Happy playoffs. Or sad playoffs. Depends on what team you like, I suppose, but I’m assuming you’re a New York Yankees fan because otherwise you surely would’ve gotten sick of my column months ago.
We’re midway through the American League Championship Series (ALCS) as you’re reading this, which means I’m either panic-running around campus in a Yankees jersey and clearing my evening schedule of commitments or staring out of a foggy window and waiting for winter to come and go.
If it’s the former, that means a lot went right for the Yankees in the last week. It could’ve been a clutch hit from Jon Berti, who, for some reason, played his first game at first base during the playoffs. It might’ve been a trademark grand slam by veteran designated hitter Giancarlo Stanton. Maybe it was even a few well-pitched innings by former closer Clay Holmes, despite the fact that he evidently prefers to be atrocious.
But if the Yankees are still standing, then Yankees’ captain and presumptive American League Most Valuable Player (AL MVP) Aaron Judge almost certainly contributed to their victories.
At least, I hope he contributed. Not just for the team, but for Judge himself.
As of today — two games into the Yankees’ American League Division Series (ALDS) against the Kansas City Royals — Judge has one hit in October. One. That’s exactly one more than I have, and I do not happen to be captaining the Yankees.
I can see Judge’s pinstripes fading off his jersey, dooming him to hide in the shadows of the legendary Yankees who will live forever in the stadium’s Monument Park.
Okay, I’m being dramatic.
But not that dramatic. Pinstripes are earned in October, plain and simple. And while Judge has more than exceeded expectations during the regular season, he has fallen far short in the postseason. Shorter than me, and I’m five feet tall.
Consider the example of Derek Jeter. A longtime Yankees’ shortstop and captain, Jeter earned admission into the Hall of Fame almost unanimously. Part of that is because Jeter batted .310, amassed a whopping 3,465 hits and made fourteen All-Star games across a 20-year career. But Jeter is a legend first and foremost because he led the Yankees to five World Series rings. And he wasn’t just along for the ride: In 158 postseason games — the equivalent of nearly a full season — against the league’s best pitching, Jeter hit .308 and reached exactly 200 hits.
Pinstripes? Earned.
Judge, on the other hand, is in the midst of his seventh playoff appearance, none of which have ended with the Commissioner’s Trophy in his hands (yet). Of course, there are 26 men on a playoff roster, so it’s not exclusively his fault, by any means. But Judge is the captain of the team, and his postseason batting average is a nausea-inducing .207 as of Oct. 17. I’m no expert, but Judge’s playoff performance doesn’t strike me as a good model for his teammates to follow.
Yeah, that was too polite. Let’s try again. To quote Key & Peele’s “Substitute Teacher” skit, “YA DONE MESSED UP, AY-AY-RON.”
I hate to speak poorly about Aaron Judge. It’s blasphemous. He just completed the best offensive season since Barry Bonds, who notably enjoyed a balanced breakfast (read: steroids).
But, respectfully, if Judge lets the Yankees down in the playoffs once more, not a single Yankees fan will care about the 58 home runs he hit this year. We will care about the ones he failed to hit in October.
Is that fair? Perhaps not. But in the words of Yankees’ radio announcer John Sterling, “That’s baseball, Suzyn.” Yankees fans expect championships, and we’ve been waiting for 15 years. It’s our captain’s job to fix that — and hitting .207 is simply not going to make that happen.
So, Aaron. This is your time. Only the Judge can call the court into order. Do not leave us languishing in a silent courtroom all winter, collecting dust until another quest for a championship begins in April.
I rest my case.