Yikes. Something no baseball fan ever wants to hear; an MVP candidate and fan favorite player to be out of the game because of injury. The back has bite the bullet for OF Aaron Judge who suffered a mild hip strain against the Texas Rangers last Wednesday.

2022 AL MVP and debatably the single season HR leader; Aaron Judge is set to end the first month of the season on the injured list.

After 62 bombs hit in 2022 Judge starts his new season on a bit of a shlump compared to what he is used to doing. He definitely is flaking under the spotlight as Soren with an already league leading 35 strikeouts. He’s always had a high strikeout rate but he hasn’t been that aggressive at the plate as he was last year.

He must be putting too much pressure on himself to repeat his MVP season because he doesn’t look like the same phenom hitter he was last year. He showed signs with his first homer of the year coming on the first AB he saw on opening day which extended his record from last season with over 45 games played with a run driven in.

Hope Aaron Judge comes back healthier than before and this just becomes a small setback on his journey to being a leading MVP candidate a second year in a row. He has tough competition in the AL with 3x MVP, the GOAT of the game; Mike Trout or superstar Astros Yordan Alvarez and Kyle Tucker doing what they do every year to make the race tighter and harder to decide. Or even Mr. ‘ShoTime’ Ohtani whose hitting like Rose and pitching like Seaver is the predicted MVP candidate to take home the gold.

There is a lot of hyped competition coming for the MVP and loosing Judge out in this tight race would not just suck for Yankee fans but would suck for all of baseball. Loosing a crucial component of the games entertainment aspect stretches farther than just the players on your team, it’s about appreciating the superstars this wonderful game has and gets to experience everyday.