The biggest story for the New York Yankees going into Game 2 of the World Series on Saturday is the continued postseason struggles of centerfielder Aaron Judge.
After putting together another MVP-caliber regular season, Judge has had a miserable postseason that has seen him strike out 16 times in only 46 at-bats, hit just two home runs and hit under .200 for the playoffs.
If that continues and the Yankees end up losing the series to the Los Angeles Dodgers, Judge is going to go from a hero to a zero in the eyes of Yankees fans with his legacy — at least for the short-term — taking a significant hit.
Former Yankees superstar Alex Rodriguez was once in this exact same situation with sky-high expectations and disappointing postseasons. Rodriguez finally changed the narrative around him in 2009 by helping lead the Yankees to a championship.
Before Saturday’s game, Rodriguez shared some advice that he would give to Judge to help him break out of his funk.
Stop worrying about stats. Just focus on having a big moment. That is what he told Joel Sherman of the New York Post on Saturday before Game 2 of the series.
“You have to divorce yourself from stats,” Rodriguez told The Post in the hours before Game 2. “That’s just a losing proposition. And one of the most overrated things in sports is October stats. Forget 4-for-10 with four singles. If Judge does that, the Yankees are going home. Better to be 2-for-14 and one is a three-run double and one is a two-run homer that changes games. You need moments, not stats. And once I realized that, it made it so much easier.”
As great as Judge has been throughout his career, the playoffs have been a consistent problem for him.
Entering play on Saturday he is hitting just .203 with only a .753 OPS in his postseason career. Just by comparison, his career regular season numbers have seen him hit .288 with a 1.010 OPS. Not even close to the same level of production.
Judge has had chances for big moments in the playoffs, including a massive one on Friday when he came to the plate with two runners on after Juan Soto was intentionally walked to face him. Judge ended up popping out.
Ultimately Rodriguez is right. If Judge delivers a big-moment home run or two over the next few games and changes the series in the Yankees’ favor, nobody in New York is going to care what his overall numbers look like. He just has to actually deliver the big hit at some point.