The New York Yankees failed to reach contract extension with their slugger Aaron Judge before the team's opening day deadline of Friday.

The Yankees beat the Boston Red Sox 6-5 in their first game of the 2022 season at Yankee Stadium (II) in New York City on Friday. Judge batted a double and scored one run in the game.

"I'm just disappointed because I have been vocal about wanting to be a Yankee for life," he said after Friday's game. "I want to bring a championship back to New York. I want to do it for the fans here. This is home for me. And I'm not getting that done right now. It stinks, but I got a job to do on the field. I got to shift my focus to that now and play some ball."

Brian Cashman, general manager of the Yankees, said on Friday that a seven-year, $213.5 million deal was offered to Judge but it was turned down. Those are good salaries, but not as good as what Bryce Harper (13 years, $330 million), Mookie Betts (12 years, $365 million) and Mike Trout (12 years, $426.5 million) got. Judge seems to be seeking a similar contract.

Since he imposed the deadline of season-opener for the two sides to reach agreement and they failed to do so, Judge is likely to hit free agency after this season. He and his agent Page Odle believe talks during the season will be a distraction.

"We're prepared for both," Judge said. "If we're able to settle – nobody likes going in that courtroom. I don't really think it's good for both sides because they say some stuff that I wouldn't want to hear, and we say some stuff they don't want to hear. I think if we can avoid it at all cost, that'd be great. But myself and our team, we're ready for either way to go."

"At the end of the year, I'm a free agent – will talk to 30 teams, and the Yankees will be one of those 30 teams. It's always nice to try to wrap something up sooner, the better. But we weren't able to get it done and it's on to baseball," Judge added.

The Yankees were 92-70 last season and lost to the Red Sox in the American League Wild Card Game. Judge hit .287 in batting average, .373 in on-base percentage and .544 in slugging percentage with 39 home runs in 140 games.