Aaron Judge's dismal playoff failure will tarnish his Yankees legacy | Politi

NEW YORK – The chants from the Yankee Stadium faithful began the moment Aaron Judge entered the batter's box in the first inning, and every syllable felt like a desperate plea for No. 99 to remember what he accomplished this season . This was an intervention at the end of October in which the 49,368 paying customers tried to bring their hero back to life.

“MVP!”

“MVP!”

“MVP!”

This was the first World Series game in the Bronx in 5,472 days, and all the optimism in the stadium was quickly replaced by fear of an early two-run deficit. Of course, Judge could change that mood with a big swing. The outfielder could make everyone, starting with himself, forget that his lifetime batting average slipped below the Mendoza Line for the first time after the season.

That's right. Judge was a .199 hitter in the playoffs when he came to the plate to start this game, a statistic that was not the product of a sample size. The American League's best hitter looked unrecognizable for most of this October, but the sight of the flags surrounding his home stadium and the short porch in right field would surely unnerve him. Right?

Incorrect. Judge struck out on his first at-bat with a cutter well above the plate, the first of four poor at-bats that handed his sleepwalking team a 4-2 loss. The Yankees are one loss away from a four-game win in this supposed matchup between baseball's major franchises, and if it ends that way, their biggest star will be the main reason for the failure.

“He’s Aaron Judge,” manager Aaron Boone said when asked what made him believe his best player would emerge from this slump. But Judge is now batting .140 (6-for-44) with two home runs, a double and six RBI in 12 postseason games this fall. He has 20 strikeouts and on the rare occasions he's had a chance to actually do some damage, he's 0-for-10 with runners in scoring position.

It's hard to reconcile that The Judge the player who led the American League in home runs (58), RBIs (144), walks (133), on-base percentage (.458) and slugging percentage (.701). For these regular-season successes, Judge will certainly win his second MVP award, but unless something dramatic changes in the coming days, many fans will remember his no-show in October.

“It definitely eats at you,” Judge said before the Yankees left Los Angeles this weekend. “You want to contribute and help the team, but that’s why you have to keep working and keep going. I can't sit here and feel sorry for myself. Nobody feels sorry for me.”

Look, Judge certainly isn't the only reason the Yankees are in this hole. Game 3 starter Clarke Schmidt slid a meatball across the plate to, of all people, Freddie Freeman, who hit another home run to give the Dodgers a 2-0 lead. Giancarlo Stanton, the only Yankee to deliver consistently at the plate, looked like he was dragging a dogsled when he tried to score with a single from second in the fourth inning and was easily thrown out.

Then of course there's Boone, who said he thought long and hard about lineup changes on the flight back from Los Angeles Saturday night and decided to do…well, next to nothing. If the Dodgers wrap up this series in Game 4, it would be just the sixth time in more than a century of baseball that the Yankees have been defeated in a seven-game series. Boone will have two of those on his resume in the last three years. That certainly won't upset the fans.

But Judge is the superstar, and fair or not, the playoffs will determine his place in franchise history. Remember, Judge stayed with the Yankees to have a chance to deliver in moments like these. Before signing a nine-year, $360 million contract in 2022, he recognized that his legacy would be incomplete if he finally shed the pinstripes without bringing the franchise its No. 28 championship (or more).

It's hard not to wonder if all this pressure, which never seemed to faze the 32-year-old slugger during his rise to the top of his sport, is starting to affect his performance as the poor postseason hitters take hold sum up. Is the judge pushing?

“He’s as good as he’s ever been at handling big league life,” Boone said. “At some point it will break out. Hopefully it's today. And he will have great series as his career progresses. There is no doubt in my mind.”

Are there any sudden doubts? Judge Spirit? It certainly looks that way. On a night when the Bronx faithful tried to remind their superstar of all he accomplished in the regular season, the likely MVP once again fell short when it mattered most.

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Steve Politi can be reached at [email protected].