The Yankees carried a 93-win regular season into October with a roster that had to keep moving while Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Stanton and other veterans were sidelined for long stretches. The payoff was a postseason berth, and a young group led by Spencer Jones and George Lombard Jr. has arrived in the clubhouse with a comfort level that New York spent years building.
| Yankees postseason note | Figure |
|---|---|
| Regular-season victories | 93 |
| AL Wild Card Series Game 1 | Tuesday, 8 p.m. ET |
| Game 1 television | NBC/Peacock |
| Lombard’s Major League debut | Aug. 4 |
| Jones’ Draft selection | First round, 2022 |
A clubhouse lesson passed forward
The roots of that environment reach back to the 2009 championship club. CC Sabathia came to New York with frontline stuff, but his ability to pull a room together mattered just as much. In the years after that title, he became a central veteran voice as the leadership torch moved beyond Derek Jeter and the Core Four era.
Sabathia had entered the Majors when young players could be expected to endure hazing and earn acceptance the hard way. He chose a different approach. In 2017, he and Brett Gardner quickly made room for Judge, then a rookie who helped push the Yankees to Game 7 of the American League Championship Series.
Sabathia said he and Gardner recognized immediately that Judge was the club’s best player and believed the Yankees needed to let him grow into the captain’s role. They saw both his rare talent and the effect he could have around the team.
Judge is now the official captain, and the welcome he received has become part of his own leadership. Jones said last spring that Judge looks after everyone in the room, which is why he wears the captain’s title.
Rookies no longer wait at the door
That was not always the Yankees’ way. Jeter used to recall that, as a rookie, he spoke only after a veteran addressed him. Mickey Mantle encountered a chilly reception from Joe DiMaggio, the star he was ultimately positioned to replace. For a long time, the young player’s assignment was simple: stay quiet and work.
Joe Girardi helped steer the club toward a more inclusive model after becoming manager before the 2008 season. He mixed veterans and rookies in hitting work, defensive sessions and team gatherings, working with bench coach Rob Thomson and mental skills chief Chad Bohling to create groups that would connect.
Girardi remembered arriving in a Major League clubhouse in 1989 and feeling intimidated. He said he wanted newcomers to feel at ease because a rookie might be the player who delivers that night’s winning hit.
Now an analyst for YES Network, Girardi will work the Red Sox-Yankees Wild Card Series for NBC. He has long viewed the Minor Leagues as an organization’s lifeline: injuries are inevitable, and a contender needs replacement players to feel included from the moment they arrive.
Jones and Lombard take their turn
Lombard supplied a vivid example on Aug. 4, when he homered in his Major League debut. He had spent Spring Training learning from established teammates, specifically citing Paul Goldschmidt and Cody Bellinger. Lombard described the daily chance to be around experienced players and absorb their stories as a joy.
Jones, one of New York’s most productive hitters with runners in scoring position, has turned to Judge for guidance since the Yankees drafted him in the first round in 2022. At 6-foot-7, Jones meets Judge nearly eye to eye, but he has looked up to the captain in the ways that count.
Jones said Judge has been in every player’s corner, including his own for several years, and that a young player could hardly ask for a better mentor.
The Yankees open their AL Wild Card Series on Tuesday night carrying more than a strong regular-season record. Their rookies have been asked to contribute, not merely survive. That difference in clubhouse culture helped get New York here, and it will be tested again when October starts.
