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The New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox are set to reignite the storied rivalry in the postseason as they square off in the American League Wild Card series, starting on Tuesday.
Ahead of the much-anticipated clash, Red Sox manager Alex Cora was asked about AL MVP contender Aaron Judge and his historic season. Cora explained how Judge proved everyone wrong by taking his game up a notch after former teammate Juan Soto's departure to the New York Mets.
"That everybody thought he wasn't going to be able to do it because he didn't have Soto in the lineup. And he was the best hitter in the league," Cora said on what impressed him the most about the Yankees captain. "Think about batting average - I know people don't value it, but he hit .330 when guys are hitting .240. That's special.
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"He hits the ball out of the ballpark, he's a good baserunner, obviously a little banged up defensively but he's really good out there. Impressive."
Judge won his maiden batting title after leading the league with a career-high .331 batting average. Judge also led the league in on-base percentage (1.144) and slugging percentage, the first player since Detroit Tigers legend Miguel Cabrera (2012) to lead the league in all three categories.
Alex Cora remembered his "eye opening" moment with Aaron Judge
Aaron Judge has not been too severe on the Red Sox this season but is still batting .287 with a 1.008 OPS against the arch rivals and Alex Cora is aware of that.
"Early in the season, before we faced them, I was watching like, 'man, this is tremendous. Eye-opening,'" Cora said. "Just because of the fact that Juan went to the Mets, and people were like, 'oh, they're going to pitch around him and he's not going to get pitches to hit,' whatever. Nah. He's that good."
Judge has batted .300-plus in three of his last four seasons and credited MLB legends Albert Pujols and Miguel Cabrera for his fixation with the stat.
“Those guys always hit above .300," Judge said. "The power just came with it. That’s always been a goal of mine, to hit above .300.”
One of the biggest criticisms of Judge has been his underwhelming postseason numbers, and the Yankees captain will be hoping to get over the hump this season.
