Aaron Judge's World Series debut brought missed opportunities and more playoff frustration

Entering his first-ever World Series, Aaron Judge was facing immense pressure to change his playoff fortunes and discover his superstar self to get the Yankees their first title in 15 years.

The captain’s Fall Classic debut instead only intensified concerns about his October pedigree.

Judge came up in big spots multiple times in Friday’s game one, but came up empty in an eventual crushing extra-inning loss to the Dodgers, as the Yanks coughed up a game in which they were one out away from stealing a series-opening victory on the road.

Instead, Freddie Freeman’s grand slam will live on in World Series lore, and Judge will be remembered for the opportunities that were lost in his first taste of the biggest stage.

The Yankee superstar went 1-for-5 with three strikeouts, and popped out in the top of the ninth with two on in two out after missing on a Blake Treinen sweeper that caught plenty of plate earlier in the at-bat.

The Yanks could have grabbed the lead in that ninth inning and avoided extras after Gleyber Torres doubled and Juan Soto was intentionally walked in favor of facing Judge for the second time this postseason, but Judge fouled off a fat pitch in the lower half of the strike zone, and one pitch later, popped up a high fastball to end the threat. Earlier in the game, in his first at-bat, Judge swung through a Jack Flaherty breaking ball in a similar spot as the Treinen sweeper, a pitch that caught plenty of plate but Judge was able to do no damage with it.

Typically, Judge is the kind of otherworldly star that makes pitchers pay for nearly every mistake they make. In game one, Judge missed on several pitches that he typically tattoos. In the sixth inning, after Juan Soto led off with a single, Judge struck out again against Flaherty, shortly after seeing a fastball down the heart of the plate, but doing nothing more than fouling it off.

Had Judge looked like his typical self and connected on any of those mistakes in game one, perhaps the Bombers have a series lead and are feeling much differently about the series. Instead, they are still waiting for their biggest star to wake up, and it’s no secret that they will need him if they are to have any shot at ending their championship drought.