Yankees' Aaron Judge needs to dominate the MLB playoffs the way he does the regular season
Yankees’ Aaron Judge looks on after the 6-4 win against the Pittsburgh Pirates in an MLB baseball game at Yankee Stadium on Sunday, Sept. 29, 2024. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
Aaron Judge went 0-for-5 with five strikeouts in his final regular-season game.
Newsflash: If he repeats that in the American League Division Series, the Yankees will not beat the upstart Kansas City Royals.
General manager Brian Cashman on Thursday called Judge “a living legend.”
He is that, no question. He’s on track for the Hall of Fame. He wears the Yankees’ captaincy with grace and pride.
He’s also looking for a signature moment in the postseason.
In 44 postseason games, Judge has hit .211 with 13 home runs and a .772 OPS. He had one single in 16 at-bats in the Yankees’ most recent playoff series, their four-game wipeout at the hands of Houston in the 2022 ALCS.
In the 2024 regular season, Judge hit .322 with 58 home runs, 144 RBIs and a 1.159 OPS. The Yankees would prefer something more like that this postseason.
Just as great players such as Barry Bonds and Alex Rodriguez had to go through postseason struggles before they prospered, Judge has another opportunity to rise in the heat of October.
It starts on Saturday in Game 1 against Royals righthander Michael Wacha. Judge is 1-for-18 with 11 strikeouts against the former Met.
Excellent. Right into the fire.
The best thing Judge has going for him that he didn’t have in previous playoffs is Juan Soto, who has a World Series ring from the 2019 Nationals and would like another one as he heads into free agency.
Said Cashman, who engineered the Dec. 6 trade with San Diego that brought Soto to the Bronx: “It was a pretty incredible dynamic duo, those two. A rarity to see something like that matched up in a lineup. [Soto] came as advertised. We needed to improve the offense. He significantly provided that, partnering with the players that we already had here, most importantly Aaron Judge. Certainly, hopeful that they can wreak havoc here in the postseason.”
As the Yankees on Thursday continued their layoff before the playoff with meetings and simulated games at Yankee Stadium, Cashman and manager Aaron Boone answered Zoom questions about the issues the Yankees have to sort out.
Who’s going to play leftfield (Jasson Dominguez or Alex Verdugo)? Who’s going to play first base with Anthony Rizzo injured (Ben Rice or Oswaldo Cabrera)? How many pitchers are the Yankees going to take (11, 12 or 13)?
Not surprisingly, neither Cashman nor Boone provided answers. They don’t have to yet.
Honestly, the Yankees can flip a coin with all their conundrums. There’s no right or wrong answers. Their success or failure in the postseason is not going to come down to those potential problem areas.
It’s going to come down to Judge. And Soto. And Giancarlo Stanton. And Gerrit Cole. And Carlos Rodon.
It’s going to come down to the stars, not the supporting cast, and Judge is the Yankees’ biggest star.
Those five are the Yankees’ highest-paid players. They are being paid a combined $166.8 million this season.
The entire Opening Day payroll for the Royals was $115.2 million. It’s the highest of the three teams other than the Yankees who are alive in the AL playoffs. Detroit was at $103.8 million. Cleveland’s was $93.3 million.
The Yankees don’t like to talk about flexing their financial might. It’s unseemly. Cashman instead talked about how difficult it is to win a World Series nowadays. It’s true, and it’s also irrelevant.
When you are the No. 1 seed and have the biggest stars (and with the nemesis Astros having been helpfully eliminated by the Tigers), you need to make it to the World Series, at least. That would be a first for Judge.
Getting knocked off by the plucky Royals or the pluckier Tigers or the dull-as-drying-paint Guardians would simply not be an acceptable end for the 2024 Yankees. Not at these prices.
So Cole has to pitch like the ace he is. Rodon has to pitch up to his ability, not down to his emotions. Stanton has to go through one of his postseason wrecking ball phases. Soto has to live up to his wondrous talent in what could be his only postseason in pinstripes.
And Judge needs to dominate the postseason the way he does the regular season.
“If I’m not standing here talking to you guys after a championship, it’s a failure,” Judge said after the Yankees didn’t make the playoffs in 2023.
In 2024, No. 99 is 100% correct.
Anthony Rieber covers baseball, as well as the NFL, NBA and NHL. He has worked at Newsday since Aug. 31, 1998, and has been in his current position since July 5, 2004.