Across 58 playoff games since 2017, Judge is slashing .205/.318/.450 with 16 homers and 34 RBI. 14 of those games were this season, when he slashed .184/.344/.408 with three homers and nine RBI.

Teams can’t win championships without their star players shining in the biggest moments. Baseball is a game of peaks and valleys, and no one is above a slump. However, Judge habitually slumps at the worst time of year.

The 32-year-old acknowledged this painful reality, via USA Today’s Gabe Lacques.

“I think falling short in the World Series will stay with me until I die,” Judge said after the Yankees got eliminated by the Los Angeles Dodgers on Wednesday night. “Just like every other loss, those things don’t go away. There are battle scars along the way. Hopefully when my career is over there are battle scars, but also a lot of victories along the way.”

Judge, though, is running out of time to balance the “battle scars” with rings. The six-time All-Star was mostly carried by Juan Soto and Giancarlo Stanton this past playoffs, and when he finally broke out of his slump with a homer and double on Wednesday, he also committed a costly error on a routine fly ball in the fifth inning that began New York’s collapse.

Judge held himself accountable for the ill-timed miscue, via SNY’s John Flanagan.

“That comes back to me, I gotta make that play,” Judge said postgame. “You can’t give a team like the Dodgers extra outs, they’ll take advantage of it. That line drive coming in, I misplay that, then the other two happen. If that doesn’t happen it could be a completely different story.”

Will Judge’s story be marred by playoff struggles by the time he hangs up the cleats?

Aaron Judge has time to fix his Yankees legacy

Judge would be the best player in a middling franchise’s history, but the pinstripes are heavy. The Yankees have had the game’s best in their threads, from Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig to Joe DiMaggio, Mickey Mantle, Reggie Jackson, and Derek Jeter, just to name a few.

All of those players and more won championships by being consistently clutch in the postseason, something that Judge has yet to do. The slugger’s 16 playoff homers do rank fourth in franchise history, but he’s also tied for ninth with 58 games played due to changes in the postseason format over the years. For comparison, Ruth is fifth with 15 homers in just 36 games.

Stanton, though, has 18 homers in just 41 playoff games played, in addition to 40 RBI and .265/.331/.662 slash line. The 34-year-old launched seven of those long balls in 2024, a franchise single-season record.

Although Judge’s numbers dwarf Stanton’s in the regular season since his rookie year in 2017, postseason moments are what’s remembered the most. Even though Judge has been a machine in the regular season, Stanton would have a more memorable Yankee legacy if both players retired now.

Luckily, though, that day won’t come anytime soon. Judge had just gotten his mojo back at the plate when New York got eliminated from the World Series, and he needs to show from now on that the lights aren’t too bright for him. Then, and only then, will the six-time All-Star be on the same level as the game’s all-time greats.