Aaron Judge can’t escape his playoff fun-house mirror

· New York Post

Aaron Judge walks with franchise immortals Babe Ruth, Mickey Mantle, Joe DiMaggio, Lou Gehrig and Yogi Berra when it comes to the regular season. He is only man wearing the pinstripe suit with a chance to break into the Pantheon of Yankees. 

He is a Forever Yankee. 

But when it comes to the postseason, the greatest natural offensive force in the game since Mantle’s heyday more than six decades ago walks with the likes of Martin Maldonado, Clay Bellinger and Reggie Sanders. 

The numbers seem more an optical illusion than a reflection of reality. But after Monday’s 1-for-3 that included an eighth-inning infield single in his team’s 4-2 LDS Game 2 defeat to the Royals that squared the series ahead of a pair in Kansas City, Judge has one of the four highest strikeout rates in postseason history among batters with at least 200 plate appearances at over 33-percent. 

Yankees outfielder Aaron Judge #99 reacts after getting New York Yankees designated hitter Giancarlo Stanton #27 grounds into a double play ending the 8th inning. Charles Wenzelberg / New York Post

Judge is 1-for-7 in this series. He struck out with runners on first and second and none out in the first inning of Sunday’s Game 1. He struck out with runners on first and second and none out in the first inning of Game 2. He has struck out four times in nine plate appearances. 

The Yankees’ fate is not tied exclusively to Judge but he is certainly aware that Yankees get their stripes collecting rings. He also is aware of his responsibility. 

“Well, it eats at me every time we don’t finish the job,” Judge said before the series commenced. “I take a lot of responsibility for that, being on the team. 

“If we don’t win it all, I feel like it’s my fault.” 

The first sentence of Judge’s Hagiography will reference his American League home run record of 62 in 2022 and his 58-home run season of 2024. It will include untold acts of future regular season dominance that lay in waiting for this unique 32-year-old who seems to get better by the season. 

Yankees outfielder Aaron Judge #99 reacts after he strikes out swinging with two runners on during the first inning. Charles Wenzelberg / New York Post

But the same way Ted Williams’ 5-for-25 (five singles) in his only World Series appearance in 1946 in Boston’s seven-game defeat to St. Louis was always referenced prominently in his story, Judge will suffer a similar fate if he cannot twist history his way. 

There is time, of course. But the burden mounts as No. 99 faces far superior pitching in the postseason than in the regular season. It is not quite the same game, though Judge protests, and probably too much. 

“It’s just about going out there and trying to do your job. Guys are on base, try to drive them in. If not, move them over,” the center fielder said. “Try to do the things we’ve been doing all year. 

“It’s really not about putting any pressure on anybody. It’s the same game we’ve been playing all year.” 

With all due r2spect, Derek Jeter falls short of the Pantheon even with a franchise record 3,465 hits that ranks sixth in major league history. But Jeter earned five rings. There are no moments for Judge that equate to Jeter’s leadoff home run at Shea in Game 4 of the 2000 Subway Series. There are no moments that equate to Mr. November’s 10th-inning game-winning home run off Byung Hyun Kim in Game 4 of the 2001 Series against Arizona. 


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If there are postseason moments for Judge, they are few and far between. A drop in the bucket. The ring display remains barren and one of the reasons, at least in 2022 when the Yankees were swept by the Astros in the ALCS was Judge going 1-for-22 in the series. 

Entering Game 2, Judge was slashing .206/.307/.451 with a .758 OPS and 13 home runs and 25 RBI in 45 games over seven postseason series. 

Michael Massey #19 of the Kansas City Royals checks on Aaron Judge #99 of the New York Yankees after turning a double play. Getty Images

In 18 games this decade, it’s been a fun-house mirror, the preeminent hitter in the game slashing .135/.207/.338 with a .545 OPS, five homers and eight RBI while striking out 28 times in 82 plate appearances. 

Judge’s Game 1 first-inning, running catch at the warning track in left-center off the bat of Bobby Witt Jr. might have saved a run or two, by the way. Moments can be produced in the field, too. Mantle had one saving Don Larsen’s perfect game in 1956 against Brooklyn. 

Of course, the Yankees won the game and the Series. 

The Forever Yankee has not been able to produce a Forever Swing of the Bat in the postseason. He has not duplicated Mantle’s ninth-inning, game-winning home run off the Cardinals’ Barney Schultz in Game 3 of the 1964 Series that broke a tie with the Babe for the most home runs in what was then known as the Fall Classic. 

It is a small sample size, of course, and Judge can change the narrative at any at-bat. But time is of the essence and time won’t wait forever. Time may not wait until the end of the series. 

Crossing the threshold into franchise immortality demands a ring. Judge knows it. 

So does everyone else.