NEW YORK — Statistically speaking, Aaron Judge had a nice day.
In Game 4 of the ALDS, he went 2-for-4 with an intentional walk. His two outs were a strikeout and a 112-mph liner smoked right at the second baseman. He made a few nice plays in the field. Judge did not send one flying to the heavens — not every day is Christmas — but it was a productive trip to the office.
Yet he finished the evening in the same scattered fashion he has finished every year of his career. Disappointed, downtrodden, his eyes puffy and distant with the remnants of tears, his words low and tired. Once more, Judge’s Yankees did not win the World Series. The “October in the Bronx” dream is dead yet again.
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And as the current face of this institution, as the living emblem of all that Yankeedom represents, as the captain forced to shoulder the 16-year championship drought, Judge was once again left to explain his club’s failures on Wednesday, after a 5-2 loss to the Blue Jays ended the Yankees’ season.
“It’s tough to say right now,” Judge replied when asked whether there’s anything the Yankees were missing to get them over the hump. “I gotta review this season, kind of go through it. I might have a better answer for you.”
The scene around Judge in the Yankees’ locker room featured all the typical sights and sounds of a group understanding it will never be together again. Hugs, thank-yous, handshakes, make-sure-you-text-mes. There were fewer tears than a November goodbye but more than a September goodbye. The weepiest person in the room was Paul Goldschmidt’s 10-year-old son, Jake, who received consolations from what seemed like the entire Yankees roster.
At one point, Andy Pettite strolled in, making him the only one in the room who’d won a World Series in pinstripes. Meanwhile, clubhouse attendants unfolded scores of cardboard boxes, filling them with the various bric-a-brac one finds in a clubhouse. The loud screeches of packing tape being unspooled were often louder than the humbled mumbles of Yankees players conducting postmortems with the media.
“Very disappointed,” second baseman Jazz Chisholm Jr. said. “Everyone in here believed that we had such a great team, and we were the team to beat. We believe so much in each other. It’s heartbreaking.”
“We didn’t do our job, didn’t finish the goal,” Judge lamented. “Had a special group in here. Lotta special players that made this year fun. But didn’t get the ultimate prize.”
That ultimate prize, a World Series championship, continues to elude and define Judge. Even though he ended all doubts about his postseason fortitude with that unforgettable swing in Game 3, he knows the expectations that come with wearing the pinstripes. He is already, far and away, the greatest Yankee of all time without a ring.
He did his best Wednesday, delivering a commendable performance that also served to reinforce baseball’s limitations in legacy creation. This sport, more than any other, restricts the myth of the lone hero. It’s in the game’s DNA, both frustrating and beautiful. One player can dominate, inspire, ignite, but he cannot do it all alone. Every at-bat is a solitary experience, but the end result is a collaboration.
And while the outcome of Game 4 was compelling, the game itself was not, especially compared to the thrill ride that transpired the night before. This contest was much quieter, a slow burning away of the Yankees’ season, a gradual realization in the Jays dugout that the Bronx dragon would be slayed. But while the evening was light on drama, this result will linger sourly in New York and stand the test of time in Toronto.
“The ending’s the worst, right?” Yankees manager Aaron Boone commiserated afterward.
Aaron Judge did his part, but the Yankees came up short in the ALDS against the Blue Jays. (Photo by Al Bello/Getty Images)
(Al Bello via Getty Images)
The beginning wasn’t so good, either. The game started with the Jays striking quickly against Yankees rookie Cam Schlittler, fresh off that magnificent wild-card performance last week against Boston. Toronto plated a single run in the top of the first courtesy of — who else? — Vladimir Guerrero Jr. With a runner on second, Toronto’s top bat sliced a liner over the first-base bag for an RBI knock. New York punched back in the third with a solo home run from nine-hole hitter Ryan McMahon, a glove-first veteran acquired at the deadline from the baseball backwater that is Denver.
The Jays retook a one-run lead in the fifth on a pair of singles and a sac fly. Meanwhile, a carousel of Toronto relievers continued to silence the Yankees’ bats. Then Toronto broke it open in the seventh, the crucial moment a brutal error from Chisholm. A soft one-hopper that would’ve been a double play caromed off the heel of his glove and trickled into the outfield. A few batters later, outfielder Nathan Lukes shot an elevated Devin Williams fastball into center for a two-RBI single.
That was, effectively, the ballgame. The Jays added a run in the eighth to stretch their lead to four. New York threatened in the bottom of that frame, loading the bases with two outs to bring the tying run to the dish in Austin Wells. He flew out weakly on the first pitch of his at-bat to end the threat. Judge clobbered one off the wall in the ninth, an RBI single that trimmed the lead to three, but the game never seriously felt within reach for the Yankees.
“I’m confident we’ll break through,” Boone asserted afterward. “I have been every year, and I believe in so many of the people in that room. That hasn’t changed. The fire hasn’t changed. It’s hard to win the World Series. Been chasing it all my life.”
And as Boone well knows, he can’t do it alone. Nobody can, not even the greatest hitter on the planet. Both Aarons are likely to be back next season — Boone, when asked, stated that he’s under contract and expects to return as manager — to do it all over again. They’ll have as good a shot as anybody else. The Yankees wield enormous financial might and boast a formidable pitching rotation. They also have Judge, a player so brilliant he makes anything seem possible.
Even winning a World Series.
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