Aaron Judge desperately needs to have a great World Series

Lost in the revelry surrounding the New York Yankees’ long-awaited return to the World Series is one disturbing fact. Aaron Judge still can’t hit in the playoffs.

After a dud of an ALDS, Judge was on the verge of playoff irrelevance heading into the ALCS. A couple of long balls and a series win later, everyone seems to have forgotten about the Yankee captain’s postseason struggles.

But Judge is far from redeemed. He did homer in Game 2 and Game 3 of the ALCS. However, in the last two games of the series he did very little to help the Yankees win, with a single in eight at-bats, four strikeouts and zero RBI.

This postseason, the man who draws comparisons to Yankees legends such as Mickey Mantle is hitting more like former Bombers benchwarmer Clay Bellinger. With a .167/.317/.387 slash line, Judge has mostly been an easy out. Sure, he’s got his two dingers and six RBI, but he’s also left 18 runners on base and struck out 13 times.

Unfortunately for Yankees fans, the superstar slugger’s failings this year are part of a concerning pattern. He’s now hitting just .203/.311/.450 over 53 career playoff contests. A full third of his plate appearances have resulted in strikeouts (79 of 239).

Judge has put up 15 homers in his postseason career. But he’s just not that imposing as an all-or-nothing hitter.

So, the 32-year-old needs to go off at the plate this Fall Classic. He has to do it to cement his legacy. Even if he returns to subpar performances in October, Yankees fans would forgive him because of that one time he won World Series MVP and ended the organization’s 15-year championship drought.