Aaron Judge would trade all his accolades for that one title that has eluded the New York Yankees for 16 long years. Going into the seventeenth year, neither Judge nor the Bronx fans want the World Series drought to continue. But how much pressure are they actually facing heading into the season? The Athletic’s Jayson Stark conducted a survey asking the same question to 36 executives, former executives, managers, coaches, and scouts.

With 10 votes piled up for the Yankees, the MLB insider pondered the long-standing World Series drought faced by the franchise. Stark warned that if this continues, Red Sox Nation might just get a chance to exact its revenge on Bronx fans for the old insult. Yankees fans definitely won’t like being on the receiving end of it.

According to Stark, one rival executive said, “It’s been so long since they won that pretty soon, those Red Sox fans are going to start chanting, ‘2009,’ the way the Yankees fans used to chant, ‘1918,’ at them.”

The Red Sox faced a World Series drought from 1918 to 2004. Popularly known as the Curse of the Bambino, the championship drought was linked to the sale of Babe Ruth, nicknamed Bambino, to the Yankees. Bronx fans regularly chanted “1918” to taunt the Red Sox until Boston ended their championship drought in 2004. But as the Yankees go year after year without a ring, some feel Red Sox Nation might take a similar approach with Bronx fans.

The Yankees earned their 27th and most recent World Series win against the Philadelphia Phillies in 2009. The last time they entered the World Series was in 2024, when they lost to the Los Angeles Dodgers. The Dodgers have pocketed back-to-back World Series wins over the last two seasons.

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Multiple franchises have faced championship droughts; the Cleveland Guardians, for example, haven’t won one since 1948. But the implications are not the same for the Yankees, and the team itself is partly responsible for that. Since their prime years, the Yankees have built their reputation as championship winners. Their 27 World Series rings speak to that fact. Naturally, when it comes to the Yankees, the championship drought becomes more glaring than ever.

Stark wrote, “Here’s a partial list of teams that have won a World Series since the last time the Yankees won one, in 2009: Royals, Nationals, Rangers, Astros, the cursed Cubs. And should we mention that the hated Red Sox have won two of them in that span? Yeah, sure.”

Each year they go without one, the pressure mounts on Judge and the team. Entering the season with almost a similar team as in 2025, Bronx fans will be watching closely to see how they fare this season.

Aaron Judge appears to be on the right track

The Yankees played their first game of Spring Training at Steinbrenner Field on Saturday. They registered a 20–3 victory against the Detroit Tigers to begin the Grapefruit League.

Aaron Judge, who is scheduled to leave for the World Baseball Classic in March, hit a pair of home runs yesterday. Unlike the Judge, who slowly eases into Spring Training games to be ready by April, he looked like he was already in form.

As per the New York Post, Judge said, “Even going back to last year, [I was] trying to get more at-bats early on so that I could be ready in April. Felt like that worked out for us, and I’m trying to do the same thing that we did last year.”

Last season, Judge averaged .331, smashing 53 home runs with a 1.145 OPS in 152 games. Considering he has started even earlier this year, he could end up having even better at-bats.

Judge will be captaining Team USA in the WBC. About his WBC campaign, the soon-to-be 34-year-old Yankees captain said, “But also at the WBC, you don’t want to get exposed, man. You’re playing for your country, so you’ve got to be ready to go,” reported the New York Post.

Judge will be playing against the New York Mets as a designated hitter on Sunday.