Judge flailing in first World Series, Yankees are sinking along with him

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Aaron Judge is sinking ever deeper into a gruesome postseason slump, and the New York Yankees' championship chances are fading right along with him.

The superstar slugger went 1 for 9 with six strikeouts in his first two World Series games at Dodger Stadium, dragging down New York's offense in two losses to Los Angeles.

Judge was 0 for 4 with three strikeouts in Game 2 on Saturday night. He struggled even to make contact against Yoshinobu Yamamoto and reliever Blake Treinen, who fanned him with Juan Soto on second base for the first out of the ninth inning in the Dodgers' 4-2 victory.

Judge swung and missed six times in his four at-bats in Game 2. The entire Dodgers roster only did that 12 times.

“It definitely eats at you,” Judge said. “You want to contribute and help the team, but that’s why you’ve got to keep working and you’ve got to keep swinging. I can’t just sit here and feel bad for myself. Nobody is feeling bad for me, so you’ve just got to show up and do the work.”

Judge probably will win his second American League MVP award after the season ends, but he is nobody's idea of an October hero at the moment.

He is 6 for 40 (.150) with two homers and a whopping 19 strikeouts in these playoffs, getting all six of his RBIs during a three-game stretch in the AL Championship Series. He is 0 for 8 with runners in scoring position, and he has just one hit in his last 22 at-bats in that situation dating to past postseasons.

This isn't anything new for one of the game's top hitters from April to September: Judge's career postseason average has dropped to .199 as the World Series shifts to Yankee Stadium.

Judge’s postseason struggles are a painful area for Yankees fans who can't understand why he doesn't produce at the same rate in the playoffs.

Judge repeatedly said his struggles are rooted in overaggressive pitch selection, and he's trying to remedy it.

“I think it’s trying to make things happen instead of letting the game come to you,” Judge said. "I think that’s what it really comes down to. You see Gleyber (Torres) out there on base, Juan is getting on base, doing things, you want to try to make something happen. But if you’re not going to get a pitch in the zone, you’ve got to just take your walks instead. Plain and simple, I’ve got to start swinging at strikes.”

With 85 career postseason strikeouts, Judge now has the highest strikeout rate (34.3%) in MLB postseason history among players with at least 200 plate appearances.

Nothing in this marquee World Series matchup was more compelling than the matchup of Judge and Shohei Ohtani, the two most dangerous sluggers in baseball.

But while Giancarlo Stanton and Freddie Freeman took some memorable swings in the first two games, the two biggest names had exactly one big hit between them — and then Ohtani injured his left arm while sliding in the seventh inning of Game 2, putting his status in doubt for the Bronx.

Ohtani doubled off the wall and scored the tying run in the eighth inning of Game 1, but the two-way superstar is just 1 for 8 with a walk and two strikeouts in the first two games, repeatedly putting outs in play early in the count.

Judge went 1 for 5 in Game 1, with Jack Flaherty striking him out in his first three at-bats. His only hit was a solid two-out single to center in the seventh, but he popped out with two on to end the ninth inning, failing to come through in a situation tailor-made for postseason heroics.

Even worse, the Dodgers had walked Soto to get to Judge, who couldn't make them pay.

Judge isn’t the only New York hitter coming up small in the clutch, of course: The Yankees are 2 for 14 with runners in scoring position in the World Series.

“He's our leader, he's our captain,” New York's Anthony Rizzo said. “The narrative is whatever is made of it, but he's a brick wall. He knows how to handle all this stuff, so I'm proud of who he is as a person, as a leader, and these times right now define him even more, because he comes in every day and he's still the same as he's ever been."

The 6-foot-7 Judge’s powerful swing has been loopy and inaccurate lately, although it appeared to be getting more efficient in recent weeks. He’s still swinging and missing at an alarming rate, including a poor swing at a slider from Yamamoto below the zone to strike out in the first inning of Game 2. He’s frequently been out in front of breaking pitches and behind on fastballs.

He flied out to right to end the third inning, and Yamamoto struck him out again to end the fifth, with Judge flailing at a vicious, low splitter that dipped in on him.

“(I’m) just expanding the zone,” Judge said. “That’s really what it comes down to. You’ve got to get a pitch in the zone and drive it, and if you don’t, don’t try to make something happen.”

This is Judge's first postseason since he signed a $360 million, nine-year contract after setting an AL record with 62 homers in 2022 and beating out Ohtani for the AL MVP award. New York missed the playoffs last fall.

Judge led the majors this season with 58 homers, 144 RBIs and a 1.159 OPS. He batted .322 and scored 122 runs despite enduring a career-long home run drought of 16 games spanning August and September.

“It’s all about one at-bat," Soto said. "I feel like when you're a hitter like him, he’s one of the greatest. It’s only going to take one at-bat for him to lock in and be on it.”

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