Aaron Judge's great individual postseason not enough to save Yankees

Aaron Judge finally had the individual postseason that Yankees fans had been begging for.

But after seven games, the final one Wednesday night’s 5-2 loss to Toronto in Game 4 of the American League Division Series at Yankee Stadium, it is another one that ended without a World Series ring.

Judge had a .500/.581/.692 slash line with 13 hits and seven RBIs in the playoffs. His one homer marked the signature moment of his career: a game-tying three-run blast off the leftfield foul pole in Tuesday night’s 9-6 win in Game 3.

Addressing the media in the clubhouse at the conclusion of his eighth postseason, Judge delivered his typical selfless answers as he digested yet another year of falling short.

“This is a team game, so it's — we didn’t win as a team,” said the 33-year-old, who went 2-for-4 with an RBI and an intentional walk Wednesday. “You lose as a team, you win as a team. So there's definitely more I can do, and I’m going to figure it out and we’ll get back to work.”

Judge had another magnificent regular season en route to a potential third AL MVP award and a first AL batting title, slashing .331/.457/.688 with 53 homers and 114 RBIs. He missed 10 days with a flexor strain in his right elbow, returning on Aug. 5 as a designated hitter before eventually making his way back to rightfield a month later. When asked about potential offseason surgery, Judge said: “I’m not a doctor. I don’t know.”

He carried the Yankees through September, hitting .370 with 10 homers as they fell a tiebreaker short of winning the AL East title.

But as the calendar turned to October, all the conversation was about whether Judge finally could squash his postseason shortcomings.

He was a career .205 postseason hitter entering this fall, including a putrid .184 average in the Yankees’ run to the World Series last season. The lingering image of 2024? Judge dropping a fly ball during the Dodgers’ five-run fifth inning in their 7-6 clinching win last October.

Judge had four hits (all singles) in the Yankees’ three-game Wild Card Series triumph over Boston. In Saturday’s first ALDS game against Toronto, a 10-1 loss, he struck out with the bases loaded and no outs in the top of the sixth, when the Yankees were trailing only 2-0. Pundits continued to ponder whether the pressure always was going to be too much for Judge, who answered the bell at home.

The Yankees trailed 6-1 with the season on the line Tuesday and 6-3 entering the fourth inning, when Judge’s blast on an 0-and-2, 99.7-mph pitch that was 1.2 feet inside tied it. But even that moment — one where he credited the “ghosts” of Monument Park to keep it fair — was not enough to continue the momentum.

“It’s tough to describe,” Judge said. “We didn’t do our job, didn’t finish the goal. Had a special group in here of a lot of special players that made this year fun. But we didn’t get the ultimate prize, so we came up short.”

Judge notably has echoed the sentiment of Derek Jeter, his predecessor as captain, that every year without a World Series trophy is a failure. But Jeter hit .308 in 16 postseasons and owns five championships. Judge, who turns 34 in April, is running out of time to get one.

“You want to win it for the city,” said Cody Bellinger, an impending free agent. “You want to win it for [Judge], of course. Just everything that he does for this organization. You want to do it for the fans. You want to do it for everybody.”

When asked what the Yankees are missing to get over the hump, Judge said “it’s tough to say right now.”

“I think everybody in this room is going to be hungry to make some improvements and figure out what they can do personally to make this team better,” he added. “And then collectively we’ll get together and figure it out.”

By Ben Dickson

benjamin.dickson@newsday.com@bendickson__

Ben Dickson is Newsday Sports' general assignment reporter. He joined Newsday’s high school sports staff in 2023 after graduating from Maryland, where he covered several of the Terrapins' teams.