Visualization of Aaron Judge's dominance proves Yankees lineup is in a tough spot

Reporting that Aaron Judge is the most dominant hitter in baseball is akin to proclaiming water is wet. It's the no-duh of no-duhs. However, as we're all caught up in the New York Yankees-Cody Bellinger battle, it's important to take a step back and truly consider how much Judge truly means to the lineup.

The Yankees' lineup wasn't just potent last season; it was the best in the game in many important statistics. The club scored the most runs (849) and hit the most home runs (274) in all of baseball. Their 10.2% walk rate, .455 SLG, and .787 OPS were all first-place marks. New York was the only team to post an ISO over .200, coming in at .204, significantly higher than the second-place mark of .188 by the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Those numbers in totality make it seem like the Yankees were running out a modern day Murders' Row. However, much of that can be attributed to Judge's brilliance.

Codify Baseball posted a visualization of the top hitters in the sport, ranked by OPS+ over the last four seasons on Twitter/X, and Judge's performance, which garnered him three AL MVP awards in the span, sticks out like a sore thumb.

Judge comes in at a 209 mark, well ahead of Shohei Ohtani's 174 performance. Let's put that in context for a second. Not only was Judge 35% better than Ohtani as a hitter in that time span, but that gap is almost equivalent to the canyon between Trea Turner (121 OPS+) and Anthony Volpe (83 OPS+) last season. Think about how massive that is. It's mind-boggling.

Now consider how that unfathomable performance buoyed the Yankees' lineup as a whole when we discussed where they ranked as a team in 2025. Without Judge, or without Judge performing at that Babe Ruth-like level, the Yankees could be in big trouble.

Aaron Judge's dominance hides a lot of cracks in the Yankees' lineup

Third base, between the motley crew New York ran out at the position in the first half and Ryan McMahon's struggles down the stretch, was a black hole. So too were shortstop and catcher. Without any meaningful upgrades again, the entire bottom third of the Yankees' lineup will be well below average.

Now, let's think about how likely all of the following are to continue. Trent Grisham continues hitting as he did in 2025, and not like the sub-.200 hitter he was nearly every other season of his career. Giancarlo Stanton (158 OPS+ in 2025) continues his turn back the clock performance (and stays healthy) and doesn't revert to the roughly 110-115 OPS+ bat he's been the last handful of seasons. Ben Rice's adjustments stick, and he even takes a step forward from his stellar numbers last season instead of proving that was a fluke.

It's a good bet that one (or more) of those outcomes listed above don't come true. If that happens, the Yankees would be in a bad way. They'd also been in a rough spot if Judge were to regress to his pre-2022 form. As ridiculous as that sounds, Judge was a roughly 150 OPS+ hitter before this current run, and while that's exceptional, it's a far cry from a 209 mark. If he were to suffer a long-term injury, things would become even more bleak.

This isn't to say that Cody Bellinger is the antidote, because he's not. Bellinger's been inconsistent in recent years, and even at his best he's not enough to offset all of these questions.

The point is, the Yankees have done a woeful job building a complete lineup because they've had the benefit of Judge being superhuman. Look at the Chicago Cubs as an example. They're set to lose Kyle Tucker, but even despite that they had only one regular post an OPS+ below 100 (Matt Shaw, a former top prospect who posted a 98 mark in his rookie season). Every other hitter in their lineup was above average, and the team ranked in the top five of nearly every offensive category. They can sustain the loss of Tucker, but the Yankees would be decimated without Judge.

So much for maximizing Judge's prime. While there are legitimate bright spots that could blossom into future stars, like Ben Rice, what the Yankees have done is not enough. Judge has to carry the weight of the world on his shoulders, and as he moves into his mid-30s, that's going to become an unreasonable ask eventually.