The New York Yankees (91-64) have punched their ticket to the 2024 MLB playoffs, but they’ll only go as far as their American League MVP frontrunner Aaron Judge takes them this fall. While Judge has mesmerized the baseball world with his incredible power at the plate over the last several seasons, his track record in the playoffs shows that he has a hurdle to get over if the Yankees are to capture a World Series come November.
MLB: Game Two-Los Angeles Angels at New York Yankees Aug 7, 2024; Bronx, New York, USA; New York Yankees center fielder Aaron Judge (99) reacts after drawing a walk against the Los Angeles Angels during the seventh inning at Yankee Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports
Yankees: Aaron Judge has had pronounced playoff struggles since 2020
MLB.com’s Brian Murphy put Judge’s playoff struggles over the previous three postseasons on front street, saying this about how the Fresno State product’s bat has failed him on the biggest stages in that time:
“Judge homered in his first postseason game and has decent career numbers thanks to the work he did from 2017-19. He’s added five homers since that stretch but has accomplished little else at the plate,” Murphy wrote. ‘The Yankees’ captain is slashing .143/.208/.357 over 17 games dating back to the start of the 2020 playoffs. That includes 25 strikeouts in 70 at-bats. Judge really scuffled in his most recent trip to the postseason, going 5-for-36 with 15 strikeouts and a .490 OPS in his 2022 MVP year.”
Those numbers are glaring considering the sharp contrast between his regular season numbers and his talent level. In 2022, Judge broke Roger Maris’ single-season American League home runs record with 62 bombs alongside a staggering MLB-leading 1.111 OPS, yet his postseason numbers that year, as Murphy accentuated, showed a precipitous drop-off in productivity.
Judge will need to dominate at the plate in the 2024 playoffs despite the help around him
This season, Judge has an MLB-leading .456/.688/1.144 slash line along with 54 home runs and 137 RBIs, the latter of which is also a career-high for him. No matter, that does not mask his .143 batting average over his last 17 playoff games, which is a concern that Yankees manager Aaron Boone will have to address ahead of their October slate.
Judge has only had one game where his average exceeded .200 in that span. New York does have ample talent around the 32-year-old at the plate, including fellow AL MVP candidate Juan Soto and Jazz Chisholm Jr., the latter of whom has been on an absolute tear since putting on the pinstripes on July 28.
Nevertheless, the Yankees are 4-5 in the playoffs since 2020 when Judge has registered a hit and 3-2 when he’s connected on a home run. Further, the Yankees tend to win when Judge registers multiple RBIs in playoff games for his career (6-2), and are also 7-2 when he’s dialed in multiple runs. Case in point, the Yankees need the California native to put numbers on the board in order for them to rack up numbers in the win column come postseason time.
