'This team takes the cake': Behind Aaron Judge, New York Yankees having monster 2024 start

SAN DIEGO — It was just a month ago when Aaron Judge was being booed, Cy Young winner Gerrit Cole was still months away from pitching and the New York Yankees were still trying to find themselves.

The Yankees could have gone in either direction, melted away under the weight and burden of surreal expectations while doubting themselves, or shrugged it off, strongly believing in each other so much that they would get ultimate last laugh.

“You know how it is, man," Yankees starter Marcus Stroman, who signed a two-year, $37 million free-agent contract, told USA TODAY Sports. “People love to doubt, man. But this team, we grew a brotherhood very quickly. It’s hard to beat the connection we all have. It’s very organic. It’s very authentic. You don’t feel pressure. You feel at home.

“The Yankees allow everyone to be the best version of themselves. The Yankees wanted me to be here and be me. It wasn’t like they acquired me to be a different version of myself. They did their research and homework. Everybody gets to be their authentic selves here. [Alex] Verdugo gets to be himself. [Juan] Soto gets to be himself. [Aaron] Judge gets to be himself ... And when everybody gets to be themselves, you get the best version out of everyone.

“Just look at us now and the energy we have in here."

The Yankees, who finish their grueling 10-day, nine-game west coast trip Sunday, are the best team in the American League, sitting in first place with a 40-19 record. They have gone 23-9 since Judge was booed on April 27, and have bludgeoned their opponents by a major-league leading 101 runs.

Is this the best team Aaron Boone has had in his seven-year managerial career?

“Look we’ve had some special, talented teams since I’ve been here," Boone said. “But the culture in this clubhouse, the way they act, the way they care about each other, this team takes the cake."

The Yankees can’t stress enough how close this team has become. It started in spring training getting to know newcomers Soto, Verdugo and Stroman, all arriving with strong resumes, but also strong personalities. Three months later, they feel as if they’ve all been together their entire careers.

“In spring training, everything just gelled together so organically, so nice," said Yankees starter Nestor Cortes, 3-4 with a 3.30 ERA. “We knew who Juan Soto was. We knew who Verdugo was. We knew who Stroman was. But we didn’t know how it would relate in the clubhouse.

“But we had so much fun in the spring, we couldn’t wait for the season to start. There was just a different vibe. We were excited knowing this had a chance to be a special year."

Well, so far, so great.

The Yankees are playing like a team who could be having a November ticker-tape parade, excelling in every facet of the game.

You want offense?

Through Friday's games, the Yankees led the major leagues with 86 home runs (64 since April 23) and led the league with a .335 on-base percentage and .769 on-base-plus slugging percentage. They were 36-7 when scoring at least three runs, the best in baseball.

You want pitching?

The Yankees' major-league leading 2.75 ERA (baseball’s only team with a sub-3.00 mark) is the team's lowest at this juncture since 1920. They held opponents to three or fewer runs in 38 games.

The starting rotation – with Cody Poteet called up to replace injured Clarke Schmidt on Saturday – has been nothing short of phenomenal, going 14-2 with a 1.28 ERA in their last 18 starts since May 12. It’s the first time in franchise that their starting rotation has pitched at least four innings in the first 59 games of a season.

And then, of course, there is Judge.

His May one of the greatest months in baseball history, hitting .371 with 14 homers, 27 RBI, 12 doubles and a .928 slugging percentage. The only Yankee players with more extra-base hits in a month were a couple of fellas named Joe DiMaggio and Lou Gehrig.

Judge, who leads MLB with 21 home runs after hitting another on Saturday, should become the quickest player in baseball history to reach 300 home runs in his career. He has 278 homers in 895 games and 3,221 at-bats. The fastest to reach 300 homers in the fewest games is Sammy Sosa (1,052 games) and fewest at-bats is Babe Ruth (3,830).

Oh, how one month can completely change the perception of a team.

This is a team that missed out on the playoffs last season (82-80) and was dismissed as a serious World Series contender when Cole went down in spring training with elbow nerve inflammation. The same fans who were booing in April are suddenly wondering in June how they can get playoff tickets.

“We had a lot of high expectations, especially coming off what happened last season," said Judge, who was hitting .178 with four homers in the first 27 games. “When you wear the pinstripes, and play in New York, you’re expected to win. I think this going into camp we said, 'Hey, we got to do it. We’ve got to go out there and grind and show people what we can do.’ ….

“There’s going to be bumps and bruises, good times and bad times. The most important thing is to stay focused and try to improve a little bit each day. But I can’t get caught up in what people are saying, or they’re not saying. I’ve got a job to do, especially in New York. You got to show up every single day. I wasn’t showing up, so I understand why there were a lot of questions."

And now?

“I don’t know why people were saying that in the first place," Cortes said. “Obviously, we miss Gerrit Cole. He’s the best pitcher in the big leagues. But you look up and down this rotation, and it’s pretty good.

“I didn’t count us out by any means."

Well, considering Cole is expected back within a month, Luis Gil (Cole’s replacement), is a Cy Young candidate (7-1, 1.99 ERA) and there’s not a glaring flaw on this team to be found.

“We obviously have had a good run," Stroman said, “but we're not reveling in it. We're not like soaking it all in. We’re onto the next game. We’re process oriented, not results based.

“If we keep putting our body and mind in a good position pretty much every game, we’ll end up just where we want to go."

Josh Gibson finally getting his respect

It wasn’t long ago that attorney Ed Schauder, the longtime licensing agent of the Josh Gibson estate, received a phone call from a company interested in purchasing the rights to Gibson’s trading cards.

The company offered about 20% of the value of Hall of Fame catcher Yogi Berra’s trading cards.

Schauder politely turned down the company and told them to come back with another offer.

Well, on Wednesday after Major League Baseball announced that incorporating all of the Negro League statistics from 1920-1948 into the official historical record book, with Gibson suddenly becoming the leader in six categories, the company called again and was willing to make the Berra deal.

“They called and said, 'Can we accept the terms of the Berra deal?'" Schauder told USA TODAY Sports. “I said, 'Sorry, it’s five times as much now. I’m now representing the GOAT.'"

Schauder, special counsel at Nason Yeager who also represents the Berra family, believes that Gibson’s legacy represents everything a company would desire, a combination of Roberto Clemente, Joe DiMaggio and Humphrey Bogart.

“I want to see a commercial like the old Mean Joe Greene commercial," Schauder says, “where a white kid goes up to Josh Gibson, walking into a Major League stadium, with Gibson wearing a Major League Baseball uniform.

“I want to take the Gibson brand to the status of a Muhammad Ali or Babe Ruth, with the proceeds going to the Gibson estate and foundation where we can educate kids, give scholarships, and rebuild fields."

Gibson, who died at the age of 35, is now in the conversation of the greatest players who ever played the game. He became MLB’s career leader with a .372 batting average, surpassing Ty Cobb’s .367, with his .466 batting average for the 1943 Homestead Grays the highest in history. Gibson also is the career leader in slugging percentage (.718) and OPS (1.177), moving ahead of Ruth (.690 and 1.164). His .974 slugging percentage in 1937 also becomes the single-season record ahead of Barry Bonds, and he has the highest two OPS seasons with 1.474 in 1937 and 1.435 in 1943.

“People need to know how great he was, and how tragic his life was," Schauder says. “There’s a lot more of the Gibson story to be told."

Meanwhile, now that the Negro League stats are incorporated into MLB stats, giving players like Jackie Robinson 49 more hits while acknowledging that Gibson didn’t hit nearly 800 home runs, several of the plaques are no longer accurate.

Still, the Baseball Hall of Fame isn’t going to suddenly update those plaques, president Josh Rawitch said, simply going with the information that was available at the time of the player’s induction.

Around the basepaths

– The New York Mets could be the epicenter of the trade deadline with a handful of their prized players expected to be dealt.

They haven’t begun yet, but will soon shop first baseman Pete Alonso, DH J.D. Martinez, starters Luis Severino, Sean Manaea and Jose Quintana, relievers Adam Ottavino, Jake Diekman and Reed Garrett, infielder Jeff McNeil and outfielders Harrison Bader and Starling Marte.

The Mets would be wise to trade Alonso, considering that if Alonso departs as a free agent, they would receive only a fourth-round draft pick as compensation since they're over the highest luxury tax threshold.

– The Milwaukee Brewers engaged in early contract extension talks with shortstop Willy Adames, but no deal was ever close, and he’ll likely hit free agency this winter.

– Well, Blake Snell and Jordan Montgomery sure torpedoed any propaganda next winter that pitchers don’t need spring training.

They’ve been a mess, and yes, are blaming the fact they signed so late for their struggles.

Snell is 0-3 with a 10.42 ERA without pitching past the fifth inning this season with the Giants while Montgomery is 3-3 with a 5.48 ERA with the Arizona Diamondbacks.

“The one thing I would say is that big-league spring training, you need it,” Snell told reporters. “You have to go to spring training. I hope teams see that. I don’t know what Montgomery is doing, but I bet it’s tough for him.

Montgomery said: “I used to hate spring training. And now, I’m like, 'I love spring training.'”

The two pitchers have opt-outs in their contracts, but unless they drastically pick it up in the second half, it looks like they may be staying.

“It’s not easy," Snell said. “I didn’t face a big-league hitter until I pitched in my first game in the big leagues this year. It’s tough. You just have nothing to go off of. You’re just kind of like, ‘Oh, let’s see what we’ve got.’ I faced 18-year-olds. It’s all excuses. But it’s the truth.”

– The best starter on the trade block before July 30 is Miami Marlins lefty Jesús Luzardo, and you would think there would be a perfect match with the Baltimore Orioles, who lost starters John Means and Tyler Wells to season-ending elbow surgeries.

A year ago, the Orioles did not have a single pitcher who started at least five games go on the IL. This year, they’ve already had five starters go on the IL.

Their pitching depth has greatly thinned with Cade Povich and Chayce McDermott among the internal options in the minors.

– While it’s easy to debate the best five moves made during the winter, how about the best five moves NOT made this past winter?

1. The Cleveland Guardians’ decision not to trade closer Emanuel Clase, who blew 12 saves last year, after shopping him all winter. He has been the best reliever in the American League, producing 17 saves and a 0.32 ERA.

2. The New York Yankees making only one offer of less than $150 million for Blake Snell and not getting into a bidding war.

3. The Milwaukee Brewers, after letting teams know that shortstop Willy Adames was available in trades, deciding to keep him. Adames continues to be one of their inspirational leaders, hitting .256 with nine homers, 39 RBI and a .788 OPS, while helping lead the Brewers to a six-game lead in the NL Central.

4. The Yankees not panicking when Gerrit Cole went on the injured list in spring training, deciding simply to promote Luis Gil from the minors. Gil has been the Yankees’ best pitcher, going 7-1 with a 1.99 ERA.

5. The Padres deciding that they would sign Jurickson Profar to a cheap one-year, $1 million contract instead of going for a big name to replace Juan Soto. Profar has been the MVP of the Padres this season, hitting .330 with eight homers, 37 RBI and a .922 OPS.

– The Chicago White Sox definitely plan to trade outfielder Tommy Pham before the deadline, but they have not engaged in talks with Atlanta or any other contender yet.

– The Dodgers will be looking for some offensive help to aid the bottom of their lineup, which has been one of the worst in baseball.

While the top of the lineup with Mookie Betts, Shohei Ohtani, Freddie Freeman and Will Smith is easily the best in baseball, the bottom of their order is hitting .200, fourth-worst in MLB with a .586 OPS, fifth-worst.

– The New York Mets now have $77.4 million in dead money on their books this year after DFA’ing catcher Omar Narvaez and his $7.5 million salary.

– The Seattle Mariners fired their first coach during a season since June 2015 when Brant Brown, their bench coach and offensive coordinator, was dumped on Friday.

He paid the price for a team averaging just 3.6 runs a game with MLB’s highest strikeout rate (28.3%).

– The White Sox’s offense is so feeble that they haven’t had a single player intentionally walked this year, the longest span to open a season since intentional walks became a stat in 1955, according to Codify Baseball. The White Sox also are on the pace to have the worst run differential in baseball history, eclipsing the 1932 Boston Red Sox, who were outscored by 349 runs.

– Raise your hand if you thought the Colorado Rockies and Miami Marlins would each have a better record in the month of May than Atlanta.

Atlanta, after 14 consecutive winning months, the longest active streak in MLB, went 13-14 in May. The Rockies and Marlins each went 14-13. Atlanta’s 3.4 runs per game in May was the third-lowest in baseball ahead of only the Cincinnati Reds (3.1) and the Chicago White Sox (2.9).

– You want to know about Ronald Acuña Jr.’s heart and how much he cares about his Atlanta teammates, after tearing his ACL for the second time in four years, overwhelmed by the support he has received.

“All that support finds me crying at home by myself," Acuña said at his press conference, “and the reason that’s happening is because I feel like I’m the one abandoning the team. It feels like I’m the one letting everyone down.”

Acuna still believes Atlanta can win the World Series, and why not?

GM Alex Anthopoulos remade the entire outfield in 2021 when Acuña went down, bringing in Joc Pederson, Jorge Soler, Eddie Rosario and Adam Duvall.

The result: Their first World Series championship since 1995.

Let’s see what he has up his sleeve this time around.

– The most unbreakable record in baseball, Hall of Famer John Smoltz likes to ask:

Fellow Hall of Famer Greg Maddux threw 19 complete games and eight shutouts in the minors.

“It will never happen again," Smoltz says.

He’s right, of course.

Sean Sullivan of Class A Spokane became the first minor-league pitcher to throw a complete game this past week with a 96-pitch shutout.

– Remember when the sky was falling in St. Louis after catcher Willson Contreras fractured his forearm on May 7?

Well, three weeks after Ivan Herrera took over behind the plate, they have gone 12-7, with Herrera hitting .327 with a .413 on-base percentage while gaining the trust of a veteran pitching staff.

– Blue Jays starter Kevin Gausman in a blunt assessment of the Blue Jays’ fate to the Toronto Sun: “The reality is that if we don’t play well, we might not be together for much longer."

– The Phillies were the first team to reach 40 wins, outscoring the opposition by 95 runs.

They are on pace to go 111-51.

And they are built to win in October with their starting rotation, which is yielding a league-leading 2.68 ERA with a league-high 34 quality starts.

– How special was Andrew McCutchen’s 4-RBI game this past week at the age of 37?

He became the oldest Pirates player to produce four RBI in a game since Hall of Famer Willie Stargell in 1980 at the age of 40.

“I’m not done yet," McCutchen said.

– What happened to the powerful AL West?

This is a division that had 13 teams win at least 86 games in the past five seasons, winning four pennants and two World Series titles.

These days, only the Mariners (32-27) have a winning record, despite being outscored by six runs this season.

– Meanwhile, the dreadful AL Central has three teams with winning records: Cleveland (38-19), Kansas City (35-24) and Minnesota (32-25). The last time they had three teams finish with a winning record was back in 2014.

– When the Dodgers signed Yoshinobu Yamamoto to a 12-year, $325 million contract, they had to dump a player off their 40-man roster.

That pitcher was Bryan Hudson, who had a 7.27 ERA in six relief appearances last season.

These days, he’s 4-0 with a 1.13 ERA in 21 games for the Brewers.

– Giants outfielders have had private talks with team officials about placing padding on the entire outfield fence with injuries to Jung Hoo Lee, Austin Slater and Luis Matos recently after crashing into the chain-link fence portions.

– The Mariners, who could be one of the teams pursuing first baseman Pete Alonso at the trade deadline, may decide to simply stay internal and promote 23-year-old first baseman Tyler Locklear, who put on a show at Class AA Arkansas before being promoted to Triple-A Tacoma this past week.

– Max Fried, who opened the season going 0-2 with an 18.00 ERA, has returned to being one of the elite pitchers in baseball by since going 5-0 and yielding a 1.75 ERA, pitching at least seven innings in four of his past five starts with two complete games.

– Boston Red Sox manager Alex Cora on the Orioles' 22-year-old star shortstop Gunnar Henderson: “He’s going to be a pain in the butt in the AL East for a while.’’

Henderson, who is hitting .259 with a team-best .939 OPS, has 18 homers and is on pace for a franchise-record 54 home runs.

– Do you realize that the Cleveland Guardians have the third-best record in baseball since 2013, trailing only the Los Angeles Dodgers and New York Yankees?

And here they are again, leading the AL Central, scoring the second-most runs in baseball.

These guys are 33-0 when leading after eight innings this year.

– You know you’re doing something right when you make headlines by NOT playing.

Rangers second baseman Marcus Semien snapped a 349 consecutive games streak when manager Bruce Bochy sat him Wednesday. It was only the second game he has missed since signing with the Rangers in 2022.

Atlanta first baseman Matt Olson has the longest active consecutive games streak (514 through Saturday), dating back to May 1, 2021.

– Guardians third baseman Jose Ramirez is hitting an insane .571 with a 1.429 OPS with two outs and runners in scoring position this season. Remarkably, he has not ended an inning by striking out with runners on base all year.

– They may not all win their divisions this year, of course, but 59% of the teams (95 of 162) sitting in first place on June 1 have won their division since 1997, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.

Last year, four of the six division leaders went on win their divisions, and all six reached the postseason.

– We’ll find out this month whether the surprising Kansas City Royals (35-23) are true contenders.

They enter the month of June playing 20 of their next 29 games against teams with a winning record, including a 13-game stretch against division leaders.

– It should be quite a cool and emotional moment on Monday, when Milwaukee Brewers first baseman Rhys Hoskins plays at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia for the first time since Game 5 of the 2022 World Series. He was a huge fan favorite with his tenure in Philadelphia ending in the spring of 2023 when he suffered a torn ACL.

A thunderous ovation awaits.

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Aaron Judge, Yankees' monster start has NY thinking World Series