought has left fans the thirstiest. It’s not because Judge can’t hack it in October – he hit .500 last postseason and the Yankees didn’t make it out of the division series – but it turns out there’s no conversion rate between individual accolades and championship rings.

It’s possible – just possible – that Aaron Judge’s peak years are behind him. He is the venerated veteran in a clubhouse getting younger in a way no individual human ever can.

The Yankees put another 6-foot-7 superman in right field (Spencer Jones), only this one never saw a second of the 20th century, which is maybe why he can turn a strikeout into a six-run rally through sheer hustle.

They have a different power hitter who competes for the home run title and has a six-RBI night to open the postseason (Ben Rice), and this one went from being drafted out of an Ivy League school in the 12th round to leading off for the Bronx Bombers. In Game 2 against Boston, New York had a starting lineup in which every guy got a hit and all but one scored a run. They didn’t need them all because they also have the best starting rotation in the sport.

The further into October they play, the more likely it is that the Yankees will get Judge back, potentially as soon as the division series on Saturday. They routed their longtime nemesis – outscoring the Red Sox 18-2 – and now they’ll face the winner of their division, a modern rival and a study in contrasts, in the Tampa Bay Rays. If Judge is on the roster for that series, it’ll be tempting to say the Yankees survived without him. But they didn’t, they thrived.

“We got a young, hungry team here that’s excited for the postseason,” Judge himself said, sticky with champagne amid the celebration that followed the sweep. “A lot of guys in their first postseason, so they’re excited to put on the show.”

This is still his team. They’re still better off with him healthy and contributing on the field. Any team would be. But Judge understands the effort it takes just to get a team to the stage where heroes are made. This year, the rest of the team had to carry him.

All the more reason to make the most of it.

“I’m going to play this game for a short amount of time and you only get so many opportunities to enjoy this with your friends and throw champagne around a clubhouse and spray people with beer,” he explained about why he kept the goggles propped atop his head even as the booze burned his eyes.

He said it makes him feel young. “Every single time.”

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当纽约洋基队的年轻王牌投手卡姆·施利特勒（Cam Schlittler）以一种不仅有效而且令人愉悦的报复性的方式击败波士顿红袜队的击球手时，布朗克斯的观众席上响起了“MVP！”的欢呼声。

这种尊称中带有一丝家乡情结，但还不足以称之为夸张。这也标志着这支布朗克斯轰炸机队与以往赛季的不同之处。

施利特勒，这位新英格兰人如今在敌对阵营效力，几乎肯定会凭借其首个完整赛季低于2.00的自责分率赢得美联赛扬奖。季后赛出场次数不计入奖项评选，但他在美联外卡系列赛第一场比赛中的表现绝对值得称道。施利特勒在大场面中总能发挥出最佳水平——尤其是在有机会激怒他昔日的波士顿老乡时。而他也确实做到了，球迷们也因此将他评为最有价值的球员。

“我的意思是，我们更衣室里已经有一位最有价值球员了。他已经拿过三次了。”当被问及洋基队在系列赛首胜后球迷的欢呼声时，施利特勒含糊其辞地说道。

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对队长的敬意溢于言表。即便因小腿受伤而缺席，阿隆·贾奇在洋基队冲击队史第28座世界大赛冠军的征程中依然扮演着举足轻重的角色。他缺席赛前介绍环节引发了社交媒体上的诸多猜测。即便是在季后赛的关键时刻，任何关于他伤情的最新消息都会成为赛前讨论的焦点。

这种高度关注是理所应当的。贾奇可以说是棒球史上最伟大的强力击球手。他拥有施利特勒提到的那三座最有价值球员奖杯。第一座奖杯是在施利特勒从波士顿东北学院被选中进入职业棒球大联盟的那一年获得的（当时施利特勒还在马萨诸塞州韦茅斯的高中为红袜队加油，而贾奇已经荣膺年度最佳新秀），第三座奖杯则是在上个赛季获得的。今年，在贾奇五月底因肋骨骨折进入伤病名单之前，洋基队拥有美联最强的进攻火力；但在他缺阵的剩余赛季中，洋基队的进攻火力一直处于联盟倒数第三的位置。

“如果他整个赛季都在场上，他可能早就拿到奖了，”施利特总结道，他指的是贾奇以及一些球迷认为他更应该获得的奖项。

或许吧。很容易理解，在这些神圣的殿堂里，提出相反的观点会被视为亵渎。洋基队是传奇的摇篮，是那些已成为丰碑的人物的殿堂。或许他们最终还是会为贾奇竖立一座纪念碑，上面会提及2026赛季——但绝不会是因为他今年迄今为止的成就。如果他本月晚些时候在更大的舞台上迎来英雄时刻，那也是因为球队其他成员无需他一人之力就能走到这一步。

在外卡赛中，洋基队以一场酣畅淋漓、振奋人心、酣畅淋漓的横扫之战击败红袜队，这支洋基队看起来像是自贾奇执教以来最有希望夺冠的一支队伍。而他们之所以看起来如此，恰恰是因为他们在没有贾奇的情况下赢得了比赛。

本赛季早些时候的统计数据表明，对于贾奇来说，这或许会是一个成功但并非巅峰的赛季，但这并不重要，重要的是一个简单的事实：贾奇明年就35岁了，而且他已经保持了近十年的巅峰状态。这并不是说他已经过气或者浪费了巅峰期。洋基队在贾奇时代赢得了许多荣誉。他们的胜利离不开贾奇。在棒球这项运动中，整体实力和阵容深度往往更受青睐，而贾奇看起来完全有能力凭借一己之力扛起整支球队，洋基队的成绩也印证了这一点。

唯独在最关键的时刻例外。

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洋基队已经17年没赢过世界大赛了，这支MLB最著名的球队想让大家知道，在拥有30支球队的棒球联盟里，他们的冠军荒让球迷们最为渴望胜利。这并非因为贾奇在十月份的季后赛中表现不佳——他上赛季季后赛的打击率达到了.500，但洋基队却止步于分区系列赛——而是因为事实证明，个人荣誉和总冠军戒指之间并没有必然的联系。

亚伦·贾奇的巅峰时期或许已经过去——这仅仅是或许。他是球队里备受尊敬的老将，而他却以一种任何人都无法企及的方式越活越年轻。

洋基队在右外野安排了另一位身高 6 英尺 7 英寸的超人（斯宾塞·琼斯），只不过这位超人从未经历过 20 世纪的任何一个世纪，这或许就是为什么他能凭借顽强拼搏将一次三振变成一次六分的反击。

他们队里还有一位强力击球手，他正在争夺本垒打王的称号，并在季后赛首战就贡献了6分打点（本·赖斯）。这位球员从常春藤盟校毕业后，在第12轮才被选中，如今却成为了纽约洋基队的首发打者。在对阵波士顿红袜队的第二场比赛中，纽约洋基队的首发阵容中，除了一个人之外，每个人都击出了安打，并且每个人都得分。但他们并不需要所有人得分，因为他们还拥有联盟中最强的先发轮值投手阵容。

随着比赛进入十月的尾声，洋基队迎回贾奇的可能性越来越大，最早可能就在周六的分区系列赛中。他们以18比2的总比分横扫了宿敌红袜队，现在将迎战同区冠军坦帕湾光芒队——一支现代劲旅，也是两队风格迥异的球队。如果贾奇出现在系列赛名单中，人们很容易会说洋基队在他缺阵的情况下依然取得了成功。但事实并非如此，他们不仅没有失去贾奇，反而取得了更大的成就。

“我们这里有一支年轻、充满斗志的队伍，他们对季后赛充满期待，”主教练贾奇在横扫对手后的庆祝活动中说道，他身上还沾着香槟。“很多球员都是第一次参加季后赛，所以他们很兴奋能奉献一场精彩的比赛。”

这仍然是他的球队。如果他能保持健康并在场上贡献力量，球队的实力自然会更强。任何球队都会如此。但贾奇深知，要让一支球队走到造就英雄的阶段，需要付出多少努力。今年，其他队员不得不扛起他的重担。

正因如此，我们更应该充分利用它。

“我玩这个游戏的时间不长，你只有那么几次机会和朋友们一起享受这种乐趣，在俱乐部里泼香槟，用啤酒喷人，”他解释了为什么即使酒精灼伤了他的眼睛，他仍然把护目镜架在头顶上。

他说这让他感觉自己年轻了。“每次都是这样。”