The New York Yankees will begin their postseason against the Boston Red Sox on Tuesday night in the Bronx. They finished tied with the most wins in the American League. Unfortunately, the Toronto Blue Jays are the team they tied with, and they held the tiebreaker, which gave them the AL East. If the Yankees get by Boston in the Wild Card Round, they should be the favorites to represent the AL in the World Series for the second consecutive season.

In Game One, they’ll face Garrett Crochet, a top-three pitcher in MLB. Aaron Judge will have all eyes locked on him. The Yankees superstar has been the game’s best hitter over the past few years, as he has captured two MVP awards since 2022, and might add another one when 2025 is all said and done. Nevertheless, he’s had one proponent of his legacy that has haunted him throughout his illustrious career. That’s his postseason performances. 

Judge needs to make a statement this postseason 

Since 2022, Judge has blasted 210 home runs and posted an eye-popping 1.117 OPS. His ability to consistently produce at an unfathomable level is undeniable. The only thing he needs to do to cap off his already stacked resume, is have a big postseason and lead the pinstripes to their 28th World Series title. Entering the postseason for the eighth time in his career, he finally needs to silence the critics by producing in the playoffs the way he does in the regular season. 

Across 58 career playoff games, Judge holds a .205 batting average and has struck out 86 times while walking just 36 times. His .768 OPS in the postseason isn’t terrible, but it’s nowhere near his regular-season career 1.028 OPS. For some reason, the two-time AL MVP hasn’t been the elite player everyone knows he can be in the postseason. That has to change this go around. 

New York has the talent to capture a World Series title this season. They have an elite rotation, led by Max Fried and Carlos Rodon. Ben Rice, Trent Grisham, and Jazz Chisholm Jr. have emerged as formidable bats this season. Cody Bellinger had a huge resurgence this season, proving he can still produce at a high clip. And of course, Giancarlo Stanton is healthy and ready to go in the postseason. 

If Judge can produce in the postseason the way he does in the regular season, the Yankees will have a serious chance to capture their first World Series win since 2009. They came close last season, and that was with Judge hitting .184 in the playoffs. It will be interesting to see what he does this postseason. He can easily silence his critics with a big postseason.