< Aaron Judge and the Yankees have sights set on the World Series as they open the 2021 season today at home against Toronto.
New York — When it started, they had them playing with toys on the clubhouse floor.
Aaron Judge was building with blocks, Gary Sanchez had a toy dump truck and Luis Severino was roaring as he played with figurines on a soft toddler mat in the Yankees' spring training clubhouse. The YES Network commercial was the moment they all dove in on the Baby Bombers nickname; a fun way to emphasize that the dawn of a new expected dynasty was near.
Progress slowed by injuries
Judge and Sanchez were going to power the offense, Severino was going to anchor the staff and this would be the core that could get the Yankees back to the glory days of the late 1990s.
"They were so talented coming up. They just looked like they could change the game with their power and ability," said one National League executive who has scouted the Yankees for years. "But those expectations, being nicknamed the 'Baby Bombers,' it's only a New York thing. Winning a World Series is hard. Winning the division is hard. They have been competitive every year, which is impressive, especially when you add in the injuries they've had.
"But the expectations were probably too high."
And now, four years since they announced their arrival in 2017, the Baby Bombers aren't exactly young anymore and that expected dynasty has never materialized. With the exception of Clint Frazier, Gleyber Torres and Deivi Garcia, every impact player on the Opening Day roster will be 30 or coming up on it.
So far, they only have one American League East title to show for their time in the big leagues. They've lost in the ALDS twice and in the ALCS twice. That bright future the 'Baby Bombers' commercial was suggesting is now a window that could be closing as Judge and Sanchez are scheduled to hit free agency in 2023 and the Yankees would be forced to decide if they will exercise an option on the extension they gave Severino in 2019.
"Our ultimate goal is to win a World Series and bring a championship back to the Bronx," Judge said.
Along with playing the right way, and clinging to the sting of losing in the 2020 ALDS to the division rival Rays, the Yankees need Judge — and Giancarlo Stanton and Sanchez — to stay healthy and to focus that urgency into sustained streaks this season.
"No club can win a World Series because of one or two players, but in the playoffs you have to be able to jump on your big guys, your aircraft carriers," one American League executive said. "They are the guys that can step up in the big moments. Like George Springer, who always plays up in the playoffs. But even those guys only have so many chances in their careers."
"The Yankees have those aircraft carriers," the executive continued, "they just need them to stay on the field and find their moment."
The current Bombers are much more than the trio that came up together in 2017. They've added AllStar slugger Gleyber Torres, 2020 Home Run King Luke Voit, AL MVP runner-up DJ LeMahieu and 2017 NL MVP Stanton to the lineup. With Severino having missed all of last season (and expected to miss about half the season this year after Tommy John surgery) the Yankees went out in December 2019 and landed the best free agent pitcher available in Gerrit Cole. This year they added two-time Cy Young award winner Corey Kluber to the rotation.
But key Yankees, particularly Judge, Sanchez and Stanton, have missed long stretches of multiple seasons because of injuries.
In 2020s 60-game regular season, Aaron Boone was able to have Judge, Stanton and Sanchez in the lineup at the same time just 11 times. Some of that was that Sanchez was struggling and was benched in September, but mostly it was due to the fact that Judge and Stanton missed half a season with injuries.
"I hope we find out," the Yankees manager said of the potential of a lineup with those three names constantly in the lineup. "We obviously feel like we can be a special offensive group if those guys are able to [play] together a lot. Hopeful we can find out how good that would look, because I think it could be special."
"I know what they're all capable of so therefore I know what ultimately our lineup is capable of with them in it," Boone added.
The Yankees revamped their entire strength and conditioning staff after 2019 when Stanton missed all but 18 regular season games and the team had an MLB record 30 players go on the injured list.
When they are healthy, the Bombers need to "find their moment," and so far that has eluded them as Judge said this spring.
"There's been times, especially last postseason, where I didn't come up when the team needed me," Judge said. "It's still stings."
While Stanton hit six home runs in seven playoff games, Judge hit just .143/.208/.429 with two homers and six strikeouts in 21 at-bats in last October's division series, well below his .229/.342/.511 career postseason numbers in 34 games. Sanchez, who slashed .147/.253/.365 with 10 homers and 64 strikeouts in 156 at bats in the regular season, managed to get just nine plate appearances.
"Right there (in the playoffs), you kind of understand if you had better results, better production, in the season, you would probably be playing," Sanchez said of his postseason benching. "I have to turn the page and put it in the past."