MLB playoffs are here. Time for the Yankees and Aaron Judge to go to work

Robert Caro, a former Newsday reporter who became a literary sensation 50 years ago with the publication of his Pulitzer Prize-winning “The Power Broker,” opened that seminal book about master builder/urban planner Robert Moses with a quote from Sophocles:

“One must wait until evening to see how splendid the day has been.”

By any objective measure, the Yankees’ 2024 season has been splendid.

To this point, anyway.

Those among the fanbase and media who see every game, and sometimes every at-bat taken or every pitch thrown, as some kind of referendum on the Yankees’ World Series chances no doubt see it differently.

But facts are facts.

In a severely flawed American League, the Yankees, showing themselves to be slightly less flawed than the rest, toppled the defending champion and overwhelming preseason favorite Orioles in the AL East.

After an 82-80 fourth-place-out-of-the-playoffs finish in 2023 — a train wreck of a year that caused embarrassment and self-introspection throughout the organization, though not in all of the areas of the organization it should have — the Yankees, rode a roller coaster at times in going an AL-best 94-68.

And now, it’s the slow wait for the start of what Aaron Judge over the years has called “the real season.” For the Yankees, that begins Saturday at the Stadium against the winner of this week’s best-of-three Wild Card series between the Orioles and Royals in Baltimore.

“You go through 162 games, and I feel like we’ve been through a ton as a team this year. To end up with the best record in the American League, I think it’s something to be proud of and these guys should be proud of,” said seventh-year manager Aaron Boone, who is in the final year of a three-year contract (his club option for 2025 is a near certainty to be exercised, barring the unforeseen). "They’ve answered every challenge this year. It hasn’t always been easy, but proud of the fact we’ve put ourselves in this position to take our shot and we’re excited about that.”

An achievement, yes, but an achievement that will be relegated to meaningless — at least to the team’s biggest star — without a championship.

“For me, yeah, it is [a failure] because that’s what we play for,” Judge told Newsday toward the end of the season, one in which he put up numbers pretty much a lock to garner him a second AL MVP Award in three seasons. “You’re playing for that ring, that trophy at the end of the year. So who cares about your stats? Who cares about any personal stuff?”

Judge’s stats, of course, were otherworldly. The 2022 AL MVP put together an even more impressive year overall in 2024.

Though Judge didn’t match the 62 homers from 2022 — he “settled” for 58 — he bettered himself in every other offensive category of significance, including batting average (.322 vs. .311 in 2022), RBIs (144 vs. 131), on-base percentage (.458 vs. .425), slugging (.701 vs. .686), OPS (1.159 vs. 1.111) and total bases (392 vs. 391).

“That’s great, but all that stuff is for is to put yourself in a better position in the postseason,” Judge said. “We play well, and you do well, your team’s going to be in a better position to give yourself a chance to win the World Series. And so, if you ultimately don’t win the World Series, it’s not what we’re looking for. Especially coming here, and everywhere we walk around Yankee Stadium, all you see are guys that have won it, you see the banners of World Series champions. I don't think there’s a single picture of any of us. So that stings. That means you haven’t done anything. That means we’ve got to do something.”

The pursuit of that something officially begins Saturday in the Bronx.

Early October. But evening on the baseball calendar.

The start of the opportunity to see for real just how splendid the season has been.