Stephen A. Smith Launches Verbal Fury On Aaron Judge After Going Hitless Against The Giants on Opener

Aaron Judge, fresh off a silver at the World Baseball Classic, delivered zero hits in the MLB season opener between the Yankees and the Giants.

Stephen A. Smith Launches Verbal Fury On Aaron Judge After Going Hitless Against The Giants on Opener

Aaron Judge, Stephen A. Smith (Images via CBS Sports/The New Yorker)

In Short
  • The New York Yankees defeated the San Francisco Giants 7-0 in their season opener.
  • Aaron Judge went hitless, striking out four times, marking a disappointing start for the reigning MVP.
  • Stephen A. Smith criticized Judge's performance, while Michael Kay defended him, calling the backlash an overreaction.

The New York Yankees routed the San Francisco Giants in a sensational opening to the 2026 Major League Baseball season. At Oracle Park, the Yankees gave the Giants no respite, handing them a crushing 7-0 defeat.

The Yankees did win, but Aaron Judge had zero hits from the five times he came out to bat. Judge struck out four times and he grounded his final at-bat to third. The 33-year-old Californian had a sub-par performance in the season opener.

In fact, Bryan Hoch of MLB.com revealed that it is the first time a reigning MVP got punched out four times in the first game of the season, and ESPN sportscaster Stephen A. Smith wasn’t going to let that go easily.

In the morning, after reviewing the Yankees’ game, Smith launched a long-winded rant pointed at Judge’s performance. Smith said that while he’s particularly fond of Judge and loves him in the Yankee outfit, he had some bones to pick with Judge’s slow start to the season. He added that Judge, being a personality who’s named alongside some big time players, has had one too many times when he has failed to show up big.

The problem is too many moments he has had in his career where this Goliath of a man and a baseball player comes up considerably and conspicuously small. That is not something that can happen to you when you are associated with the all-time greats.

Stephen A. Smith said on First Take

Smith added that Judge’s sub-par performance was a wrinkle in the otherwise electric night, powered by Netflix’s first-ever opening day broadcast and eager fans who turned out en masse.

Michael Kay backs Aaron Judge amid intense scrutiny online

The outburst wasn’t just limited to Stephen A. Smith. A sizable number of New York Yankees fans also let Judge know their displeasure with him, garnering multitude of hate comments across the online medium.

Aaron Judge struck out four times against the San Francisco Giants (Image via MLB.com)
Aaron Judge struck out four times against the San Francisco Giants (Image via MLB.com)

Michael Kay has voiced support for Judge multiple times in the past, even two days ago when he was booed in spring training after the disastrous WBC final. He has once again rallied behind the three-time MVP. The sportscaster, on his show on ESPN, centered an argument on the fact that it was just one game, the first one in 162 games a team plays in a year.

Kay was “shocked by the overreaction on one game.” Kay added that it was sickening to see the reaction and questioned the baseball knowledge of the fans online. Furthermore, he lamented that putting the “Judge doesn’t come through in big moments” logic here, stating that pointless as opening night is, not a big deal. Kay also added that he will rip Judge if he deserved it but at this instant, it doesn’t feel like one.

Amidst the noise, the Yankees are not stirred by Judge’s performance against the Giants. They have one win in the column, and they are happy to know that they have the juice to hand crushing defeats even when their biggest name has an uncharacteristic drop in performance.

Though the media attention revolves around Judge, it doesn’t take the Yankees’ incredible showing on opening night. Trent Grisham secured a two-run triple in the second inning, the first of the season. In the same inning, Ryan McMahon singled to center and added two RBIs.

The star of the night was Max Fried, who looked comfortable on the mound throughout the night. He lasted six innings plus recording an out in the seventh inning, while only giving away two hits. Across the game, he threw 86 pitches with 53 strikes, maintaining excellent efficiency throughout the game.

Aaron Judge, who’s still a huge part of the Yankees, and his team will continue the series against the Giants in Oracle Park on Friday night.

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