Yankees Fun Facts from 2025

We saw more of the same from the Yankees in 2025. They're a sometimes great, sometimes awful, highly flawed, but overall pretty good baseball team. That earned them a spot in the MLB playoffs - as they've done in eight of the last nine seasons - but they also fell short of their stated goal in every one of those seasons. You can guarantee that the Yankees' brain trust won't do enough this offseason to get them out of "pretty good" purgatory in 2026. Lather, rinse, repeat. As a New York Giants fan I know it could be a lot worse, so I won't complain much more about this.

Instead, let's focus on what the 2025 Yankees accomplished in the context of franchise history. There were some pleasant surprises, a near miss, and another transcendent season from an all-time great. Despite a disappointing result, there was plenty of fun to be had in 2025.

Some Yankees earned a seat in franchise history in 2025, and they didn't even have to buy it from Steiner Sports!

Kanesue/Wikimedia Commons

Pitchers were winning again

It's no secret that the pitcher win as a statistic is becoming less and less meaningful as bullpen arms throw increasingly harder and more frequently. Starting pitchers are now simply a manager's bridge to hopefully building a lead and choking the life out of a game with a string of max-effort relievers that defy physics with every pitch. The second that bridge shows signs of collapsing, a manager has a fistful of options ready to reinforce it with 100 MPH fastballs and frisbee sweepers. Gone are the days of a starter working through trouble to "earn" the victory for his team.

Despite the current baseball climate, two Yankee starters racked up at least 18 wins in 2025. Even more surprising, neither of them was named Gerrit Cole, who sat out the entire year after Tommy John surgery. Carlos Rodon had his best season since singing as a free agent prior to the 2023 season, earning an All-Star appearance and a career-high 18 wins. In his stellar Yankee debut, Max Fried led the American League with 19 wins and will get serious Cy Young consideration (although he'll no doubt fall short of the award thanks to Detroit's Tarik Skubal).

The Yankees boasting at least two 18-game winners is not unique. This is the 29th time in franchise history that it's happened. But check out that history:

Of the 29 instances, only six of them have occurred in the past 50 years. Before Max and Carlos this year, it had been 15 years since a pair of Yankees had done it. So long ago that we all thought Phil Hughes still had ace potential. It could be at least another 15 years before it happens again.

The Bombers were bombing again

Babe. Lou. The Mick. Reggie. When you think of the Yankees you think of great individual sluggers, and for good reason. But their offense is truly at its best when a bunch of guys are hitting a bunch of home runs. Thankfully, that's happened often throughout Yankee history, and was certainly the case in 2025. In fact, Cody Bellinger fell one dinger shy of making this year's team the first one in franchise history to boast four 30-home run hitters. Obviously, that's the closest the Yankees have ever come to that feat, but here are the other close calls:

Man, what an outfield the Yankees had in 1941. Mix in Joe Gordon, who would be named MVP a year later, and it's no wonder they won the World Series. Naturally, they're all covered in this book.

After the late-90's dynasty the Yankees really doubled-down on power bats and it mostly worked. They scored like crazy and made some deep playoff runs, but their pitching just wasn't the same. It makes me so happy to see Hideki Matsui's name sprinkled through that three-year run from 2003 to 2005. Such an easy guy to root for. Seeing Raul Mondesi's name there in 2003 is also wonderful for entirely different reasons.

Strange but true: Three of the four who almost did it this year were lefties, which makes sense given Yankee Stadium's dimensions. In all previous close calls, there were no more than two lefties in the group. You can make the case that the 2003 group was pretty close with switch-hitter Jorge Posada hitting most of his home runs from the left side, but it doesn't quite count.

Aaron Judge continued to be legendary

The big fella could retire tomorrow and be justly considered one of the all-time great Yankees. But I want to be a little more focused on some statistics that highlight his greatness and show how truly special Aaron Judge is as a hitter.

There have only been nine players in Yankee history who walked at least 100 times, drove in at least 100 runs, and scored at least 100 runs in the same season. To me, this is a special trifecta because it definitively says the following things about the player accomplishing it: (1) they had a great command of the strike zone and got on base at a very high rate, (2) they hit for enough contact and power to consistently drive in runs, (3) when on the basepaths they were at least smart enough to consistently find their way home, and (4) they were durable enough to play nearly every day.

As noted, it's rare for a player to do this even once in their career. In 2025, Judge posted that magic trifecta for the fourth time. How special is that? Only two Yankees have ever done it more. Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig reached the triple-triple at least ten times in their career. While Judge certainly won't surpass them by the time it's all said and done, it's safe to say he's approaching immortal territory. His titanic home runs are enough to leave even a casual baseball fan in awe, but something like this shows us he's truly a dominant offensive force with almost no weaknesses to speak of.

The top four names on this chart shouldn't surprise anyone, but the bottom five sure are interesting. Let's take them one by one:

Charlie Keller - A criminally underrated player who is among the greatest Yankee hitters to ever live.

Juan Soto - We'll always have 2024 *sigh*. At age 27 Soto has pulled off the triple-triple three times in his career now. He'll never do it for the Yankees again.

Jason Giambi - His first season in pinstripes was also the last of four straight triple-triples from the Giambino. Parts of his game and reputation deteriorated as a Yankee but his bat was always dangerous.

Bernie Williams - While not legendary like the first four guys on the list, Bernie's presence here cements him in the second tier of Yankee greats among the likes of Bill Dickey, Don Mattingly, and Charlie Keller.

George Selkirk - The greatest Canadian Yankee! That 1939 team was insane, winning 106 games and scoring nearly 1,000 runs with the likes of Bill Dickey, Joe Gordon, Red Rolfe, DiMaggio, Charlie Keller, and Tommy Henrich in the lineup every day. Selkirk, a very good player in his own right, benefited from the greatness around him.