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SAN FRANCISCO — In the opening trio of games this season, Aaron Judge has notched more strikeouts than anyone except last year’s home run leader, Seattle’s Cal Raleigh.
As of now, Judge has managed just two hits in the 2026 season.
Remarkably, both of those hits have been crucial home runs, contributing to Yankees’ victories, most recently in their 3-1 triumph over the Giants at Oracle Park on Saturday.
“It’s still early days,” commented Yankees manager Aaron Boone. “Aaron is finding his rhythm. He’s in a league of his own. His hits have been monumental home runs. As I’ve mentioned before, he’s playing a different game.”
With his latest home run, Judge has now amassed 370 career home runs, placing him tied for 83rd on the all-time list alongside Gil Hodges.
He also passed another New York home run legend on Saturday, Ralph Kiner, who hit 369 homers in his career.
The next on the list is — oddly enough — Judge’s current teammate, Paul Goldschmidt, with 372 and counting.
But regardless of how many home runs Judge hits or awards he earns, the right fielder is interested in only one number: one.
He’s still waiting for his first World Series title and that remains at the forefront of his mind, as he explained before Saturday’s victory.
“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.”
Instead, Judge focuses on what’s left for him to accomplish.
“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.”
And that won’t change during the regular season, regardless of the numbers Judge puts up.
A few wins in March won’t change it, either, though it’s better than the alternative, especially with the Yankees now 6-0 in Judge’s career at his hometown ballpark.
“The good stuff is fine, but the disappointments are what drive you,’’ Judge said.
He insisted that remains the case in his 11th major league 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.”
So the fact that Judge’s fifth-inning homer against lefty Ryan Borucki was followed by the Yankees fans in attendance chanting “MVP’’ isn’t especially relevant.
Instead, he’s already focused on October and what he can do there.
“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.”