Without Aaron Judge, New York Yankees Continue To Struggle Offensively

The last time the Yankees were swept in a doubleheader in Boston occurred July 31, 1976 and the last time they were swept in a doubleheader by the Red Sox occurred Sept. 17, 2006.

Ultimately those were blips in successful regular seasons.

The 1976 sweep were two of 62 losses in a resurgence that resulted in the Yankees returning to the World Series for the first time since 1964. The 2006 sweep were two of the 65 losses and occurred about a month after a five-game sweep in Fenway helped send the Yankees on their way to a ninth straight AL East title.

What unfolded Sunday and over the weekend in Boston were starkly different things than those previous two sweeps. These were not blips but the reality the Yankees are facing when those who can produce in the absence of Aaron Judge are not actually doing so.

The Yankees are up 11 games and counting since Judge landed on the injured list after crashing into the right field wall tracking down J.D. Martinez’s fly ball at Dodger Stadium on June 3. Of those games, they own three wins — a 3-0 win over the White Sox, a 3-2 win over the Red Sox and a 7-6 win over the Mets.

Their eight losses have been caused by numerous things such as baserunning gaffes, an ill-timed miscue but the main culprit is the offense and when offense becomes a problem, the hitting coach often encounters a group of media asking questions.

In some regards, hitting coaches are like offensive linemen as they do not get heard from unless something is going wrong.

The offense has not gone well for portions of the year, but it is noticeable more than ever since the supporting cast the Yankees are counting on to back Judge when he is in the lineup is not trending well. That quartet is Giancarlo Stanton, Anthony Rizzo, DJ LeMahieu, Josh Donaldson along with Gleyber Torres.

Stanton missed nearly two months with a hamstring injury but appears to be still rusty from a lack of rehab at-bats. Since his return Stanton is 5-for-41 with 15 strikeouts. Last year when he returned from missing a month with an Achillies injury, Stanton went 18-for-109 (.165).

Rizzo held a .304 average when San Diego’s Fernando Tatis Jr collided with him at first base resulting in a tweaked neck. Since then he has four hits in 48 at-bats, though Sunday he was robbed of an extra-base hit.

LeMahieu is three years into a six-year deal signed after the 2020 season when he won his second batting title. He dropped to .268 in the tedious 2021 season, was at .261 last year when foot injuries derailed his season and is 6-for-35 this month.

As for Donaldson, he returned at the same time from Stanton after experiencing the same injury and is at .151 after hitting .222 last year – his lowest average in any full season. He also got picked off first base in one of those mistakes that get magnified when teams do not hit.

Torres had three of the nine hits for the Yankees in the doubleheader. The low hit total is also a stark difference since the 1976 sweep saw the Yankees score six runs on 15 hits while the 2006 sweep saw the Yankees get seven runs on 17 hits.

Torres is 10-for-49 this month with an 0-for-20 skid mixed in that was stopped with a homer off the White Sox in the nightcap of the doubleheader.

And because of the offense without Judge, the Yankees are down to a .230 team average and a .298 on base-percentage. Those totals are not bad but if you only filter what it is this month, the numbers are .192 and .250, numbers that are the worst in baseball by a wide margin since the White Sox are 29th at .207 and .270 respectively.

If this was anytime before 1995, barring some miracle, the Yankees would be fighting for scraps with a dominant division leader. From 1995 through 2011, the Yankees would be within the vicinity of the wild-card at 5 1/2 games back. From 2012 through 2019 and again in 2021, they’d be in the battle royale for the one-game elimination but now they are tied with the Houston Astros for the third wild-card spot which grants them a trip to the AL Central Division winner’s ballpark.

“We have to win games regardless,” Stanton told reporters. “Obviously, it’s a big blow for us [Judge’s injury], but we have to figure out how to win games. That’s the situation we’re in, so you can’t have any excuses.”

Eventually that card will run out and eventually Judge will come back. Until then the Yankees are hoping those who they say can produce actually start doing so, especially with 13 of their final 19 games before the break at home.

“That’s the story line,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone told reporters. “We’re going to get beat over the head with that. The reality is: That team we’re rolling out there is capable of doing damage offensively. That, to me, is just an excuse right now.”