The title doesn't seem like much analysis, no?

Aaron Judge will make his long-awaited return from the injured list tonight at Yankee Stadium against the Colorado Rockies, restoring a familiar face from the last decade of Yankees baseball to hopefully power a hot-and-cold offense that trades great and sleepy days.

Everyone knows what he brings to the table, even in a diminished state, as he rushed the back end of his rehab to get back with three weeks to spare before the postseason. But what if I told you his offensive prowess was just the start of what he provides this team as they look to chase down the Tampa Bay Rays for the AL East title?

A reminder of how good Aaron Judge is

When you witness greatness in real time, you can sometimes lose sight of just how great that person is. While he's been out, it feels like Yankees fans have had a newfound appreciation for their hulking slugger, who's been definitively the best hitter in the sport for the last half-decade.

His numbers before going on the injured list weren't close to the standard he had set the prior four seasons, but he was still slashing .248/.375/.533 with a 150 OPS+ in 59 games, marks that would currently still place him top five in the sport if maintained over a full season.

Part of the reason his numbers went from Judgian to more pedestrian was the fact that he played with the inhibitory stress fracture in his first rib for so long. It's widely believed he suffered the injury on a dive in late April against the Houston Astros, with his numbers steadily declining from that point. Despite this, he still slashed .263/.380/.509 across 31 games following the initial injury. An injured Aaron Judge is still better than almost anyone in baseball.

As one last point of comparison, look at the historic season Yordan Alvarez of the Astros is currently having. Entering play on Tuesday, the likely 2026 AL MVP leads the AL in OPS, OPS+, home runs, RBIs, batting average, on-base percentage, and slugging percentage.

He's currently on pace to win the Triple Crown despite being projected to have 43 home runs, 107 RBIs, and a pretty mediocre batting average for a batting champion. The funny part of all this? Judge, who hasn't won a Triple Crown in his career, would've blown Yordan's numbers out of the water in each of the last two seasons:

2024 Judge: .322 BA, 58 HR, 141 RBI, 1.159 OPS, 225 OPS+
2025 Judge: .331 BA, 53 HR, 114 RBI, 1.144 OPS, 211 OPS+
2026 Alvarez (pace): .314 BA, 43 HR, 107 RBI, 1.031 OPS, 190 OPS+

Yordan Alvarez's 2026 season will go down as a historically great MVP season, but his having a Triple Crown after the prior two Judge seasons didn't get that honor will always have a big asterisk next to it.

We know how good he is as a hitter; I didn't have to remind you, but his impact goes far beyond the four or five at-bats he takes in a game.

Aaron Judge's offensive impact, contextualized

The day Judge was placed on the injured list on June 1, the Yankees had the best offense in the American League, averaging 5.16 runs per game with a team wRC+ of 116, the best mark in the majors.

Since then? The team is averaging just 4.06 runs per game with a team wRC+ of 90, two bottom-five marks in baseball. While Judge's historic production can make up a big chunk of that gap, the rest of the team's performance is inexplicable.

There have been other injuries, namely month-long absences from Trent Grisham and Cody Bellinger, with Giancarlo Stanton being M.I.A. since April, but for the most part, it's been the same group scuffling considerably without their captain.

Lineup presence is a real thing, but you don't truly appreciate what it does until you see the focal point of a lineup miss several months. The next two images are a before-and-after of the Yankees' hitters around the Judge injury. See if you can spot a trend:

Obviously, several players here weren't around before and after, but almost everyone got worse after Judge went down. The exceptions being Austin Wells (who's been effective since July after getting over his headaches) and Spencer Jones, who's steadily improved with each call-up and demotion.

Paul Goldschmidt's post-Judge numbers are heavily carried by his mid-June hot streak. Take that out, and the 38-year-old has been extremely mediocre for two months. Cody Bellinger's power has been zapped, and his plate discipline has heavily regressed, although he's looked good since returning from injury. Both José Caballero's and Amed Rosario's relatively hot offensive starts have completely fizzled out.

The real culprit here, however, is the man who's still been objectively good without Judge in Ben Rice. Prior to Judge's injury, the 27-year-old looked like an MVP candidate, but has since been heavily inconsistent, trading scalding hot stretches with deep slumps.

The more you think about it, the more the regression makes sense. For the first 700 or so plate appearances of his pro career, Rice was protected by the best hitter in the sport and was seen as a secondary piece in an offensive juggernaut.

With Judge out, he was seen as the sole threat, especially during injuries to Grisham and Bellinger. He was suddenly seeing the pitcher's best stuff and was the focal point of every scouting report. As good as Rice is, he's not immune to these things, like Judge and the other superstars of the game.

With Judge back, could we get the first half of Rice back heading into the postseason? He's already starting to turn things around over the last week or two.

How he makes the Yankees more dangerous as a unit down the stretch

Bolstering Bellinger and Rice with his sheer presence would be good enough to pair with his season-changing bat. But there are other factors that make Judge's return so crucial for catching the Rays.

For one, obviously, it lengthens the lineup, particularly against left-handed pitching. The Yankees have been utterly putrid against lefties since Judge's injury, hitting to a 92 wRC+ since. In recent weeks, they've been forced to run lineups with at least seven left-handed hitters against righties, making them especially vulnerable to lefties in the bullpen.

While you'll still probably see guys like Heliot Ramos and Paul Goldschmidt in certain matchups, they will no longer be relied on as much. Ramos was batting third against lefties, but can now bat closer to fifth or sixth, especially with Judge, Bellinger, Rice, and Goldschmidt's formidability against lefties.

Lengthening the lineup isn't the only thing; he'll also help the team's defense. While he likely won't be able to dive due to his rib injury, Judge's instincts alone make him an above-average right fielder and also an immediate upgrade over the eyesores of Ramos and Jasson Domínguez out there. With Spencer Jones entrenched now in center field, the Yankees could have one of the best offensive and defensive outfields in the sport again.

IT might be too little, too late for the AL East with the four-game deficit with just 18 games to go, but with things not truly over until the Rays come to Yankee Stadium in two weeks, there's no counting the Yankees out yet, not with the best player in the sport penciled into the lineup every night again.

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