Yankees will lose Aaron Judge forever starting next week

In for a Penny, In for a Pound

But Judge seems like the type to make his presence felt. He showed that when he hit a home run as an answer to taunting fans. That might remain another story just for us. So it seems likely that viewers will be rewarded by seeing the kind of home runs that are usually only seen by showing up early to a game in the Bronx.

a They will see what we see every day and make the same noises of awe and appreciation. National journalists will make the same jokes and comparisons we have bandied about for these last three months. Only there are a lot more of “them” and they are everywhere.

The NYC takes a piece of Judge every time he plays. After this, those parts will be divided up and spread out over the baseball world.

While there is reason to lament this inevitable change, we must acknowledge that this was all predetermined by the baseball gods. Just look at the portentous chain of events.

Judge made an impression before even one at-bat in the majors. That put extra eyes on him from the beginning. But in his first big league stint, he failed in historic fashion, albeit with one positive historic footnote. All of that failure, however, only set the stage for act two, The Rising.