Aaron Judge was absolute fire this season for the New York Yankees. His stellar performance earned him his second AL MVP award. It was a huge season for the Yankee fans who got a taste of the World Series after decades, quite literally. The last time the team even went so far was during the time of Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez. Judge slashed 58 home runs and 144 RBIs and became the prime reason the Yankees went to the World Series. Recently, Fireside Yankees, a popular social media page, even deemed Judge as the best hitter in baseball.

However, while Judge’s regular season numbers are stellar, his postseason shenanigans tell a different story. In the 2024 postseason, Judge struggled and could slash just .184/.344/.752 over 49 at-bats. His home runs? Well, just a mere three, and RBIs at 9. This is far off from his numbers in the regular season.

Fireside Yankees sure highlighted the impressive stats of Judge since 2022. That’s a 202 wRC+, 157 home runs, 350 RBIs, and a .433 OBP, all leading the league. But one cannot ignore the fact that Judge stood tall to his reputation of being an underperformer in playoffs. Despite his regular season heroics, he couldn’t shed that underperformer tag yet.

Aaron Judge had trouble adjusting, and he reverted to some of the bad habits he had earlier in his career. Just like the free-swinging approach. And despite seeing pitches to hit, Judge’s chase and whiff rates were evident, and this led to a rather frustrating World Series performance. At one point, Judge mentioned, “I’m not doing my job right now. I’ve got to pick it up.” The Yankee captain did try to be more patient in hitting as the series wore on, but it was a little too late.

The Los Angeles Dodgers, with their star players, were unstoppable. While Shohei Ohtani was not in his element due to the injury he sustained, the rest of the lineup was on point. Who can forget Freddie Freeman’s heroics!? However, the fact that the page named Judge as the best hitter in baseball didn’t sit well with many.

Fans mock Aaron Judge’s post-season run

One user mocked the comparison, asking what the best hitter in baseball has done in the postseason. Well, the numbers sure are disappointing, but funny enough, Judge and Shohei Ohtani both had very similar numbers. Judge: a .768 OPS career postseason and Ohtani has a .767 OPS career postseason. Yet, it cannot be compared because Ohtani was there in the postseason for the first time. Plus, he was even injured and playing.

A lifelong fan who has been watching the Yankees since 1975 questioned Judge’s postseason numbers. The man has hit just 16 home runs in his career in the postseason. And some of Judge’s worst performances have come after his best seasons, just like this season. In 2017, he hit .191 in the postseason, and in 2022, he hit .139 without a home run in an ALCS sweep against the Astros.

One user couldn’t help but compare Judge to Freddie Freeman. And really, where is the lie? Freeman has an OPS of .810 this season. Now this is after all the turbulence he faced with his health this season. He had to go through four hours of prep to even make it to the mound. No wonder he got the World Series MVP accolade.

Fans are mad and bringing up the postseason numbers again. This is because this was the Yankee’s chance to end the long championship drought they had faced. They were so close and yet couldn’t clinch it. Every postseason game, fans looked for the spark from Judge that—this is him making a comeback. Sadly, that comeback didn’t come.

A user hesitantly hinted at who needs Juan Soto. But truth be told, one player alone cannot carry the team to a championship. It’s a team sport after all. With Judge in the back seat, Stanton and Soto tried their best. But alas, the team up front had Mookie Betts, Freddie Freeman, Shohei Ohtani, and Max Muncy all giving their best.

The Yankees lineup is nearly complete, and this time they wouldn’t have the powerful bat of Juan Soto too. So, it depends on whether they can even make it WS now. Do you think they can? Let us know.