Aaron Judge of the Yankees is becoming into an offensive Clayton Kershaw in the postseason.
Written by Aaron Case Updated on October 7, 24.
New York Aaron Judge, the standout player for the Yankees, is a terrific regular-season hitter. However, as he enters more significant games in October, his light wavers and frequently goes completely out.
With just one infield single and four strikeouts in his first seven at-bats of the 2024 postseason, the 32-year-old outfielder runs the risk of being the playoff equivalent of Clayton Kershaw, another regular-season standout who struggles in the postseason.
With some of the greatest spring and summer stats ever, Kershaw is a surefire MLB Hall of Famer. Over his career, the 36-year-old southpaw has a 2.50 ERA and a.693 victory %. Third best in history, his WHIP is 1.01.
The MVP, three Cy Young Awards, ten All-Star selections, and an MVP award belong to the Los Angeles Dodgers ace. In 2011, he also won the pitching triple crown by topping the league in strikeouts, ERA, and victories.
Still, he collapses in the postseason every time. His career record is 13-13 with a 4.49 ERA, a sharp decline from his regular season totals. But his 2014 season serves as the clearest example of his postseason disappointments.
He had an extremely low 1.77 ERA and 0.857 WHIP that year, going 21-3. He was 0-2 in October after surrendering 11 runs in 12.2 innings. And that wasn’t an isolated incident; his record in playoff series is replete with instances of comparable outcomes, none worse than the 2018 World Series, when he gave up nine runs on 14 hits in 11 innings. The Dodgers obviously lost the series.
Judge is also among the all-time best hitters when it comes to regular season play. Not only is he the fastest player to 300 home runs, but he leads the league right now in OPS, slugging percentage, and OPS+. Additionally, the slugger is set to earn his second MVP.
But by October, Judge had become into a batter more akin to Joey Gallo. The skipper of the Yankees is hitting.208/.311/.449. In 178 at-bats, he has struck out 70 times while hitting 13 home runs. Similar to Kershaw, in nine postseason games he hit just.139/.184/.306 following an amazing 62-homer season in 2022.
Judge might leave all of those horrible figures far behind him by guiding his side to a title this year. Fans haven’t had much cause to believe that he will based on the way he’s performed in the first two ALDS games.
