Aaron Judge is falling deeper into a tough postseason slump, and the New York Yankees’ chances of winning a championship are slipping away with him.
The star player went 1 for 9 with six strikeouts in his first two World Series games at Dodger Stadium, bringing down New York’s offense in two losses to Los Angeles.
In Game 2 on Saturday night, Judge was 0 for 4 with three strikeouts. He had a hard time making contact against Yoshinobu Yamamoto and reliever Blake Treinen, who struck him out with Juan Soto on second base for the first out of the ninth inning in the Dodgers’ 4-2 win.
Judge swung and missed six times in his four at-bats in Game 2. The entire Dodgers team only missed that many times in total.
“It definitely eats at you,” Judge said. “You want to contribute and help the team, but that’s why you’ve got to keep working and you’ve got to keep swinging. I can’t just sit here and feel bad for myself. Nobody is feeling bad for me, so you’ve just got to show up and do the work.”
Judge is likely to win his second American League MVP award after the season ends, but right now, he’s not seen as a hero in October.
He is 6 for 40 (.150) with two home runs and a staggering 19 strikeouts in these playoffs, getting all six of his RBIs during a three-game stretch in the AL Championship Series.
He is 0 for 8 with runners in scoring position, and he has only one hit in his last 22 at-bats in that situation dating back to previous postseasons.
This isn’t new for one of the best hitters from April to September: Judge’s career postseason average has dropped to .199 as the World Series moves to Yankee Stadium.
Judge’s struggles in the playoffs are a tough spot for Yankees fans, who can’t understand why he doesn’t perform as well during this time.
Judge has often said that his problems come from being too eager to swing at pitches, and he’s trying to fix that.
“I think it’s trying to make things happen instead of letting the game come to you,” Judge said. “I think that’s what it really comes down to. You see Gleyber (Torres) out there on base, Juan is getting on base, doing things, you want to try to make something happen.
But if you’re not going to get a pitch in the zone, you’ve got to just take your walks instead. Plain and simple, I’ve got to start swinging at strikes.”
With 85 career postseason strikeouts, Judge now holds the highest strikeout rate (34.3%) in MLB postseason history among players with at least 200 plate appearances.
In this big World Series matchup, nothing was more exciting than the duel between Judge and Shohei Ohtani, the two most dangerous hitters in baseball.
But while Giancarlo Stanton and Freddie Freeman made some memorable swings in the first two games, the two biggest stars managed just one big hit between them. Ohtani even hurt his left arm while sliding in the seventh inning of Game 2, raising concerns about his status for the Bronx.
Ohtani doubled off the wall and scored the tying run in the eighth inning of Game 1, but the two-way superstar is just 1 for 8 with a walk and two strikeouts in the first two games, often making outs early in the count.
Judge went 1 for 5 in Game 1, with Jack Flaherty striking him out in his first three at-bats. His only hit was a solid two-out single to center in the seventh, but he popped out with two runners on base to end the ninth inning, missing a chance to be a postseason hero.
Even worse, the Dodgers intentionally walked Soto to face Judge, but he couldn’t take advantage of that. Judge isn’t the only New York hitter struggling in key moments; the Yankees are 2 for 14 with runners in scoring position in the World Series.
“He’s our leader, he’s our captain,” said Anthony Rizzo from New York. “The narrative is whatever is made of it, but he’s a brick wall. He knows how to handle all this stuff, so I’m proud of who he is as a person, as a leader, and these times right now define him even more, because he comes in every day and he’s still the same as he’s ever been.”
The 6-foot-7 Judge’s powerful swing has been inconsistent lately, although it seemed to be getting better in recent weeks.
He’s still missing a lot, including a bad swing at a low slider from Yamamoto that struck him out in the first inning of Game 2. He often swings too early on breaking pitches and is late on fastballs.
He flew out to right to end the third inning, and Yamamoto struck him out again to end the fifth, with Judge swinging wildly at a sharp, low splitter.
“(I’m) just expanding the zone,” Judge said. “That’s really what it comes down to. You’ve got to get a pitch in the zone and drive it, and if you don’t, don’t try to make something happen.”
This is Judge’s first postseason since he signed a $360 million, nine-year contract after setting an AL record with 62 home runs in 2022 and winning the AL MVP award over Ohtani. New York missed the playoffs last fall.
Judge led the majors this season with 58 home runs, 144 RBIs, and a 1.159 OPS. He batted .322 and scored 122 runs, despite going through a career-long home run drought of 16 games in August and September.
“It’s all about one at-bat,” Soto said. “I feel like when you’re a hitter like him, he’s one of the greatest. It’s only going to take one at-bat for him to lock in and be on it.”
