The New York Yankees are in a slump, and their captain, Aaron Judege’s bat has gone cold. Judge is 1-for-23 in his last six games. However, manager Aaron Boone says the approach is fine.

The Yankees’ 4-2 loss to the Tampa Bay Rays on Friday dropped them 5.5 games behind the first place. Instead of sounding the alarm, Boone sees the problems but seems to be in denial.

“I thought we swung the bats well tonight,” Boone told reporters after the loss. “Aaron Judge had a good at-bat tonight, you know, smokes two balls and works the walk… we didn’t have much to show for, but tonight, unlike the last two where we’ve been shut down, I was encouraged with what I saw with the offense.”

We are not even halfway through the 2026 season, and the Yankees’ offense is starting to fall short. After a 4–2 loss to the Rays, manager Aaron Boone said that the team looked good at the plate and was not as bad as in the last two games. And he is right; the Yankees scored just one run in the last two games and also got shut out by the Jays.

However, this comparison ignores the real issue that the team is not scoring runs. The Yankees have now gone 4–10 in their last 14 games, with 9 games producing 3 runs or fewer. Over their last three games, they scored just three total runs. They went a miserable 3-for-22 with runners in scoring position.

At the center of all this is Aaron Judge. The reigning batting champion’s average has dropped to .250. He has now gone 11 games without a home run or an RBI. And in his last six games, Aaron Judge is 1-for-23. Austin Wells hit a solo homer on Friday, but the rest of the lineup looks lost when Judge is struggling

Boone pointed out that Aaron Judge, who is going through a rough patch on his own, made good, hard contact and showed discipline at the plate. However, making good, hard contact means nothing if the hitters can’t produce when it counts. Opposing pitchers have figured out how to attack Judge right now. Data from Baseball Savant shows pitchers are throwing him a lot of breaking and offspeed pitches outside the strike zone. And it is working. Judge’s chase rate has jumped to almost 26%.

Back in 2025, the New York Yankees went through a similar problem between June and July. They went 20–30 over a 50-game stretch and lost control of the AL East.

That run included a six-game losing streak, and at one point, they had lost 16 out of 22 games. That offense looked like it couldn’t hit a beach ball during that time, the time exactly when Aaron Judge also looked like he was not at his best. During that stretch, Judge also hit the IL, which made things worse for the Yankees.

In 2026, some signs feel painfully similar. The Yankees are 30–22 in the league after starting the season with an 18-10 record. The Rays have now won 22 of their last 26 games and lead the division by 5.5 games. Tampa Bay has also defeated New York in all four meetings this season, including another late comeback win on Friday. Boone sees positives in contact quality, but if the team can’t score, this could start sliding toward another midseason fall like 2025.

The fans are scared exactly of that and want to see things change fast.

The Yankees fans are not happy with Aaron Boone’s comment after the recent loss

The recent comments made by Aaron Boone on the Yankees’ offense swinging well at the plate have not been taken well by fans, as the team’s scoring is the problem.

“Typical Boone press relations nonsense which becomes more absurd every season,” one frustrated Yankees fan wrote after a painful loss to the Rays on Friday night.

And the fan is right about Boone trying to defend his players even when the team is not doing well. Back in 2025, Boone said, “We’re the best team in the league,” despite 16 losses across 22 games. Boone, back then, said that the offense was not even their main concern, but when the postseason came, it clearly was. They got outscored 34-19 by the Blue Jays and lost the ALDS.

“Hits are good, but RBIs matter. Yanks have to start hitting clutch,” perfectly captures the frustration of the fan.

During that 2025 stretch, the Yankees went 0-for-14 with runners in scoring position against the Mariners, and 3-for-13 in a big loss to the Orioles. It cost them the division title.

“You could find this clip in any season during June,” hits harder because fans have watched Boone come out and give the same statement almost every year.

Back in 2023, Boone said that the batters who were struggling were “capable of doing damage offensively,” but things went south fast. With Judge missing major time due to a ligament tear in his right big toe, the Yankees fell off and finished the season fourth in the division and didn’t even make the postseason.

“If we lost, then we didn’t swing the bats well,” reflects frustration growing around the Yankees’ offensive inconsistency. And the fan is right.

Although the Yankees did get 11 hits against the Rays in their 4-2 loss, only two made any impact. It was the same against the Mets in their 6-3 loss, when they got 9 hits but managed to score only 3 runs. So, the swings might be good, but they are not doing much to help the team win.

“Judge had good at-bats? Bro, he is 0-15 with 9K in his last 4 games,” reflects reality.

Aaron Judge is currently stuck in a miserable 1-for-24 slide. Against the Rays on Friday, Judge finished 0-for-4, flying out to the warning track to end the game. That performance extended his RBI drought to a career-high 11 games. With no impact from their star captain, the team looks like a shadow of itself.

And the fans are more frustrated with Aaron Boone than with the team. Because the fans understand that every season, there is a stretch when the Yankees hit a slump but bounce back well. But with him trying to cover for the team even during the slump, fans are questioning if they are watching the same team as Boone.