Yankees' Biggest Weakness That Must Be Fixed Ahead of the MLB Postseason

The Yankees have a clear weakness they need to address before October rolls around, and Aaron Judge is a big part of the solution.

Aaron Judge's return to the New York Yankees is especially important for shoring up this offensive weakness. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

The New York Yankees officially punched their ticket to the MLB postseason on Monday night. Although a loss by the Toronto Blue Jays is what brought the magic number to zero, the Yankees made sure to celebrate with a win by staging an impressive comeback against the Minnesota Twins.

Despite the victory, Monday's game in Minnesota was not pretty at all. Between early offensive struggles against a mediocre at-best pitching staff and some sloppy defense that resulted in runs scoring, the Yankees can't afford to make this many mistakes when the stakes are the highest. New York's pitching staff makes them a serious threat in October, but there's still cause for concern in a few areas.

Unsurprisingly, the biggest weakness involves the offense, which largely struggled when Aaron Judge was on the injured list. Judge is back now, and his huge three-run homer last night could be a sign of returning to form, yet the lineup still has an issue holding it back.

Cap is back 🫡#ALLRISE 👨‍⚖️ pic.twitter.com/1yoTZIaJTN

— New York Yankees (@Yankees) September 15, 2026

The Yankees' lineup needs to get off to faster starts

Of the eight runs the Bronx Bombers scored against the Twins, seven of them came in the final two innings. But prior to the six-run eighth inning that fueled the comeback, New York had only three baserunners and two hits in the first seven frames.

Exacerbating this slow start is the starting pitcher the Yankees were facing. Dean Kremer has been poor this season and entered Monday with an ugly 5.65 ERA, yet he allowed only two hits (one of them a Jose Caballero home run) and a walk while striking out five over 5.2 innings. Doing next to nothing against a struggling pitcher only puts more pressure on the Yankees' pitching staff to be perfect, and defensive miscues in the bottom of the sixth put New York behind 2-1 despite a strong effort from Will Warren.

Unfortunately, slow starts have been a recurring issue for the Yankees this season. They've scored only 74 first-inning runs, tied for the ninth-fewest in MLB. When Judge was out from June 1 to September 7, they scored a meager 25 runs in the first inning, by far the fewest of any team over that span. From July 21 to August 25, the Yankees went 23 consecutive games without scoring a run in the first inning.

Yankees have gone 22 straight games without scoring a run in the first inning pic.twitter.com/6hrRneRmxc

— Talkin' Yanks (@TalkinYanks) August 23, 2026

If the Yankees want to make any noise in the postseason and alleviate stress on the pitching, they need to score early and score more often, though the latter is its own issue. The good news is that Judge can directly address the first-inning woes.

Aaron Judge's first inning dominance

Since 2024, Judge has put up video game numbers in the first inning. He's hit 45 first-inning home runs from 2024 to 2026, including an incredible 20 round-trippers in 2025. This season, in just 65 games, Judge hit seven first-inning homers and is slashing .273/.365/.691 with a 1.056 OPS and 189 wRC+.

Aaron Judge CRUSHES this ball 💪

It's his 90th career first-inning homer! pic.twitter.com/qoi7BULvu2

— MLB (@MLB) April 19, 2026

Those numbers have gone down over the past couple of games because Judge is still trying to find his timing at the plate after missing over three months. But his big home run on Monday night could indicate that he's finally locked in and ready to begin a hot streak.

Getting Judge's world-beating form in the first inning of games moving forward significantly increases the likelihood of the Yankees putting up early runs, and with how great the pitching has been, that early offense puts the team in the driver's seat right away.

Judge alone won't solve this problem, though: the Yankees still need Ben Rice, Cody Bellinger, Luis Garcia Jr., and others to get on base or provide some pop if Judge doesn't hit one over the fence.

Fortunately, Rice has settled in nicely as the leadoff hitter lately, Bellinger is hitting .306 since returning from the IL on August 23, and Garcia has raked since coming over at the trade deadline. Those four should create a very strong top of the order down the stretch.

If the Yankees can start scoring earlier, they can quickly take control of games with their dominant pitching. And with Judge gradually returning to form, they're getting closer to turning a major weakness into a strength.

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