Slumping Yankees have failed to respond to Aaron Judge’s plea for better ‘focus’

NEW YORK — It was late afternoon Sunday — not long after a 6-1 loss to the Minnesota Twins gave the New York Yankees a ninth defeat in their last 10 games — when second baseman Jazz Chisholm Jr. pointed to a problem. It was the same issue that captain Aaron Judge had called out publicly, and surprisingly, just days before.

A problem with focus.

“I wouldn’t say it’s the energy,” Chisholm said when asked about the Yankees’ struggles. “I would say more like a focus standpoint of what we’ve got to do and how we’re going to execute.”

Starting pitcher Gerrit Cole — a de facto co-captain with Judge — agreed that focus still seemed to be a concern.

“I think the results tell the story,” Cole told The Athletic while standing at his locker.

He then took a long pause.

“The game is telling us it’s not good enough.”

So, what’s happening?

“I just think it’s compounding at this point,” Cole said. “I think it’s tough. The game’s tough, but that’s not an excuse. It’s not like, ‘Oh, this is hard and we don’t expect to be good.’ No. It’s hard, and we expect to be good.

“We’re not good right now. Got to figure something out.”

The Yankees have endured plenty of problems on the field of late. Since June 18, they have lost 13 of 17 games. Over that span …

• They have tallied just 47 runs — the fewest in MLB.

• Their starting pitching has stunk, registering a 4.71 ERA entering Sunday, when Ryan Weathers gave up four earned runs in four innings. Weathers said he actually didn’t think he pitched poorly after giving up six hits, including a double, and two walks. He said he got “singled to death” and that it was “just one of those games.”

• Their defense has been shoddy. The Yankees have allowed 29 unearned runs over their last 15 games — the most by any Yankees team in a 15-game span since 1935, according to Baseball Reference researcher Katie Sharp.

“The concern level is high,” Chisholm said. “A lot of guys are kind of tense, but at the same time, we’ve just got to remember who we are.”

“Losing sucks… wins are precious in this league and hard to come by”

Aaron Boone talks about the mindset of dealing with tough stretches and how they can turn things around: pic.twitter.com/Xa2iJSQVgS

— SNY Yankees (@snyyankees) July 5, 2026

To add insult to injury, when the Twins clinched the victory in the three-game series Sunday, it was the first time they had won a series at Yankee Stadium since 2014.

The Yankees’ slide has put them four games behind the first-place Tampa Bay Rays. New York had a 3 1/2-game lead atop the division on June 17. The Yankees will face the Rays for four games in St. Petersburg, Fla., starting Monday. The Rays are 24-9 at home this season.

Chisholm said he didn’t think facing the Rays would make a difference for the Yankees. Instead, he said, they would have to figure it out themselves.

“We’re going to go out there and try to win every single game,” he said. “We try to win every game now. It’s not like a different name is going to make a difference. Just got to lock in and come in and get our work done and get back on track.”

But how, exactly, are they going to lock in?

All of their hitters seem to be slumping at once, and it’s come with Judge out of the lineup with a stress fracture in his first right rib. Since Judge played his last game May 31, Ben Rice has hit .200 (23-for-115), Cody Bellinger has hit .211 (23-for-109) and Chisholm has hit .194 (18-for-93). Paul Goldschmidt, who was huge early for the Yankees, is hitless in his last 22 at-bats.

Cole said he didn’t think the Yankees’ problem focusing had anything to do with the lineup missing both Judge and Giancarlo Stanton, who has been out since April 24 with a right calf strain.

“I think our standards shouldn’t change regardless of who is in the lineup,” he said.

Boone said he didn’t think the absence of Judge and Stanton was weighing on the offense either.

“Any time you have a big piece out, and that is a big part of your team and your culture, you hate that as teammates,” the manager said. “But I don’t think that’s the case. Again: Just got to find a way to generate and string some things together. We’ve got to be better at it.”

“Losing sucks,” Boone added. “Any time you go through a 10-day stretch like we’re in right now when we haven’t hit much and we haven’t played well and we haven’t pitched our best, all of that adds up, and that’s why wins are precious in this league and hard to come by and we’ve got to find a way to turn it around and get rid of the excuses of, this guy’s out, that guy’s out. Other teams deal with that. It’s part of a long season. We have guys capable of helping us win. But we’ve got to go out there as a group.”

Boone had spoken before Chisholm brought up the Yankees’ continued trouble with focus.

It was concerning that Judge felt the need to publicly call out his teammates on Wednesday about their “lack of focus.” It was a message unlike any other in his 11-year career.

But if the Yankees’ terrible play continues this week in Tampa, they might have to adjust their focus to somewhere else, like to the wild-card race.