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The 2026 MLB season kicks off Wednesday night with the New York Yankees against the San Francisco Giants, and Yankees captain Aaron Judge will begin his journey toward a potential third consecutive AL MVP Award.
Judge is arguably the best hitter in the game today, but despite all the accolades he’s accumulated over all these years in pinstripes, a World Series title still eludes him.
For a Yankees player, that is the only measure of success. After all, the man who held the coveted Yankees captaincy before him, Baseball Hall of Fame shortstop Derek Jeter, made sure to preach it constantly during the team’s dynasty.
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Aaron Judge of Team USA during a 2026 World Baseball Classic game against the Dominican Republic at loanDepot Park March 15, 2026 in Miami, Fla. (Daniel Shirey/WBCI/MLB Photos)
Judge sat down with fellow high-profile All-Star Houston Rockets forward Kevin Durant for a Boardroom “Cover Story” interview in which Durant asked about the pressures of playing in New York and how badly the former wants to be a champion.
“That’s one thing I’ve wanted to do ever since I got drafted, man,” the judge replied. “I wanted to bring a championship back to New York and I wanted to leave the organization and that franchise better than when I got in there. I just want to make my mark there and hopefully when the next guys come through, that’s the one thing, man. You walk into Yankee Stadium, these pictures are [Derek] Jeter, that’s it [Jorge] Posada, Yogi Berra, Mickey Mantle.
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“It’s all these legends. So it’s like, ‘Man, I want my picture up there. I want my teammates’ pictures up there. I want to be a part of it.'”
Judge and his teammates snapped the Yankees’ World Series drought during the 2024 campaign, but lost to the Los Angeles Dodgers in five games. It was the franchise’s first return to the Fall Classic since their title win over the Philadelphia Phillies in 2009.
In 2025, as Judge continued to defend his AL MVP title, the Yankees fell short in the ALDS to AL East foe Toronto Blue Jays, who won the American League pennant. They also lost to the Dodgers, though it was a thrilling seven-game series in contrast to Los Angeles’ dominance against Judge’s team the year before.
Aaron Judge of the New York Yankees arrives before a game against the San Francisco Giants at Oracle Park on Wednesday, March 25, 2026, in San Francisco. (Bryan Kennedy/MLB Photos)
Judge understands the weight of pressure. He felt it since coming up through the minor leagues, but also recently with Team USA during the World Baseball Classic, where he also served as the team’s captain. But the pressure is something that is welcome, especially if he plays a bad game.
Boos rain down in the Bronx, regardless of the player’s stature in the league and whether or not they’re wearing pinstripes.
“It was never any pressure or me raising my standard. My standard is already there,” Judge told Durant. “If you’re booing me or picking on me, I’m booing myself right now. If I sit there and think about the pressure and what I haven’t done yet, it’s going to take me off my path to what I want to achieve.”
Judge’s focus remains on one thing, and one thing only – winning a World Series. What awards and accolades come with it are welcome, but at this point they are not as satisfying as what he hopes this new season will end with.
Aaron Judge of the New York Yankees arrives for a spring training game against the Chicago Cubs at Sloan Park on March 23, 2026 in Mesa, Ariz. (Christian Petersen/Getty Images)
“It’s almost a joke. In Yankee Stadium, they don’t have ‘AL Championships,’ they don’t have ‘All-Stars.’ They have ‘World Series Champions.’
The Yankees and Giants play at 8:05 PM ET to begin the 2026 MLB season on Netflix.
