SI:AM | This Is One of the Worst Slumps of Aaron Judge’s Career

And now it might be too late to pull out of it.

Judge’s cold streak is really hurting the Yankees right now. / Brad Penner-Imagn Images

Good morning, I’m Dan Gartland. I think this might be the only time Yankees fans look back optimistically on the Red Sox’ 2004 comeback.

In today’s SI:AM:

😴 Yankees’ quiet bats
🔥 Walker Buehler steps up
🏈 NFL power rankings

Nothing is going right for him

The New York Yankees are staring down a possible World Series sweep after dropping Game 3 to the Los Angeles Dodgers in the Bronx on Monday night as the New York offense sputtered yet again.

The Yankees’ struggles at the plate have been the story of this series, and while it’s been an issue for the entire lineup, the focus has rightly been on star slugger Aaron Judge. He went 0-for-3 with a walk and a strikeout in Monday’s 4–2 loss, which makes him 1-for-12 with seven strikeouts in the series. After completing one of the greatest regular seasons of any hitter in baseball history, he has been ice cold this entire postseason. He has now played 12 games in October and is 6-for-43 (a .140 batting average) with two home runs and 20 strikeouts.

There isn’t a hitter on earth who’s immune to the occasional slump. Judge’s weak point as a hitter is his relatively high strikeout rate, which is to be expected for a power hitter. He struck out in 24.3% of his plate appearances this season, which ranked in the bottom 35% of the league. But the strikeout rate isn’t a problem if the other aspects of Judge’s game are clicking. That’s the issue for him right now. Not only has he struck out in 37% of his plate appearances this postseason, he’s only walked 14.8% of the time after leading the majors with an 18.9% walk rate in the regular season. His eighth-inning walk Monday was his first since Game 4 of the ALCS.

Judge’s tendency to whiff is rarely an issue because, when he does make contact, he does damage. Or at least he usually does. This postseason, though, Judge hasn’t managed to do much when he puts the ball in play. He has just six hits, two of which were homers.

That makes this October easily one of the worst stretches of Judge’s career. He hasn’t had a 12-game stretch with at least 20 strikeouts and six or fewer hits since 2017, his rookie year. He’s prone to the occasional power outage—he even had a 16-game homerless streak in late August and early September of this year—as well as stretches where he strikes out frequently, but rarely have the two coincided like this. There have only been two periods during Judge’s career when he has struggled like this: a 13-game stretch from July 29 to Aug. 12, 2017, in which he batted .207 with 21 strikeouts and two homers, and a 23-game stretch from Aug. 15 to Sept. 11, 2016, in which he batted .153 with 38 strikeouts and one homer.

The thing everyone wants to know is what’s causing Judge’s postseason struggles. Is it just unlucky timing that he’s floundering when his team needs him most? Is it a mechanical issue? A product of facing tougher pitching? Or is it the pressure of the bright lights? No matter what the cause is, the Yankees’ 3–0 deficit means it’s likely too late for a Judge turnaround to save their season. It’ll be another long winter of questions about his ability to get it done on the big stage.

Buehler tossed five shutout innings in Game 3. / Wendell Cruz-Imagn Images

The best of Sports Illustrated

• Give Walker Buehler credit for holding the Yankees in check in Game 3. The former ace had a rough regular season, but he stepped up again in a big game. Stephanie Apstein has more on Buehler’s postseason heroics.

• It isn’t just Aaron Judge who’s struggling, Emma Baccelieri writes, the rest of the Yankees aren’t getting anything done at the plate.

• Tom Verducci is in awe of Freddie Freeman’s swing—and so are his teammates. 

• The Ravens dropped three spots in Conor Orr’s NFL power rankings.

• Orr also wrote about why Tyrique Stevenson’s viral blunder isn’t the only problem for the Bears.

• Bryan Fischer weighed the College Football Playoff chances for the teams battling for the Group of Five automatic bid.

• Liam McKeone spoke with Duke freshman Cooper Flagg about his first-of-its-kind NIL deal with Gatorade.

The top five…

… things I saw last night:

5. Steven Adams lifting Keldon Johnson off the floor while fighting for a loose ball.
4. Jason Zucker’s baseball-style goal for the Sabres. At least someone in the state of New York managed to make solid contact last night.
3. Calvin Austin III’s 73-yard punt return touchdown.
2. Freddie Freeman’s first-inning home run. That’s five straight World Series games with a homer for Freeman, tying George Springer’s record.
1. Teoscar Hernández’s perfect throw to nail Giancarlo Stanton at the plate. (Should the Yankees’ third base coach have sent the hobbled Stanton home on a sharply hit ball to left? That’s another story.)