As the World Series dream fades, the Yankees are in for a reality check, Aaron Judge

NEW YORK – He's the captain, the face of the franchise, the $360 million man. For all of these reasons, Aaron Judge can't hide from his postseason misery. But in reality, the Yankees' embarrassing performance in the World Series is a system-wide collapse. As crazy as that sounds, considering they won 94 games and won their first American League pennant since 2009, they aren't very good at baseball.

What the Yankees are good at is crushing weaker opponents, which they did in the regular season by leading the majors in home runs and in the American League playoffs by dominating the offensively challenged Kansas City Royals and Cleveland Guardians. For the Yankees to be successful, Judge, in particular, must persevere. They got away with minimal contributions from him against AL Central competition in the first two rounds. They can't beat the Los Angeles Dodgers in the World Series.

If – when? – The Yankees fail to recover from a three-games-to-nil deficit. They will be doing themselves a disservice if they just pat themselves on the back for having a great season and neglect to be honest about who they are. The Dodgers are the better team. Better offensively. Defensively better. Better on the bases. And surprisingly better with their starting pitching too.

At this point, one might wonder how the Yankees would have fared against some of the other postseason qualifiers in the Netherlands – the San Diego Padres, the New York Mets, the Philadelphia Phillies, the Milwaukee Brewers. It's also fair to wonder if they'll be as successful in the AL next season, especially with Juan Soto departing and other teams in the league continuing to improve.

The Yankees' brand of baseball is offensive, not just in the statistical sense of the word, but also in the aesthetic sense. It was difficult to watch her on this show, as it has been for most of the season. Whether or not they re-sign Soto, they will have to address their sloppiness on the bases and in the field. Which is easier said than done on a team with such fundamental flaws.

Manager Aaron Boone is somewhat responsible for the Yankees' frequent errors on the field. General manager Brian Cashman is responsible for a trade deadline in which the Dodgers' additions (Jack Flaherty, Tommy Edman and Michael Kopech) were better than the Yankees' (Jazz Chisholm Jr., Mark Leiter Jr.). The Yankees withdrew from a tentative trade agreement for Flaherty after reviewing his medical records, and subsequent attempts to make a deal were unsuccessful.

It was a tough World Series for Jazz Chisholm and Aaron Judge of the Yankees. (Wendell Cruz/Imagn Images)

Judge, too, must search his own conscience and discover why he proves to be a less than worthy heir to a tradition of October excellence started by Babe Ruth, Yogi Berra, Reggie Jackson, Derek Jeter and other Yankee greats the past was called. Judge now has over 250 postseason plate appearances under his belt. And although he has 15 home runs, his career batting average as of October is just .196. He tests the theory that a great player will eventually succeed if given enough opportunities in the postseason.

In 2022, Judge set an AL record with 62 home runs in the regular season and posted a .139 OPS with a .490 OPS in the postseason. These playoffs were more of the same. Judge is coming off an even better offensive season than he did in 2022. His OPS, 123 percent above league average, was the 13th highest in AL/NL history, 33 percent better than the next-place player, Shohei Ohtani. And yet here he is again stuck in the autumn mud.

The Yankees have scored seven runs in their three losses to the Dodgers. Judge is 1 for 12 with seven strikeouts. For the postseason, he is batting .140 with two home runs and 20 strikeouts in 54 plate appearances. And the problem he identified as his biggest problem — swinging too many pitches outside the strike zone — is only getting worse. Judge's pursuit rate was a career-low 17.7 percent during the regular season. It has increased in every series in the postseason, from 21.3 percent against the Royals to 33.3 percent against the Guardians to 35.3 percent against the Dodgers.

Judge didn't offer much insight after going 0-for-3 with a strikeout and a walk in Game 3, saying, “I didn't get any hits, didn't drive anyone in.” I have to do something up there.” When The athlete's Chris Kirschner asked him if he felt like he was letting the team down. He paused for a few seconds before saying, “Absolutely. You want to get the hits, you want to go out and do your job. I’m not doing my job right now, so I have to get back to it.”

Actually, Judge can't say much more. And in fact, the Yankees can't say much about their disappointing performance. Several players, including Judge, adopted the “just win a game” mantra. Well, of course. And the Yankees should actually be able to win one, as the Dodgers schedule a bullpen game on Tuesday night. Right?

Maybe, maybe not. The Yankees could have put the Dodgers in a serious bind by taking a lead on Monday and forcing Dodgers manager Dave Roberts to use lower-leverage replacements, as he did by essentially throwing Games 2 and 5 conceded in the NLCS. Instead, Clarke Schmidt led a physically impaired Shohei Ohtani on four pitches early in the game. Freddie Freeman followed with a two-run home run and the Yankees did not score until Alex Verdugo hit a two-run home run with two outs in the ninth.

Verdugo provided an interesting analysis of the series, saying, “For me, it’s not one-sided. The first game was ours. You won it. They had a historic hit. In the second game they caught us in one inning and we couldn't recover. That was the fault of the offense. And when we don’t score, we put a lot of pressure on our pitchers to be perfect against a really good Dodgers lineup.”

The last part is undoubtedly true, but let's go back to the first part. Defensive errors by right fielder Juan Soto and second baseman Gleyber Torres haunted the Yankees in Game 1. They still led 3-2 in the 10th, but the game should never have gone into extra innings, let alone Freeman's walk-off -Wing Slam, the first in series history.

The Yankees bench responds to a strike call in the seventh inning of Game 3. (Vincent Carchietta / Imagn Images)

The only bad inning for Verdugo in Game 2 was the third, which included a two-run home run by Teoscar Hernández and a solo shot by Freeman against left-hander Carlos Rodón. But the Yankees scored only one hit before the ninth, a solo shot by Soto. Their offense then showed the same disappearance in Game 3, with Walker Buehler recording five strikeouts in a span of seven batters in the first three innings, starting of course with Judge.

The Dodgers' pitching is good, no question about it. But the Dodgers also do the little things the Yankees don't. Two plays clearly illustrate the difference between these clubs. Edman made a great play, scoring from second on a soft fly ball to right from Mookie Betts. Hernández, not known for his defense on the left side, made a perfect throw to bring the lumbering Giancarlo Stanton to the plate.

The Yankees can still dream of a path to a more competitive series. Beat up the Dodgers' relievers in the bullpen game. Rally behind Gerrit Cole in Game 5. Force the series to return to Los Angeles, with the pressure shifting to the Dodgers. But little of what we have seen suggests that such a scenario could actually occur.

Oh, the Yankees keep talking about how close they are and how quickly things can change. Reflecting on a knuckle bend Buehler hit left with the end of his racket in the fourth, Judge said, “When you hit that out of the park, things change.” Yeah, sure. But Judge is emphatic. The Yankees are on the hook. In some ways they are not who we thought they were. In other cases, they are who we suspected them to be all along.

(Top photo by Aaron Judge: Dustin Satloff / MLB Photos via Getty Images)