‘What’s going on?’ – Aaron Judge’s $360 million contract a playoff failure for Yankees who must create history to stun Dodgers
Aaron Judge is failing the New York Yankees at the worst possible time -- again.
The best team in the American League is in a huge 3-0 World Series hole after red-hot Freddie Freeman powered the Los Angeles Dodgers to a 4-2 road win in Game 3.
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No team has ever come from 3-0 down to win a World Series and the Yankees are now at the point of no return.
On Monday night, with the contest moving East after the Dodgers storybook Los Angeles start, Judge was nowhere to be found, despite holding the fourth-largest contract in Major League Baseball and being the favorite to win the regular season AL MVP.
“ 'Clayton Kershaw is the worst player in playoff history,' ” one fan tweeted. "Aaron Judge: 'Hold my beer.' "
"ALL. SIT." a second fan wrote.
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Unless Judge responds with four consecutive games featuring the hottest run of his career, the heavily hyped 2024 Fall Classic will be a lopsided dud and Judge's $360 million monster contract will be a postseason albatross for the whiffing Yanks.
“Hopefully we can go be this amazing story and shock the world,” New York manager Aaron Boone said.
“But right now it’s about trying to get a lead, trying to grab a game, and force another one, and then on from there. But we’ve got to grab one first.”
Judge entered Game 3 at Yankee Stadium batting a woeful .150 in the playoffs with 19 strikeouts in 40 at-bats.
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He held a .280 on-base percentage and had three times as many Ks as hits (six).
On Monday, the Dodgers rode Freeman to grab a first-inning 2-0 lead and never trailed.
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New York didn't even score until the ninth inning, as an already one-sided World Series approached a four-game sweep.
Judge was even worse in Game 3, going 0-for-3 with another strikeout, lowering his postseason average to a surreal .140.
"Swing and miss and miss and miss and miss and miss and miss," a fan tweeted.
"DFA him," a second fan posted. "Astros should take a flyer on him. See what’s left in the tank."
"Mr. September," a third fan said.
Judge rivaled the Dodgers' $700 million man Shohei Ohtani as the best hitter in baseball this year.
The 32-year-old Yanks right fielder batted .322 with a whopping 1.159 OPS, 58 home runs and 144 RBI while earning his sixth All-Star selection.
But Judge has mostly been a letdown in the playoffs since 2017.
He's a career .192 hitter in the AL Division Series and holds a .193 average in 22 AL Championship Series games.
Whether it's pressure, timing or just bad luck, there's no doubt that Judge's bat is letting down Yankees fans again.
A World Series decades in the making is now 3-0 Dodgers.
While Freeman is clubbing homers and Ohtani is on the verge of a perfect Hollywood story, Judge is whiffing and whiffing, and losing bad in the playoffs again.
"Freddie Freeman is basically everything Aaron Judge is marketed to be," a fan tweeted.
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“One more win," Freeman said. "That’s all I care about right now."
Judge is starving for a hit -- and four more huge wins that will end his stunning playoff failure with the Yanks.
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