Aaron Judge and the Yankees are in a pretty bad slump. After striking out four times against the Guardians, and his Yankees dropping Game 2, Aaron Judge is coming under a lot of justified criticism for floundering in the big moments.
What has happened to Aaron Judge? He’s been utterly useless this postseason at bat as he’s struck out seven times and has only been on base once. And that time he was on base was because he was walked by the Cleveland pitcher, so Judge doesn’t even have a hit credited to his name yet.
Meanwhile, after coming back to score four runs after an early home run by Guardians CF Steven Kwan in Game 1, the Yankees failed to get any offensive momentum going in Game 2 as the Guardians stole it in the 10th inning to even the series at 1.
What’s worse is that the series now heads to Cleveland for two games, which gives the Guardians all of the momentum in the world to win the next two and finish off the Yankees in the ALDS.
Can you imagine the uproar of the New York faithful if the Yankees, who had a record-breaking HR hitter on their team, three all-star pitchers and another two all-star outfielders (not including Aaron Judge, who was also an all-star), along with a record of 99-63, lost to the Cleveland Guardians? You know, the very same Guardians team that only had one all-star and finished the year with the worst record (92-70) of all of the division winners this year.
Now, I have to say a lot of the struggles of the Yankees, and Aaron Judge in particular, has been down to the play of Cleveland pitchers Shane Bieber and Cal Quantril. Simply put, these two have been amazing against the Yankees so far.
In Game 1, Quantril had five strikeouts and a respectable 5.40 ERA in a near-loss, while Bieber had an even more impressive 7 strikeouts and a fantastic 3.18 ERA in a Game 2 extra-inning win. Bieber has rediscovered his 2020 Cy Young winning form as he has beaten Judge at his own game, throwing a devastating mix of breaking balls and fast balls.
Poor Judge hasn’t seemed to know what pitch to swing on and what not to when Bieber was the man pitching to him. Actually, that’s been the case for really every pitcher Judge has faced thus far.
Yet even though Bieber and the Guardians’ bullpen has been great, Judge’s postseason struggles with hitting are not new. In fact, his four-strikeout performance last night was the fourth time he reached such a dreadful batting performance in his career.
And with the Yankees notoriously underachieving while he’s been on the roster, I’m starting to see a pattern as to why.
Still, I won’t put it past Judge to hit three home runs tonight and lead the Yankees to a crushing Game 3 victory. But it will be difficult now that everyone has been getting onto his back about his poor performances with the Yankees fans even booing him as he left the plate for the final time last night.
We’ll have to wait and see if he and the Yankees can break their slump tonight and reach the ALCS.
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