SAN FRANCISCO — Of course, Aaron Judge was booed on MLB Opening Night here.
And he probably deserved it. After all, the reigning American League MVP completed the “Golden Sombrero” — striking out four of the five times he came to the plate against his hometown team, a team he spurned in free agency to stay with the New York Yankees.
But when he left the Bay, after the Yankees’ three-game sweep of the San Francisco Giants, they remembered why they wanted him so bad. Judge hit a homer in each of the final two games of the series.
On Saturday, Judge went yard for a solo home run that hit the top of an ambulance in left field parked in the tunnel.
It’s not that Judge is a bad guy, a player you can’t stand on sight. It simply goes with the job of being the best player on the planet.
“I think never, I think never,” said Judge when asked by reporters if he had ever hit a homer off the roof of an ambulance to reporters. “Glad I was able to give us one more run and give our pitching staff a little bit more cushion to win the ballgame.’’
Giants’ fans have now seen Judge go 6-0 with the Yankees at Oracle Park, hitting .348 with five home runs and nine RBI in just six career games here.
They have to believe he’s the best player in baseball.
Judge, 33, enters the 2026 season as the best — and most-feared — hitter in the game and it isn’t even close.
The goal and mission this season for Judge is to continue solidifying his spot as the greatest right-handed hitter we have seen. And, of course, finally win a World Series.
Judge is built differently. He plays above the noise. Never gets too high or too low. And striking out each of his first four at-bats of the season won’t change anything. This Yankees team is good. Make no mistake about it. Last season, they tied the Toronto Blue Jays with 94 wins. The Jays won the division because of the tiebreaker.
But what most people always forget is that the Yankees lost their ace for the season. Gerrit Cole didn’t throw a pitch. He will be back on the hill sooner than later. And the Yankees will have a chance to get back to the World Series for the second time in three years.
Until Judge holds up that World Series trophy, boos will follow him. Still, he is simply a monster at the plate. The biggest proof came last season when he won his second straight AL MVP award against Cal Raleigh, a catcher who hit a record-setting 60 home runs from behind the plate.
And it still wasn’t enough to take Judge down. Last season was historic with 53 HRs and his first batting title with a .331 average. He led the league in key categories, boasting a 9.7 bWar and a 1.144 OPS.
Judge became the 13th player in MLB history to win at least three MVPs and the first Yankees player to win back-to-back MVPs since Roger Maris.
Nonetheless, it didn’t stop the boos for Judge when he stepped to the plate as the second batter in the first inning in the opener.
“A lot of friends, a lot of family,” Judge said. “A lot of boos.”
“I love it. This is a ballpark I grew up coming to and watching, watching a lot of great players come through here.”
When the 2026 season is over, many fans, not just Yankees fans, will finally cheer Judge.
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Editor’s Note: This version of the story has been edited due to space constraints. The full story can be read at MLBbro.com.