Division Series – Kansas City Royals v New York Yankees – Game 2 / Luke Hales/GettyImages
As an insidious narrative threatened to consume him once again during October, New York Yankees star Aaron Judge bought himself some more time on Thursday night in Game 4 of the ALDS. After an early batting practice session spent spraying the ball to right field (and, as the broadcast noted, still homering anyway), Judge posted his most impactful game of the ALDS, rocketing a double into the left-center gap off a brand name in Lucas Erceg and walking twice.
Now that the Yankees have advanced, his scuffles register as nothing but a footnote, while Bobby Witt Jr. receives the lion’s share of the MVP candidate blame pie. After all, his team went home.
But once the curtain rises on the ALCS, it’ll be all eyes on Judge once again, and he’s set himself up to make a potential impact by ending the previous round on a high note. All of a sudden, during both road games in Kansas City, his swing looked more assured and his eye keener. It might’ve just taken him a bit longer to lock in this fall (and being surrounded by nervous-energy home fans living and dying on your every twitch might not have helped, either).
Still, though, it was noteworthy to see the different ways that Judge and Giancarlo Stanton reacted to Stanton’s Game 3 success this week. When pressed on what’s made Stanton such a fearsome October hitter, Judge reiterated that he was simply carrying over his regular season into the postseason, not perceiving much of a difference between the two.
Stanton? He admitted that he does feel different in October, seeking the weight of the moment.
Yankees stars Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Stanton have different takes on playoff mindset
Perhaps, in a manner that feels antithetical at first, but clearly makes sense to Stanton, Judge should not be treating every day the same. He should be seeking the undue pressure that defines the postseason and embracing it.
Doubling down on refocusing his energy clearly locked him in for Game 4, continuing a path of ascendence he’d laid out in the previous contest.
Judge is too good a hitter, and far too important, for the Yankees to continue to thrive without his arrival. Pitching (and Stanton) won the Bombers the ALDS, but against a challenging ALCS foe, they’ll need Judge to put his small-but-increasingly-large postseason sample size on the backburner and focus on changing the narrative.
Based on Game 4’s successful prep, that “focus” may be the key after all.
