Aaron Judge’s Yankees season all comes down to fixing ugly playoff trend: ‘Got to do more’

TAMPA — Aaron Judge will attempt to improve upon an almost unprecedented 2024 season. 

And still, no matter what he does during the upcoming regular season, it will be mostly put aside if the Yankees make the playoffs, as the baseball world will wait to see how Judge does in October.

Because when it comes to last year, two things stand out: Judge’s otherworldly performance during the regular season, in which he mostly put up the best numbers of his career, and then an ugly postseason, when Judge was mostly a mess at the plate. 

Judge is well aware of that second fact. 

“I’ve got to improve, definitely,” Judge said this week at Steinbrenner Field. “Last postseason wasn’t the best. I know ’22 wasn’t that great, either. I don’t want to think about the negatives, but it’s part of it. It’s the role I’m in. When you’re at the top, that’s what happens. I’ve got to improve. I’ve got to get better and I’ve got some ideas. We’ll see how it goes.” 

Asked to expand on those ideas, Judge declined, but he’s already talked about what he’s doing this spring to avoid another slow start to the regular season.