Aaron Judge went 0-for-4 with three strikeouts, continuing his postseason slump Saturday night as the Yankees fell into a 2-0 hole in the World Series.
When Aaron Judge is the best version of himself, the version that tormented pitchers all summer on a tear not seen since peak Barry Bonds, he demolishes the 2-0 fastball Yoshinobu Yamamoto threw him in the sixth inning of the New York Yankees’ 4-2 loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers in Game 2 of the World Series on Saturday.
The 94 mph offering was on the lower half of the strike zone, down the middle, ripe for Judge to feast on. But Judge didn’t feast. He didn’t even swing. Instead, it was a called strike.
“When we’re going well, we can usually fire on that”, Judge said.
Judge fouled off the next pitch, a curveball down that he usually devours, too. Then came the knockout punch: a splitter that darted underneath his hands. Judge swung and missed for strike three, an alarmingly common result in October for Judge and Yankees.
The presumptive American League MVP went 0-for-4 with three strikeouts Saturday as the Yankees dug themselves a 2-0 hole in the series. He is 1-for-9 with six strikeouts in the World Series. He’s 6-for-40 (.150) with 19 strikeouts in 50 postseason plate appearances.
Simply, his playoff struggles from 2022, which drew boos from his home crowd after his historic 62 home run campaign, have bled into 2024.
“I think what it comes down is just swinging at strikes, getting a pitch to drive”, Judge said. “You don’t get a pitch to drive, don’t try to make something happen up there. It’s the postseason.
