LOS ANGELES – As the Yankees took batting practice at Dodger Stadium before Game 2 of the World Series, Aaron Judge chatted it up with Dave Winfield.
The latter enjoyed a decorated Hall of Fame career, but Yankees fans probably remember Winfield for the nickname Geoge Steinbrenner bestowed upon him: Mr. May.
Steinbrenner settled on the moniker after Winfield went 1-for-22 for the Yankees during the 1981 Fall Classic, which the Bombers lost to the Dodgers. Forty-three years later, Yankees fans are now hurling similar insults toward Judge on social media as he struggles in his own World Series debut against Los Angeles.
With the Yankees facing a 2-0 series deficit, Judge, the presumptive American League MVP, is 1-for-9 with two strikeouts thus far. Even worse, he’s 6-for-40 with two home runs, six RBI and 19 strikeouts this October.
“It definitely eats at you,” Judge said after going 0-for-4 with three strikeouts in the Yankees’ 4-2, Game 2 loss on Saturday. “You want to contribute and help the team, so I gotta keep working. Gotta keep swinging. I can’t sit here and feel bad for myself. Nobody’s feeling bad for me, so you just gotta show up and do the work.”
Judge’s first strikeout came in the first inning with a runner on second. The Dodger’s Yoshinobu Yamamoto got him to swing through a slider below the zone.
With the Yankees trying to rally, Judge also struck out in the ninth inning with a runner on second when Blake Treinen threw a sweeper way off the plate.
However, it was two pitches prior to Judge’s sixth-inning strikeout that weighed on his mind after the game. With the bases empty and Judge ahead in the count, 2-0, he watched a Yamamoto fastball go by the lower-middle part of the strike zone, typically a damage spot for the slugger. Yamamoto then dropped a curve in a similar spot. Judge fouled it off before whiffing on a splitter that would have been a ball inside.
“When I’m doing well, I usually fire on that,” Judge said of the fastball.
Unfortunately for the Yankees, Judge hasn’t fired on much lately.
While he enjoyed a clutch, game-tying home run off Guardians closer Emmanuel Clase in Game 3 of the ALCS, the majors’ regular season longball leader simply hasn’t delivered under the bright lights.
“I definitely gotta step up,” Judge acknowledged. “I gotta do my job. Guys around me are doing their job, getting on base. I’m failing backing them up. So we gotta turn around in Game 3.”
Judge’s October struggles are nothing new, as he is now a .199 hitter for his postseason career. That number falls to .146 when looking at Judge’s playoff performances since 2020.
The difference now is that Judge is flailing on the World Series stage – a platform he took nine years to reach after coming so close as a rookie – with the Yankees two losses away from defeat.
“I mean, it’s the World Series,” Jazz Chisholm Jr. said when asked what he’s seeing from Judge. “This is his first World Series. We’re all a little bit anxious. It’s our first two games of the World Series in our career. So you’re gonna go out there a little bit anxious. I feel like when we get home, he’s gonna feel more confident and he’s gonna calm down a little bit more going into a home crowd.”
Chisholm made it sounds like Judge – and others – may be pressing, but the Yankees’ captain attributed his shortcomings to expanding his zone.
“That’s really what it comes down to,” Judge said. “You gotta get a pitch in the zone and drive it. If you don’t, don’t try to make something happen.”
Judge added, “I have to start swinging at strikes.” He also said he needs to be more patient, as he feels he’s been leaving walks on the table by chasing at a far higher clip than he did during the regular season.
Giancarlo Stanton, the ALCS MVP, was asked how Judge can contract his zone on the fly.
“You gotta make your plate this big when that happens,” Stanton said, creating a shrinking circle with his hands. “You just gotta compress it.”
Meanwhile, Aaron Boone said it’s about Judge “getting in a good position.”
“It always can be a little bit of a mechanical thing when guys go through a little funk,” the manager continued. “When [hitters are] just easily getting into their move and firing, then that’s when you make your best swing decisions.”
While Judge primarily talked about his plate discipline, he said that his mechanics are “getting there” and that he’s “getting close.”
He also said that his current funk is “a little similar” to the slump he endured in April. Judge went on a historic tear after that, but he had a long season to work with.
That’s no longer the case, a reality Judge acknowledged with the World Series heading to the Bronx and the Yankees in a hole.
With time of the essence, Boone and Juan Soto said that Judge can flip the script in a hurry.
“It’s all about one at-bat,” Soto said. “I know it’s tough, but when you’re a hitter like him that’s one of the greatest, it’s only going to take one at-bat to lock in and be on it.”
The Yankees are hoping that one at-bat comes soon, as an early-inning strikeout in Game 3 would surely result in jeers from a fanbase desperate for a championship. Judge expressed excitement over a return home, but it won’t take much for the Bronx boo birds to sing on Monday.
“We got the best fans in baseball. They’re gonna be loud. They’re gonna be rowdy,” Judge said before making a claim that comes with less certainty. “They’re gonna have our backs all game.”
