One of the main criticisms of Aaron Judge’s career has been his inability to perform in the postseason––at least by his otherworldly standards. For all the greatness he displays throughout the regular season, putting up video game-like numbers and mashing home runs with relative ease, he simply hasn’t replicated that success in the playoffs.
This postseason, though still without a home run, Judge has looked more like his usual self. But with the Yankees staring down the barrel of a potential early playoff exit, will he have done enough to override the narrative about his vanishing act in October?
Aaron Judge’s past playoff struggles
Judge's postseason performances have been far from bad, but his curse is being the Yankees' best player, their captain (a role highly associated with postseason excellence in the 21st century) and a transcendental producer in the regular season.
His career regular-season OPS is 1.028. In the postseason, that drops all the way to 0.778 (excluding '25). Again, not bad, but Judge has set a standard for himself that is hard to keep up in general, much less in the postseason when the pressure is on and opposing pitchers are bringing their best stuff.
Frustratingly, Judge has also had some postseason runs where he's gone cold, especially for his standards. In the first three games of the 4 World Series, he mustered just one hit. He got no bases (meaning no hits or walks) in the final two games of the '22 ALCS.
His fielding has generally been good, but in the fifth inning of Game 5 of the World Series, he dropped a catchable fly ball for what would have been a third out, allowing the Dodgers offense to stay on the field. Despite the two outs, Judge’s error was followed by further mistakes, handing the Dodgers an opportunity to erase a five-run deficit that inning in what became L.A.’s closeout game.
How Judge has performed this postseason
So far this fall, Judge has appeared back to his normal self, for the most part. His OPS in five games this year 1.024, almost perfectly in-line with his career regular season average. The only thing missing is the home run. He has yet to hit one out of the park, a substantial part of his typical offensive repertoire.
Sometimes in big spots, Judge doesn’t get the chance to deliver on offense because opposing pitchers won’t give him hittable balls. That’s not been the case overall this postseason, with Judge failing to work a single walk in the first four games before finally registering two in their Game 2 loss to the Blue Jays in the ALDS.
While he has no glaring offensive struggles to point to, it’s still clear that Judge has not necessarily been his normal, dominant self at the plate.
Given the fact that he has only struck out twice, that means pitchers are getting him out on batted balls. His exit velocity is down about five miles per hour compared to the ‘25 regular season, his average launch angle down six degrees. His hard hit percentage has dropped from nearly 60% to 38% in this postseason.
Down 2–0, Judge and Yankees have every opportunity to show up big
The Yankees’ offense fell flat in the first two games of the ALDS, failing to get much of anything going against the Blue Jays. But their chance to grab some momentum in the series is coming, as they return to the Bronx for Game 3 (and potentially Game 4) at Yankee Stadium.
Historically, in the postseason, Judge has hit substantially better at home than he has on the road. In New York in October, Judge’s OPS (.861) is 140 points higher than it is on the road. He’ll be back in front of a raucous home crowd on Tuesday night, and he’ll know that the team is depending on him to deal some damage.
He could further swing the momentum back in the Yankees’ favor with his first home run of the playoffs, but he’ll be facing a pitcher he’s never recorded a hit against, let alone a homer, in Toronto’s starter Shane Bieber. If Judge truly wants to change the narrative about his postseason performances, and the Yankees want to live to see another day of October baseball, he, along with the rest of the team, has to deliver on Tuesday night.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Aaron Judge Postseason Struggles: Has His 2025 Been Enough to Change the Narrative?.
