World Series: Yankees' Aaron Judge still looking to write his signature moment

LOS ANGELES — Aaron Judge occupies the far corner locker in the visitor's clubhouse at Dodger Stadium, a dressing room more cramped than a Manhattan studio apartment, so the Yankees’ captain barely had space to breathe when the media crowded around him after Friday night’s crushing 6-3, 10-inning loss to the Dodgers in Game 1 of the World Series.

It was a painfully familiar feeling for Judge, who’s had too much experience dealing with brutal postseason losses in his nine-year career and, before this October, premature exits by the Yankees. Many of those times, including Friday night, the conversation has involved Judge’s puzzling complicity in his team’s demise.

Judge is almost certain to win his second American League MVP trophy after leading the planet in nearly every offensive category, including 58 home runs, 144 RBIs and a 1.159 OPS. But that’s a regular-season award, and it could not feel more insignificant this month, when even the tiniest postseason contributions attain legendary status.

On Friday, in his  eagerly awaited first World Series appearance, Judge would have been thrilled for some minor role in a Yankees victory. Instead, he was a non-factor when it counted most. He went 1-for-5 with three strikeouts — his single came with the bases empty and two outs in the seventh — while watching the game’s other stars shine brightest on the big stage.

Shohei Ohtani, the co-headliner with Judge in this World Series, delivered a rocket double that set up Mookie Betts’ tying sacrifice fly in the eighth inning. Judge's teammate, ALCS MVP Giancarlo Stanton, launched a 412-foot, 117-mph moonshot high into the Chavez Ravine sky — his fourth homer in his last four postseason games — to turn the Yankees’ early 1-0 deficit into a 2-1 lead in the sixth. And of course, hobbled hero Freddie Freeman channeled Kirk Gibson — right down to the limp — and smacked the first walk-off grand slam in World Series history.

Judge, you could argue, stands taller than any of those money players, but the Yankees still are waiting for the meaningful October payoff. He batted .161 (5-for-31) with a pair of home runs and had 13 strikeouts through the first two rounds, and what should have been his signature moment — the tying two-run homer in the eighth inning of ALCS  Game 3 — went for naught when the Guardians rallied for a late victory.

Adding insult to injury, the Dodgers chose to intentionally walk Juan Soto in the ninth inning Friday after Gleyber Torres’ two-out double (ruled that way on review after a fan reached over the wall to glove the fly ball). Shockingly, it happened for the second time this postseason, as Soto got a four-finger pass to load the bases in ALCS Game 2, but Judge at least burned Cleveland with a sacrifice fly then.

For the Dodgers, however, the strategy worked. They brought in closer Blake Treinen for Judge, who took the first two sweepers for strikes. He laid off a third that was nearly in the other batter’s box, fouled off another — a very hittable sweeper almost at the heart of the zone — and finally popped up a 94-mph fastball that Judge typically puts in the seats. (Considering the 105-mph exit velo and the ball’s cloud-scraping arc, he didn’t miss it by very much.)

“It's certainly a pick-your-poison type of situation,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said of the decision to skip Soto for Judge. “I just felt right there the game was on the line.”

Roberts didn’t have to elaborate. Judge isn’t Judge right now, and until further notice, he’s a lesser threat when it comes to high-leverage situations. On Friday, he misfired from the start.

“Definitely off the first couple of at-bats,” Judge said. “But definitely better as the game got on. So we’ll just carry that into the next one.”

Judge couldn’t solve Dodgers starter Jack Flaherty, who struck him out three times in similar fashion but got some help. If Judge wasn’t chasing knuckle curves or sliders, his timing was off on the fastballs. Judge twice whiffed on breaking pitches in the dirt. Then, with a full count in the sixth, he swung through a 94-mph fastball on the outside edge of the plate.

“What he’s done through his career and what he’s done over the course of this year has been second to none,” Flaherty said. “You’ve got to make really good pitches. You take today and remember it, but remember that it’s one day. He’s going to be ready for the next one.”

Presumably, Judge eventually is going to make someone pay, but his October struggle is hardly a small sample size. He’s up to 54 playoff games in his nine-year career, hitting only .203 with a .753 OPS, and his 33.6% strikeout rate is the highest among players with at least 210 plate appearances. He entered Game 2 with 16 strikeouts in 36 at-bats in this postseason, and he struck out in his first at-bat against Yoshinobu Yamamoto on Saturday night.

Judge does have 15 homers, tied with Babe Ruth for the fifth-most in Yankees history, but that total still feels empty when measured against the total postseason production from a player of his caliber.

And now that it’s happening again, with the Yankees in their first World Series since 2009 and only their second in two decades, Judge has become an outsized target for the team’s October failings. For a Yankee, never mind the five-ring Derek Jeter’s successor as captain, there’s no greater curse. And Judge seemed to be feeling it Friday night after tripping on the sport’s biggest stage.

“Just got to keep swinging,” he said.

Swinging hasn’t been the problem. Making an impact is the issue, and the Yankees are going to have trouble winning this World Series unless Judge bucks that trend.

By David Lennon

dave.lennon@newsday.comDPLennon

David Lennon is an award-winning columnist, a voter for baseball's Hall of Fame and has covered six no-hitters, including two perfect games.