For the 34th consecutive season, the New York Yankees have a winning record. The Yankees won their 82nd game of the season Tuesday night (NYY 5, COL 3) in Aaron Judge's first game back from a fractured rib. Judge went 0 for 3 with two strikeouts in his first action since May 31.
He came out of the game after six innings, as planned. "He won't play the whole game today, even though he wants to," manager Aaron Boone said prior to Tuesday's game. "I'm going to be mindful of that, especially this first week.
He'll probably have one of the days this series off. We'll adjust each night on what we see." The Yankee Stadium crowd gave Judge a standing ovation when he took the field in the top of the first inning, and again when he stepped to the plate in the bottom half. Despite missing more than three months, Judge returned without going on a minor-league rehab assignment.
He looked rusty at the plate -- Judge fouled off two hangers in his first at-bat -- which is understandable. Judge will be built up carefully, hence the early exit. His replacement in right field, Heliot Ramos, hit a three-run homer that proved to be Tuesday's game-winner.
I played half a game," Judge said after Tuesday's game. "That's where my guy Ramos came in and picked me up, and hit a nice little three-run homer there to put the game out (of reach)." The Yankees last had a losing season back in 1992, when they went 76-86 and wasted a Cy Young-caliber season from Melido Perez (2.87 ERA in 247 2/3 innings). Their worst record since 1992 is 82-80 in 2023.
They clinched a winning record on the second-to-last day of the season that year to keep this streak alive. Thirty-four consecutive winning seasons is not only the second-longest such streak in baseball history, it's also the second-longest streak of winning seasons in the history of the four major North American pro sports leagues. Here are the longest streaks of winning seasons: The longest streak of consecutive winning seasons by an MLB team other than the Yankees is 18 by the Baltimore Orioles (1968-85).
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