For the eighth time in his nine full seasons, it looks like Aaron Judge and the New York Yankees will miss the World Series yet again.
The Yankees return to the Bronx trailing 2-0 in the best-of-five American League Division Series following Sunday’s 13-7 loss to the rival Toronto Blue Jays. It’s not hyperbole to suggest that the odds are heavily stacked against the Yankees; there have been 35 instances of a team losing the first two road games of a Division Series, and only three — including Judge’s 2017 Yankees — managed to win three straight and advance to the Championship Series.
“We’ve got guys in here that have been to the World Series, been in some tough moments — backs against the wall all season long,” Judge told reporters on Sunday. “So we’ve just got to show up and do our thing.”
Judge, who has historically struggled in the postseason, is 8-for-18 in five playoff games. However, he’s only managed one extra-base hit, an eighth-inning double in Saturday’s 10-1 blowout loss at Rogers Centre.
There’s plenty of blame to go around, especially after Yankees pitchers allowed 23 runs over 18 innings. But, as the captain and face of the franchise, we expect social media and sports radio callers to divert some of their anger and frustration onto Judge.
How much blame does Aaron Judge deserve for the Yankees’ 2-0 ALDS deficit?
EVERY SUPERHERO NEEDS HIS THEME MUSIC 💥 #PLAKATA pic.twitter.com/SaCVidJw3w
— Toronto Blue Jays (@BlueJays) October 5, 2025
Considering that they regularly boast one of the sport’s highest payrolls, the fact that the Yankees have only won a single pennant since their 2009 World Series victory is downright embarrassing. The Yankees wasted the end of the Core Four era and botched the first half of Judge’s career, losing three times to the Houston Astros in the ALCS.
For once, though, it’s hard to pin the Yankees’ postseason struggles on Judge. He’s done his part at the plate, though his second-inning error set up Toronto third baseman Ernie Clement’s two-run home run on Sunday.
As much as Yankees fans may not want to hear it, this looks to be nothing more than a mediocre team — or, at least, one not truly built for a championship — finally running out of juice. Yankees ace Max Fried allowed seven earned runs, and fifth starter Will Warren gave up another six in 4 2/3 innings of relief.
Giancarlo Stanton is batting .150 with a .250 slugging percentage, and second baseman Jazz Chisholm has mustered a .188 average. Yankees pitchers have already walked 15 hitters and given up nine homers in 43 innings.
And, simply put, the Blue Jays are a superior team. Even without All-Star shortstop Bo Bichette, the Blue Jays have taken advantage of the Yankees’ poor pitching and held off their potent offense. You can hit all of the home runs you want, as the Yankees did all season, but it doesn’t matter if you can’t shut down an opposing lineup come October.
Fair or not, Judge deserves part of the blame because he’s a two-time AL MVP and the Yankees’ captain. But the Yankees’ ALDS struggles aren’t solely on him, nor are they on embattled manager Aaron Boone. The Yankees ran into a terrific Blue Jays team, and they’re only nine innings away from heading home for the winter. That’s a burden that falls on the organization itself rather than one or two key figures.