With Judge & Co. back, do the Yankees have the deepest lineup ever?

David Schoenfield

ESPN Senior Writer

Aaron Judge is off the injured list and back in the Yankees' lineup. Along with the return of Giancarlo Stanton this week and the recent trade for Edwin Encarnacion, the team's regular lineup should look something like this:

3B DJ LeMahieu

RF Judge

1B Luke Voit

C Gary Sanchez

LF Stanton

DH Encarnacion

SS Didi Gregorius

2B Gleyber Torres

CF Aaron Hicks

Yes, that's an imposing nine. The Yankees are already averaging 5.52 runs per game, fourth in the majors, but that's with Judge, Stanton, Encarnacion and Gregorius playing just a combined 43 games so far. It's not unreasonable to believe this team could score six runs a game the rest of the season.

The last team to do that over a full season was the 2000 White Sox, which I never would have guessed. I would have thrown out the 2009 Yankees or some other Yankees or Red Sox team from the 2000s, or maybe the late '90s Indians or Mariners. The 2000 White Sox? They only had two regulars -- Frank Thomas and Magglio Ordonez -- who slugged .500. They were fifth in the American League in home runs with 216 and third with a .286 average. They hit .300 with RISP, however, and .301 with men on, so they were pretty clutch. Still, not a team remembered as an offensive powerhouse.

Anyway, what makes this Yankees lineup so scary is that all nine regulars are potentially league average hitters or better. Here is each player's OPS+ over the 2018-2019 seasons:

LeMahieu: 97

Judge: 148

Voit: 154

Sanchez: 111

Stanton: 128

Encarnacion: 123

Gregorius: 121

Torres: 123

Hicks: 117