SAN FRANCISCO — Aaron Judge has 370 career home runs. He owns three American League MVP awards. He is the reigning home run champion. And none of it is enough.
The New York Yankees captain made that much clear during the team’s opening series against the San Francisco Giants at Oracle Park, where the Yankees completed a three-game sweep with a 3-1 victory Saturday. Judge went deep in back-to-back games, and the Yankees pitching staff held the Giants to just one run across 27 innings.
But when the Yankees captain spoke before Saturday’s win, he did not talk about his swing or his power numbers. He delivered a message aimed squarely at the rest of baseball. And it should put every team in the American League on notice.
The only number Judge cares about
In his 11th major league season, all of it spent in Yankees pinstripes, Aaron Judge still does not have a World Series ring. That fact burns. And the Yankees slugger is not hiding it.
“My job is not to win MVPs,” Judge said. “It’s to win games. The MVPs and other things are cool and when I’m done playing, I’ll think about that. But now, doing that takes away from the ultimate goal of putting the Yankees back on top. Counting those other things and worrying about that doesn’t help.”
Judge went further, explaining exactly what keeps the Yankees captain up at night.
“I only think about the stuff I’ve missed out on,” Judge said. “That’s all that matters every year. It’s not All-Star games or MVPs. It’s ‘Did you win it all or not?’ And not getting that always eats at you.”
He said that mindset has not changed since 2017, when the Yankees lost the ALCS in his rookie season.
“I’ve been the same when it comes to that since my rookie year and we lost the ALCS,” Judge said. “A loss is a loss, regardless of where you are in your career. It doesn’t matter what happened during the regular season. I’m here to finally punch the ticket and finish it off.”
Then came the line that should make the rest of the league pay attention.
“The regular season is spring training at this point,” Judge said. “It’s practice for the real test so we can get the kinks out before the games that matter when we need to take care of business.”
Two homers and a historic sweep
Judge backed up his words with his bat. His fifth-inning solo homer off lefty Ryan Borucki on Saturday gave the Yankees a cushion in the 3-1 win. It was his second home run in as many games, pushing his career total to 370 and tying him with Gil Hodges for 83rd on the all-time list.
He also passed former New York slugger Ralph Kiner and current Padres star Manny Machado, both of them are in 369-career-homers club. Next up on the list is Judge’s own teammate, Paul Goldschmidt, who sits at 372.
Yankees manager Aaron Boone acknowledged that Judge is still finding his timing at the plate. He struck out six times in the series, and only Seattle’s Cal Raleigh fanned more through the first three games of the season. But Boone was not concerned.
“It’s early in the season,” Boone said. “He’s kind of finding it. He’s not like anyone else. His hits have been two big home runs. Like I’ve said, he’s playing a different game.”
The sweep itself was historic. It marked the first time in franchise history that the Yankees opened the season with a series sweep in three consecutive years. They took four from Houston in 2024, three from Milwaukee in 2025, and now three from San Francisco in 2026. The pitching staff allowed just one run across 27 innings in the series.
After Saturday’s win, Judge gave the mound crew its due.
“Incredible. One run in three games. It makes it easy on offense,” he said.
Bonds weighs in on Judge’s leadership
Even Barry Bonds, the all-time home run king and a Giants legend, could not help but praise the Yankees superstar during Netflix’s Opening Day broadcast from Oracle Park.
Asked about how the Yankees captain balances personal accolades with team goals, Bonds pointed to Judge’s impact on the entire roster.
“Let’s go back to the word ‘team,'” Bonds said. “We always talk about ‘team,’ but all of a sudden we’re talking about one individual that plays on a team that also wears a ‘C’ on his shirt as captain of that team and we’re missing how much he brings to that team and puts them in the position that they’re in.”
Bonds added: “If you want to talk about character, that’s the man I want on my team. Aaron Judge brings that to his team every day. Year in and year out.”
The praise carried extra weight given where it came from. Bonds hit 762 home runs but never won a World Series ring himself. He understands the hunger Judge described.
Closing out series is the new standard
Judge also addressed a problem that haunted the Yankees in 2025. They blew a seven-game division lead last summer, went 5-8 against Toronto, and lost the American League East on a tiebreaker. The Blue Jays then bounced them in the Division Series.
That collapse still stings. And it shaped how the Yankees approached this opening weekend.
“That was one thing the past couple years we struggled at, is finishing out series and sweeping series,” Judge said, per the Daily News’ Gary Phillips. “We talked about it. We gotta close out a series, and that’s what’s going to make the difference between winning the division or ending up tied and losing it.”
The Yankees head to Seattle next for three games against the Mariners before returning to the Bronx for their home opener against the Miami Marlins on April 3. With the Marlins and Oakland Athletics on the schedule after that, this is a stretch where the Yankees expect to keep rolling.
“The good stuff is fine, but the disappointments are what drive you,” Judge said.
Three games into 2026, the Yankees captain sounds like a man tired of coming up short. And that should worry everyone else in baseball.
What do you think? How many home runs will Aaron Judge have this season?
