Aaron Judge Takes a Surprising Approach to 2024's Defining Moment

Instead, Judge watched the chopped-up video of his at-bats. He looked at his swing. He studied what the Dodgers pitchers did to him. Judge slumped in the postseason after putting up MVP numbers in the regular season. He had a .184 average with three homers in 14 playoff games, including a .222 mark with a lone homer across 18 World Series at-bats.

“I did my analysis,” Judge said. “I went over the games. I did what I need to do to get ready for this year, and that’s all you can really do.”

For Judge, there were few highlights, just lessons. He adjusted his offseason plan. He changed his spring training workouts. He has come into this season playing at a new, historic level.

Judge is batting .395 with a .488 on-base percentage and a .746 slugging percentage. He has hit 18 home runs and driven in 47 runs through 55 games. His average exit velocity of 95.9 mph, a barrel percentage of 25%, and a hard-hit rate of 57.8%, all rank him among the top hitters in baseball.

He’s taken his lessons and moved on.

So, don’t expect any emotions for him when he and the Yankees head into Dodger Stadium this weekend. That doesn’t mean he does not want revenge. Judge is human, he’d like to prove the doubters wrong.

But he will not relive the past, he won’t do the “what ifs.”

Judge isn’t dwelling on what could have been. He’s already focused on what comes next.