From a personal standpoint, it has been a glorious offseason for New York Yankees superstar slugger Aaron Judge. He and his wife welcomed their first child at the end of January. Though, from the outlook of a professional ballplayer, it was presumably an agonizingly long winter for the two-time MVP. In his last taste of MLB action, Game 5 of the 2024 World Series, Judge made a costly and inexplicable fielding error.

The 32-year-old is surely itching to officially put that devastating moment behind him. The best way to do that is by doing what he does best: tearing the cover off the baseball. Well, fans will have to wait a bit longer before seeing Judge compete in a game.

New York opens up spring training play on Friday afternoon versus the Tampa Bay Rays, but Judge is not in the lineup and won't be for a while. Manager Aaron Boone, who just signed a contract extension with the Yankees, is targeting March 1 as the franchise cornerstone's spring debut, per ESPN's Jorge Castillo. Boone has the same date in mind for catcher Austin Wells, who is slowly ramping up.

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Although Judge is healthy, Boone wants to limit injury risk and keep his top guy relatively fresh going into the 2025 season. Winning the Grapefruit League is of no importance to the organization. After reaching the World Series last year, this club is in championship or bust mode moving forward.

The loss of Juan Soto could complicate those lofty ambitions and affect how pitchers approach Judge, but the lineup contains an interesting mix of established and young talent. The captain holds it all together. Following a fantastic campaign that included a .322 batting average, 58 home runs, 144 RBIs and a 1.159 OPS, Aaron Judge is determined to lead New York to another pennant.

But in order to boost the Yankees to MLB's pinnacle, he will probably have to exorcise his playoff demons, once and for all. Before Judge can overcome his October adversity, he must properly prepare himself for the long regular season. That process begins at spring training in Tampa, Florida.

Judge will look on as the Yanks face the Rays on Friday, starting at 1:05 p.m. ET.