Yankees' Aaron Judge has great chance to add 'postseason hero' to his legacy
Yankees rightfielder Aaron Judge looks on against the Baltimore Orioles at Yankee Stadium on Sunday. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
Aaron Judge went 1-for-4 in the Yankees’ 3-2 victory over the Orioles on Sunday. It was their final game of the regular season, and the Yankees will open the playoffs in the wild-card round on Tuesday night in the Bronx against the Red Sox.
Judge had one of the greatest offensive regular seasons in baseball history. He won his first American League batting title with a career-high .331 average. His 53 home runs were the most by a batting champion in MLB history.
He finished with 30 doubles, two triples, 114 RBIs, 124 walks (a Yankees-record 36 of them intentional) and a 1.145 OPS.
In his last 30 games, Judge went 37-for-99 (.374) with 13 home runs, 21 RBIs and a 1.331 OPS.
On Tuesday, it all resets to zero. And Judge gets another chance to add "postseason beast'' to his impressive resume.
Judge is one of the greatest regular-season performers ever. He has been something less than that in the postseason, though, with a .205 average, a .768 OPS and 86 strikeouts in 262 plate appearances in 15 postseason series.
The great thing about playing for the Yankees is that Judge has been in the playoffs every year except 2023, starting with his Rookie of the Year season of 2017. He is 33 and his contract runs until 2031, so it’s a safe bet that with six playoff teams per league, this isn’t going to be his last chance.
But it might be his best chance.
Judge is at the peak of his offensive powers at the moment. The flexor tendon strain in his right elbow that forced him to the injured list in late July and then made him come back as a designated hitter seems to be healed, or at least healed enough that no one talks about it anymore.
The Yankees, too, are rolling, having finished the regular season with eight wins in a row and 32 in their final 44 games. That still wasn’t enough to earn them the AL East crown, which went to the victorious Blue Jays on Sunday via tiebreaker.
But it was enough to wash away the stench of the low points of the Yankees’ season, of which there were more than a few.
It was enough to make you think that maybe it’s better for the Yankees to get right back to work on Tuesday rather than wait until Saturday and possibly get stale.
Judge’s swing — and that of Giancarlo Stanton and Ben Rice (two homers on Sunday, including what proved to be the game-winner in the eighth inning) — look so good right now.
The Yankees' bullpen, which threw four shutout innings on Sunday, allowed two earned runs in its final 33 2/3 innings and appears ready for the postseason. Roles are locked in, and the late-inning troika of Luke Weaver, Devin Williams and closer David Bednar seems as sharp as could be heading into Game 1.
Max Fried is pitching some of the best ball of his remarkable first Yankees season, and he’ll need to in the Game 1 matchup against Boston’s Garrett Crochet.
The Yankees went 4-9 against Boston this season, but it wasn’t Judge’s fault. He hit .286 with five home runs and a 1.008 OPS against the Yankees’ perennial rivals.
Manager Aaron Boone said the batting title means a lot to Judge. Judge didn’t share that emotion.
“Just trying to do my job,” he said. “That’s what it comes down to.”
At 6-7, Judge is the tallest batting champion ever, beating the old “record” of five players who were 6-5.
Boone said he told Judge he’s now in the company of “Tony Gwynn, Rod Carew, Wade Boggs” — some of the most prolific hitters for average in MLB history, although none of them was a slugger.
“That’s incredible,” Judge said. “Those are legends of the game who will be talked about forever.”
Judge is approaching that status. At the moment, the legends he should be most compared to are Barry Bonds and Alex Rodriguez, two all-time great players who were October flops until Bonds (2002) and Rodriguez (2009 during the Yankees’ last World Series title run) flipped the script and finally had prolific postseasons.
You know Judge is burning to take that step after last season’s World Series debacle against the Dodgers, including his dropped ball in centerfield in Game 5.
“I think I’ve told you guys every year,” Judge said. “Every time we don’t win a World Series, it stings. Just like in ’23 not making it, it’s the same as getting there and not winning it.”
In mid-November, we will find out whether Judge’s exploits were enough to earn him the AL MVP over Seattle catcher Cal Raleigh. Put that aside for now.
In October, we will find out whether Judge can spin his historic regular season into postseason gold. To have a moment — or more than one — that Yankees fans can talk about forever.
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.
