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Aaron Judge Has Been Nothing Short Of Embarrassing In the Postseason And Needs To Wake Up Right Now If He Wants To Avoid Ruining His Legacy

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To the delight of many of you, I woke up really sad this morning. Considering the $40k bet involved, that was probably the most devastating loss of my sports fandom career. Even if the bet wasn't in play, that was crushing. One out away from winning Game 1 of the World Series on the road. Cole was great, Stanton's majestic bomb, Jazz was running wild, Verdugo's catch, all of it wasted. While on the outside it appeared I was handling it well, inside I was completely melting down. Internally I was contemplating quitting Barstool, becoming John Wick, and devoting the rest of my life to systematically hunting down my enemies and vanquishing them. Instead I just sat there and laughed at the absurdity of the moment. 

You could just see that train wreck coming a mile away. If they escaped it was gonna be nothing short of a miracle. Why was Nestor Cortes in that game over Tim Hill? A starting pitcher who hadn't participated in real game action in over a month asked to get the top of the Dodgers order out with the game on the line. Of course it blew up in Boone's face. 

There were other mistakes as well. Pulling Cole with 88 pitches, Gleyber lazily backhanding Soto's throw on Ohtani's double that turned into three bags, Rizzo not backing that play up, unnecessarily pinch running for Gleyber at 2nd. It all led to Freddie's grand slam. 

My biggest problem, however, is Aaron Judge. What are we doing, dude? Last night he went 1 for 5 with three strikeouts. Juan Soto was intentionally walked in the 9th inning with first base open to bring up Judge with the go ahead run on 2nd. He harmlessly popped out to end the threat. When this happened to Freddie Freeman in the 10th he ended the game. That's what stars do when you challenge them, they make you pay. Judge continues to let the opposition off the hook. There is currently no fear in an opposing pitcher or manager's eyes when 99 is looming. All season long that was the total opposite. He put together quite possibly the best single season by a right handed hitter in the game's history. As a Yankee fan you would count the batters it took to get Judge up, and if men were on base and you couldn't walk him, it was game over for the other team. 

Now it's the reverse. 

You want that guy up if you're the other team. He's missing everything and chasing nearly every breaking ball that's thrown at his shins. I'd be stunned if Boone changed up the lineup, but it wouldn't be the worst thing in the world. Just switch Judge and Stanton. It's depressing to see him come up and fail every single time. The narrative of Mr. May grows more true by the second. 

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I can't even fight it at this point, it's fucking ridiculous. They are not winning the World Series without him getting going. Even if it's just some walks that'd be huge. He's been a total zero aside from a few moments. Aaron Judge is way too good of a player to just rely on a few sprinkled in moments. He needs to take over. He'll be 33 years old next season with Cole another year older himself and the possibility that Soto is elsewhere. Judge has a golden opportunity right in front of him that he may not get again. If you don't come through now, you may be stuck with this reputation your entire career. Something you'll never be able to live down. Change the narrative starting tonight. 

We'll do it all again in Game 2 with Rodon vs. Yamamoto. Certainly not the matchup you wanted being down 0-1 in the series. Win this though and you're right where you need to be. Lose it and you've got a massive mountain to climb. Let's see what this team is made of.