2022 Yankees

The 2022 New York Yankees didn't win the World Series. I need to get that out of the way first because everything else about this season -- the 62 home runs, the first-half dominance, the AL East title, the unanimous MVP -- gets overshadowed by four games in October where the bats went completely silent. But before we get to the Astros gutting us (again), let's talk about what made this season one of the most thrilling and frustrating rides in recent Yankees history.

The Judge Show

Aaron Judge bet on himself before the season even started. The Yankees offered him a seven-year, $213.5 million extension in spring training, and Judge turned it down cold. He told the media he wouldn't negotiate during the year, and then he went out and produced the greatest offensive season any Yankee has ever had. We're talking .311/.425/.686 with 62 home runs, 131 RBI, and 133 runs scored. An 11.4 bWAR. The AL Triple Crown -- the first in the American League since Cabrera did it in 2012. A unanimous MVP where all 30 first-place votes went his way.

And here's the thing about Judge's MVP that still fires me up: he'd lost the award in 2017 to Jose Altuve. You know -- the same Altuve whose Astros got caught running a trash-can-banging sign-stealing operation. So yeah, the 2022 unanimous vote wasn't just a coronation. It was a correction.

The home run chase consumed the final two months of the season. Judge hit number 60 off Wil Crowe at the Stadium on September 20 -- a solo shot in the ninth with the Yanks trailing Pittsburgh 8-4 -- and then Giancarlo Stanton followed it up with a freakin' walk-off grand slam. 9-8 Yankees. That whole night felt like a movie somebody would reject for being too unrealistic.

Number 61 came on September 28 in Toronto, tying Roger Maris's American League record on the same night the Yankees clinched the AL East. Two celebrations wrapped into one. Then Judge went cold. He couldn't get number 62 at home against Baltimore (the entire Stadium holding its breath for three days straight and getting nothing), and he had to wait until October 4 in Arlington to break the record. First inning. A 2-1 slider off Jesus Tinoco. Gone. The Maris family -- Roger's sons -- sat in the stands and watched it happen. That image still gives me chills. They'd spent years arguing that their father's record was the real one, that the steroid-era numbers didn't count. And now Judge had done it clean.

The Best Half-Season I've Seen

The first half of 2022 was stupid good. By July 8, the Yankees led the AL East by 15.5 games. That's not a pennant race. That's a team playing a different sport than everybody else. Gerrit Cole anchored the rotation with 257 strikeouts over 200 innings. Nestor Cortes -- the mustachioed lefty who'd gone from organizational afterthought to legitimate number two starter -- made the All-Star team and pitched to a 2.44 ERA. Clay Holmes looked like the second coming of Mo in the closer's role (he wasn't, but we'll get there). The vibes were immaculate.

Matt Carpenter deserves his own paragraph. The dude got released by St. Louis, signed a minor league deal with the Yankees in May, and immediately started hitting like he'd found a cheat code. He slashed something around .305 with 15 bombs in barely 47 games before a broken foot shut him down. For about two months, Carpenter was the most fun story in baseball. Just a veteran everyone wrote off mashing homers at the Stadium like it was 2009 all over again. (Of course it couldn't last. Nothing good ever lasts with this team.)

The Wheels Come Off

The second half was a different team wearing the same uniforms. That 15.5-game lead? It shrunk. Fast. The trade deadline acquisitions -- Frankie Montas, Andrew Benintendi, Harrison Bader -- were supposed to put the club over the top. Instead, Montas showed up with a bum shoulder and gave the Yankees basically nothing. Benintendi hit well until his wrist betrayed him. Bader arrived injured from St. Louis and didn't make his Yankees debut until late September.

And then there was the Jordan Montgomery trade. Cashman sent Monty to St. Louis for Bader, and Cardinals fans couldn't believe their luck. Montgomery went on to dominate in the postseason for his new team while the Yankees watched their rotation depth evaporate. It was the kind of deal that looked defensible on paper (elite center field defense for October!) and looked absolutely brutal in practice (Montgomery posting a sub-2.00 ERA in the Cardinals' playoff run while the Yanks got swept).

The bullpen, lights-out in the first half, started cracking. Holmes lost some of his magic. The lineup beyond Judge was a black hole on most nights. The Pythagorean record said this was a 106-win team. The actual record said 99-63. Something didn't add up, and the gap between those numbers told you everything about the second half -- a team that dominated the run column but couldn't close out tight games when it mattered.

October: Hope and Then the Astros

The ALDS against Cleveland went five games, and it shouldn't have been that stressful. Cole won Game 1 with Bader and Rizzo homering. The offense vanished in Game 2. Game 3 in Cleveland was a full-blown bullpen disaster -- Holmes reportedly wasn't available, and the whole thing fell apart. But Cole saved the season in Game 4, Bader kept hitting (turns out the Monty trade bought the Yankees something real in October), and then Nestor Cortes showed up in Game 5 on three days' rest and dealt. Stanton crushed a three-run homer to put it away. Wandy Peralta -- the iron man of that pen -- pitched in what felt like every single game of the series.

And then Houston happened.

The ALCS was four games and zero real hope. The Yankees struck out 17 times against Justin Verlander in Game 1. Seventeen. The offense produced almost nothing in Games 2, 3, and 4. The Astros' pitching staff -- Verlander, Framber Valdez, Lance McCullers Jr. -- chewed through the lineup like it was batting practice in reverse. I watched Game 3 from the couch and wanted to throw the remote through the screen. The Yankees scored a combined handful of runs across four games (most of them meaningless) and got swept out of the postseason by the same franchise that's been haunting them since 2017.

It hurt because it should've been different. This was a 99-win team with the AL MVP. And they went down without a fight.

The Captain Returns

The offseason brought the only ending that made the whole season worth it. After weeks of rumors about the Giants and Padres making their pitches, Judge signed a nine-year, $360 million contract to stay in pinstripes -- the largest deal for a position player in MLB history at the time. Rizzo reportedly played a big role in convincing him to stay. And on top of the contract, the Yankees named Judge the 18th captain in franchise history. The first since Jeter. Lou Gehrig, Thurman Munson, The Captain, and now Judge. That's a lineage that means something.

By betting on himself before the season, Judge turned down $213.5 million and walked away with $360 million. That's $146 million in extra earnings because the man backed himself and then went out and hit 62 home runs. The biggest gamble in sports history, and he won it going away.

Key Moments

Frequently Asked Questions

How many home runs did Aaron Judge hit in 2022?

Judge hit 62 home runs in 2022, breaking Roger Maris's American League record of 61 set in 1961. The record-breaker came on October 4 at Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas against the Rangers. Because Barry Bonds (73), Mark McGwire (70), and Sammy Sosa (66) all set their marks during the steroid era, Judge's 62 is widely considered the "clean" MLB single-season record.

What was the 2022 Yankees record and postseason result?

The 2022 Yankees went 99-63 and won the AL East. They beat the Cleveland Guardians in the ALDS (3-2) but got swept by the Houston Astros in the ALCS (0-4). The offense managed almost no production against Houston's pitching staff across the four games.

Did Aaron Judge win the Triple Crown in 2022?

Yes. Judge led the American League in batting average (.311), home runs (62), and RBI (131) -- the first AL Triple Crown since Miguel Cabrera in 2012. He also won the AL MVP unanimously, receiving all 30 first-place votes.

What contract did Aaron Judge sign after the 2022 season?

Judge signed a 9-year, $360 million deal with the Yankees in December 2022 -- the largest contract for a position player in MLB history at the time. He'd rejected a 7-year, $213.5 million extension before the season. By betting on himself, Judge earned roughly $146 million more than the original offer. The Yankees also named him the 18th captain in franchise history, the first since Derek Jeter.

Sixty-two home runs. A unanimous MVP. The AL Triple Crown. The captain's "C" on his chest. And a four-game sweep by the Astros that still stings. That's 2022 -- the most individually brilliant and collectively heartbreaking Yankees season I can remember. Judge did everything right. The team just couldn't finish it.