As captain of the New York Yankees, Aaron Judge knows he can barely go a day during the baseball season without the media hounding him.

Not only does the pressure not wear on him, he embraces it. So much so that he does what he can to tell players on other teams about his experience with the most storied franchise in American sports.

“I try to talk to everyone, the guys who aren’t Yankees,” Judge told USA Today's Bob Nightengale, “and tell them just how special this franchise is. And how special it is to play in front of these fans.”

He added that he knows the fans are demanding — and not just in the postseason. They expect a hit every at bat and a win every night in a sport where the best teams will lose more than 50 times a season and the best players will make outs in 70 percent of their at bats.

In fact, that pressure is part of the reason he came back to New York in the 2022-23 offseason on a nine-year, $360 million contract.

“That’s another reason why I wanted to come back and play for the Yankees. Just that expectation and that level of focus you need to have on a daily basis,” Judge added. “It’s one of a kind. So I try to tell everyone how special it is, especially at the All-Star Game.

“There’s nothing in the world like it.”

Yankees captain Aaron Judge opens up about World Series error

New York Yankees outfielder Aaron Judge (99) drops a fly ball during the fifth inning against the Los Angeles Dodgers during game five of the 2024 MLB World Series at Yankee Stadium.
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Judge holds the American League single-season home run record and is cruising to the top of most Yankees all-time batting lists.

He's still missing a World Series ring.

And while he and the Yankees reached the Fall Classic last year, they lost to the Los Angeles Dodgers, 4-1. After dropping the first three in the series, the Yankees took Game 4 and were primed to force the series back to Los Angeles for a Game 6. But with the Yankees leading 5-0 in Game 5 in the fifth inning, a comedy of errors brought the Dodgers back into what turned out to be the series-clinching game.

It started with a dropped fly ball from Judge.

“Stuff like that happens,” Judge said. “I’ve just got to make the play. There were five other plays after that could have changed the course of that. Really, you kind of dismiss it right after the play happens.”

That's not Judge being dismissive of his error. It's the next-play mentality that players need in New York in order to keep their sanity.

“What are you going to do?” Judge added. “People want to talk about it, do this and that. It happened. It happened. There’s nothing that can change that.”