Some People Never Learn

Jesus Christ, didn't anyone learn their lesson from last year?

Mike Lupica of MLB.com acknowledges that his (and his fellow writers') fanciful dreams of infinite home runs off the bats of Giancarlo Stanton and Aaron Judge of the Yankees fizzled like month-old cola, but, undeterred, he promptly re-enlists in his fantasy world, telling himself that The Pinstriped Dong Show has simply been delayed by one year.

We were in the press box at The Trop on Opening Day of last season ...

The Yankees had beaten the Blue Jays, 6-1, and Giancarlo Stanton -- the new guy who had hit 59 home runs for the Marlins the year before -- had hit two on this day. [And thus was on pace for ... Lupica, fingers trembling, does some quick math ... 324 home runs!]

At the time, all of us were thinking the exact same thing: There was no telling how many he and Aaron Judge -- who had hit 52 long balls for the Yankees in 2017 -- were going to hit. ...

We really thought it possible that Judge might hit 100 homers between them [Does anyone edit this guy? Or maybe Judge is so awesome, he's really two people.], chase Mantle and Maris' 115 the way Mantle and Maris had chased Ruth. No one thought a number like that was out of reach. [You should get out more, Mike.]

They hit 65 between them. ...

So maybe Year 2 for the combination of Judge and Stanton is the Home Run Derby that we expected from them ...

All Rise Judge and Stanton were supposed to be the most fearsome 1-2 punch in the sport last season. Only J.D. Martinez, who hit 43 for the Red Sox, became a far more significant acquisition for them than Stanton was for the Yankees. He and Mookie Betts, the eventual AL MVP Award winner, became the 1-2 punch that the Yankees hoped that Judge and Stanton would be.

The Red Sox beat the Yankees out of the AL East title, beat them in the ALDS, then won it all. ...

Maybe the Home Run Derby at Yankee Stadium has just been delayed a year, to the New Year in baseball that begins on Thursday.

Check back in 365 days for Lupica's column: "Year 3 Of Judge-Stanton Combo May Be Historic".