Aaron Judge has already established himself as one of the best players of this generation, but he is still yearning for his signature playoff moment with the New York Yankees.
In the regular season, there aren’t many players in MLB history better than Judge. He’s eclipsed 50 or more home runs in a season four times, holds the lead amongst active players with a career 1.028 OPS, and has won two AL MVP’s, and will be in the running to win his third this season.
Despite that, Judge’s playoff resume isn’t nearly as sparkling. For his career, Judge is slashing just .205/.318/.450 in his career in the playoffs, and has still yet to earn a championship in his 10-year career.
Ahead of another postseason appearance, Judge spoke with The Athletic’s Chris Kirschner about figuring it out come October.
“I don’t think they’d name me the captain if they didn’t think I could handle it,” Judge said. “It’s part of it. That’s what I want. Especially playing in New York, the fans expect the most out of you every single night. They expect you to go 4-for-4 every night and win every game. You get a lot of heat when that doesn’t happen, but you got to be able to brush those things off and just keep showing up ready to work and giving your best.”
The Yankees path to the World Series won’t be easy. They’ll face the Red Sox in the Wild Card round, and if they advance, they’ll face the Toronto Blue Jays, who won the tiebreaker over the Yankees for the AL East division crown. If they wish to embark on another deep postseason run, they’ll need their captain to be at his best.