New York is off to a fantastic start this year, owners of a 24-11 record after sweeping the Orioles in a four-game set that wound up giving us four straight blowouts, even if one of those games was a bit of a nail-biter until the last inning. They’ve found their offensive groove to match their dominant starting pitching, giving them a fantastic chance of winning on any given day, but it’s been the efforts of two men in particular that have given the offense its jump start.
Aaron Judge is no stranger
to putting the lineup on his back at times, having played at an MVP level for four consecutive seasons and earning the literal award three out of those four years. The captain has been the driving force of the Yankee offense — when he’s on, good things can happen at any time with one swing, and the hitters around him all benefit from pitchers being scared to face him. There have been plenty of names written in ahead of and behind him in the batting order for just this reason, but none have been clicking as well as Ben Rice has been to start this 2026 season. Rice owns MLB’s best OPS at a 1.214 mark thus far, and he’s slugged out 12 home runs to Judge’s 14, with several of the latter’s coming just after Rice launched one to close the gap on him.
Judge sits tied with White Sox standout Munetaka Murakami for the Major League lead in home runs, and Rice is in a three-way tie for second right behind them. For all the years that the Yankees have had the prodigious slugging power of Judge and Giancarlo Stanton in their lineup, the two have never both threatened to top the leaderboard since joining forces, and while Juan Soto put up a then-career best 41 homers in his one-year stint in pinstripes that came nowhere close to matching Judge’s 58 bombs in 2024. Rice presents the first chance in the Judge era of pairing him with a hitter capable of going tit-for-tat with him in the power category, should the third-year first baseman continue to hold this elite form he’s showcased.
Rice is currently dealing with a minor setback, having suffered a hand contusion in Sunday’s game while fielding a pickoff attempt from Max Fried, but the injury doesn’t appear to be serious and he should be back in the lineup over the course of the next day or two. Outside of this, Rice has had a clean bill of health and played in 138 games last year, his first full season in the majors. That year showcased the potential talent that he’s capitalized on this season, as his rate stats screamed off the chart while his batted balls fell in the hands of deaf gloves, an absurdly unlucky performance that still netted him 26 bombs and 3.0 fWAR. He’s already approaching that value in a quarter of the amount of games played, and is nearly halfway to matching that high-water mark in homers.
Should he continue to rake at the level he’s been, he’ll easily set a new career-high in home runs, but the question is how far he can take it. Judge, as we’ve seen over the years, is good for 50ish home runs so long as he’s healthy, and this year looks to be no exception, but can Rice climb that plateau with him? Only one pair of teammates in history have done so, the famous 1961 duo of Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris. And how long can they both stay atop MLB’s charts? Murakami shows no signs of slowing down in his first season stateside, and there’s the dangerous Yordan Alvarez and a revitalized Matt Olson in the mix. You’ll forgive me for doubting whether Mickey Moniak will stay near the top for long, but he’s got 11 breathing fresh air out in Colorado, and Kyle Schwarber continues to hit dingers even as the Phillies struggle to dig themselves out of their early slump.
I think the two can stay in the race for the long haul, and perhaps challenge Mantle and Maris’ status in the process, but this may be the closest it stays neck-and-neck. Judge is heating up after putting up what were, for him, pedestrian numbers earlier in April, and the Captain on a true heater is the most untouchable hitter in baseball. It’s only natural that at some point Rice will encounter a slump and his pace will slow down, but he has truly impressed to even be in this conversation and he seems to excel with the challenge of keeping up.
As we wake up to a new series ahead of the Yankees, Jeff starts us off with a series preview of the pitching matchups we’ll see the Rangers roll out. Peter has the Rivalry Roundup, with the Rays elevated to the top of the list befitting their place in the standings, Sam wishes Bob Cerv a happy birthday and reflects on his days in pinstripes, and Michael recaps the past week down in the minors. After that, John takes the time to get into the etymology of the nickname the Bronx Bombers and Peter returns to deliver the At-Bat of the Week, courtesy of Jasson Domínguez and his Sunday showcase at the plate.
Today’s Matchup
New York Yankees vs. Texas Rangers
Time: 7:05 p.m. EST
Video: YES Network, Rangers Sports Network
