Aaron Judge won’t talk about it, but his teammates sure will – for they are all ready for what could be an epic homestand this week, with Judge just two home runs away from tying Roger Maris for both the Yankees franchise and American League home run records.
“I would imagine it’s going to be special out there,” manager Aaron Boone said before Tuesday’s game, when asked his thoughts on the atmosphere around Yankee Stadium this week. “We’ve had a lot of pretty special regular season games this year, but I would imagine this week is going to be pretty electric, considering where we are in the season and what we’re playing for from a team standpoint, and obviously with Aaron knocking on the door of history.”
The Yankees, as Boone said, are still playing for a lot, as they have 16 games left and still have to clinch a playoff berth (magic number: four), the AL East (magic number: 11), and, if the latter, a bye in the Wild Card round (the magic number for that is eight, as they’re 7.5 up on current Central leader Cleveland).
But, the Yankees can take time to smell the roses, so to speak, while they do the gardening.
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“It’s pretty surreal. I think everything’s happened so fast this year; we just need to keep winning ballgames, but also appreciate what’s going on,” Isiah Kiner-Falefa said. “This may never happen again. We may never again play with a guy of this caliber, and just understanding what he’s doing is very special.”
The best part about the chase for them, though, is that as you’ve surely seen or heard in any interview Judge has given all year, he’s just business as usual no matter what.
“He’s been amazing. His attitude hasn’t changed one bit,” said Josh Donaldson. “He goes and works and sticks to his routine and does the things that he believes in.”
“It’s been great, just watching the way he goes about his business every day,” added Jose Trevino. “It’s incredible what he does on and off the field, before, during, and after the games. He’s been great all year.”
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Normally, we would push everyone to listen to John & Suzyn all week to hear history, but we’ll take the further advice of Trevino, given that you can listen to WFAN on your phone on the free Audacy app while inside the Stadium:
“It’s exciting stuff…if you're in New York, I'd say buy a ticket. Get to the Stadium."
Follow Lou DiPietro on Twitter: @LouDiPietroWFAN
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