Aaron Judge Remains Postseason Problem for Yankees

According to MLB's Win Probability Added, Judge's whiff against Gausman was one of the most significant swings of the game. Gausman getting Judge out had a -10.4 WPA for the Yankees.

Judge spoke about his failure to come through after the game. He gave credit to the pitcher Gausman at that moment.

"I wouldn't say I was overanxious. If you saw the whole at-bat, I definitely took some tough pitches. But in the end, I didn't get the job done," Judge said, according to Gary Phillips of the Daily News. "That's why he's been in this game for a long time and had a lot of success. That's his bread and butter."

Gausman said he was surprised that Judge swung at that pitch. Toronto's ace said he would have been okay with walking Judge.

"I thought the pitch before really set up the split down and away,” Gausman said, according to Bryan Hoch of MLB.com. “In that moment, to be honest, I'm fine walking him. He can blow that game right open with one swing.”

Judge may be seeing the ball better this postseason, according to the numbers, but he has yet to have that big postseason moment or carry the Yankees the way he has in the regular season. Craig Carton, the former WFAN host, called him the Lamar Jackson of MLB, and so far, there is no better comparison than that. It's unfortunate to say because both are among the best and most dynamic athletes in American sports today.

Judge has 278 plate appearances in the postseason. He is hitting .217/.325/.451 with a 112 wRC+. It's a far cry from his regular season number, where he has cemented his Hall of Fame case by making MVP numbers look easy. For his career, Judge does it all, hitting for average and power, posting .294/.413/.615 with a 178 wRC+.

It's hard to call Judge the Don Mattingly of this generation because the legendary first baseman never got the opportunities that Judge had. Mattingly had 25 plate appearances in the postseason. That came in 1995, when their season ended in Seattle.

Mattingly debuted after the glory years of the late 1970s and carried the dysfunctions of George Steinbrenner in the 1980s, without ever experiencing the accolades that the former greats in the organization had. Judge has had ample opportunity to turn the narrative around, and there is till time.

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