As Subway Series looms, Yankees look to right ship without Aaron Judge

What a difference a year makes.

Less than a year, actually.

The Yankees and Mets didn’t get together for the first of their two Subway Series meetings until last July 26-27, and when they did, both fan bases could not have been more excited.

The Yankees entered the series an AL East-leading 66-31, 12  ½ games clear of the second-place Blue Jays. The Mets were 59-37, good enough for a two-game lead over Atlanta.

“It’s always good for the city when both New York teams are doing their thing,” Aaron Judge said a couple of days before that first game July 26 at Citi Field. “It’s going to be a fun one. They’ve got a great team over there. Looking forward to battling it out.”

It is safe to say neither fan base — and neither team, for that matter — is anticipating the Subway Series with that kind of excitement this year.

The 38-29 Yankees, though not in the kind of free fall the Mets currently are in, nonetheless have their share of issues.

The absence of Judge, of course, heads the list.

The outfielder, who has always enjoyed the spotlight that comes with the Subway Series, won’t be a part of this week’s games. He’s in the beginning stages of his rehab — for which there still isn’t a timeline — for the right big toe sprain he suffered earlier this month in Los Angeles.

The Yankees, predictably, have seen their offense struggle without the reigning American League MVP. Despite getting superb starting pitching over the weekend against the Red Sox, the Yankees dropped two of three, scoring seven runs in the series. They’re 3-4 in the seven games since Judge last played, scoring 21 runs total.

And as one rival talent evaluator said Monday, “It’s difficult seeing that getting much better anytime soon.”

Given some of the names still in the everyday lineup — Anthony Rizzo, DJ LeMahieu and Giancarlo Stanton, to name a few — that’s debatable.

But what isn’t debatable is that the Yankees have yet to show their offense can consistently function without Judge. They went 4-6 without him earlier this season when he went on the IL with a right hip strain, and Judge, who still has swelling in the toe after receiving a PRP injection last Tuesday, is going to miss far more than 10 games this time around.

“Can’t replace that guy,” third baseman Josh Donaldson said last Tuesday after the IL stint was announced.

Though blunt, there have been few truer words spoken publicly in the clubhouse this season.

Donaldson, a former AL MVP himself, wasn’t making or offering excuses. He simply gave voice to the obvious: Judge is irreplaceable.

Take any team’s best all-around player away from it and there likely will be challenges.

Among the ways to mitigate that is with strong pitching, and the Yankees certainly have gotten that, especially from their bullpen. But some combination of Rizzo (in a 1-for-30 slump), LeMahieu (hitting .162 with a .448 OPS in his last 20 games) and Stanton (3-for-21 since coming off the IL on June 2) performing at the level they have at points this season is a must for the Yankees to survive the Judge injury.

The same goes for rookie shortstop Anthony Volpe, who will carry a .186 batting average and .605 OPS into his first Subway Series, and Gleyber Torres, who in general has had a strong bounce-back season but is slumping this month.

The winning contributions on occasion from the likes of Willie Calhoun, Jake Bauers and Billy McKinney make for good stories, but it will be the Yankees with the biggest names who ultimately determine how they do with Judge out.

“We just have to do it,” Aaron Boone said last week of holding the fort with no Judge. “Obviously, we’ve been down some key guys and we’ve seen a lot of guys step up and it’s another opportunity for someone to step up.”

The wait continues.