Did Aaron Judge really unfollow Yankees on Twitter, Instagram?

Aaron Judge is entering into unprecedented territory this offseason after the New York Yankees lowballed him in the spring (OK, fine, at the time, it seemed like they’d fairballed him).

Judge will enter free agency, and though he’s clearly stated time and again that he’d prefer to return to the pinstripes — and owns an entire closet of “New York or Nowhere” sweatshirts, that doesn’t guarantee anything. The Yankees have to reciprocate his desires with a fair and balanced checkbook.

Since this is 2022, everyone who’s not involved in the proceedings has one goal in Judge’s process: stir up and uncover as much drama as possible. A perfect opportunity presented itself on Thursday night, when whoever runs Bleacher Report’s social media accounts found the golden ticket: Judge wasn’t following the Yankees on Instagram and Twitter.

When did he hit the unfollow button?! Was it … in the early morning hours after Game 4, as he contemplated making the last out? Was it sometime after the “receiving line” of goodbyes he experienced with local reporters (per Randy Miller, who can’t wait for Judge to go to San Francisco for some reason)? Inquiring minds had to know!

Well … as it turns out, Judge never followed the Yankees on either platform, for whatever reason. This rumor dates back to summer 2021. Sorry, hawks. You got scooped.

No, Aaron Judge did not unfollow the Yankees on Twitter and Instagram

And now, the mathematicians in charge of discerning the odds of Judge’s return head right back to the drawing board. “OK, so kissing the logo … carry the three and solve for X … adjust for an imitation unfollowing … yeah, OK, so this isn’t math, there’s no formula here.”

When Judge makes his free agency decision, it will have less than nothing to do with his social media behavior, even though an immediate “unfollowing” certainly did sound like a frightful harbinger.

It will have everything to do with the guarantees his future team can promise him. Will they be able to spend around his contract and deliver a winner? Will they evaluate his talent fairly? Will they dangle an additional carrot, like the captaincy or a return home?

Judge has one shot at a massive, long-term pay day, and will turn 31 midway through next season. He’s not taking this decision lightly, and he’s not one to play games on social media weeks before his contract discussions are due to reach a resolution.

But … wait, why wasn’t he following the Yankees in the first place?!