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Yankees Legend Takes Veiled Swipe at Aaron Judge in Backhanded Compliment

Originally posted on Athlon Sports | By Jake Elman | Last updated Jun 23, 2025 2:07 PM ET

For all of New York Yankees superstar Aaron Judge's achievements and massive home runs, the most significant knock against him remains his lack of October success.

Although the Yankees have reached the ALCS four times since Judge's 2016 debut, they've only won a single pennant and looked lost in last year's World Series loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers. Judge hasn't helped matters, hitting just .205 with 86 strikeouts in 262 career postseason plate appearances.

No one is questioning Judge's excellence from March through October, and he's well on pace to capture his third AL MVP in four years. Ex-Yankees ace CC Sabathia, who played alongside Judge from 2016-19, acknowledged as much at the Fanatics Fest on Saturday.

In fact, Sabathia went so far as to admit he believes Judge and Dodgers phenom Shohei Ohtani will eventually enter the Hall of Fame on their first try.

"I think if you look at his regular seasons, he's probably one of the best regular season players of all time," Sabathia said of Judge.

The key phrase there is "regular season."

Sabathia played with five Hall of Famers (and counting) in his 20 seasons, and no one ever adds that type of qualifier to Derek Jeter or Mariano Rivera. Jim Thome is universally acknowledged as one of the greatest modern power hitters, and Ichiro Suzuki's reputation speaks for itself in the United States and Japan.

It's a backhanded compliment, albeit one that Sabathia may not have necessarily meant as an insult. However, the words speak for themselves, as does Judge's lack of postseason success.

Judge turned 33 in April, and the Yankees are on track for another playoff berth, so he still has time to rewrite the narrative. Alex Rodriguez erased the criticism of his postseason struggles when he helped the Yankees win a title in 2009.

First, though, the Yankees need to close the job and win the AL East. Judge has done his part, hitting .367 with 27 home runs, 61 RBIs, and a 1.195 OPS for the first-place Bombers.

This article first appeared on Athlon Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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