NEW YORK – Aaron Judge has known October heartache, but never like this.
“Falling short in the World Series will stick with me ‘til I die,’’ said the Yankees’ captain, quietly speaking in the home clubhouse while the Los Angeles Dodgers wildly celebrated.
Judge and the Yankees were California bound midway through Wednesday night’s Game 5, ready to take their impossible dream – coming all the way back from an 0-3 deficit – back to Dodger Stadium.
Instead, the Yanks will remember a five-run lead that collapsed in a mind-blowing way, and a one-run edge that got away in the eighth, leading to a Dodger victory party.
“Just like every other loss, those things don’t go away,’’ Judge said after the relentless Dodgers claimed the 120th World Series with a 7-6 win at Yankee Stadium.
Adding to Aaron Judge’s “battle scars”
Judge counts these losses as “battle scars,’’ but “hopefully when my career is over, we have a lot of battle scars but also a lot of victories along the way.’’
One of those scars was self-inflicted; a Judge error on a simple, soft liner to center that somehow bounced off his glove – opening a path for L.A.’s improbable five-run inning against Gerrit Cole.
The ace toughened with the bases loaded, getting two strikeouts and a soft Mookie Betts grounder to first where Cole – having taken a bad route off the mound – failed to cover the bag.
A soft single by World Series MVP Freddie Freeman (4 HRs, 12 RBI) and a long double by Teoscar Hernandez produced the tying runs, and a sellout crowd went almost instantly from celebratory to stunned.
Judge blamed his misplay in center, the first of three Yankee errors if you count Cole’s.
“If that doesn’t happen, it could be a completely different story,’’ Judge said of his drop. “I just didn’t make the play.’’
An inning earlier, Judge had saved a run with a sensational running catch, bouncing off the 399-foot sign in left-center to snare Freeman’s latest drive.
Judge had finally rediscovered his A-swing, blasting a two-run homer in the first and helping end Dodger starter Jack Flaherty’s night early, on the way to a 5-0 lead.
The Yankees’ long road back to October
But the end was all-too painful and familiar, like Houston Astros’ AL Championship Series triumphs, or the Tampa Bay Rays in the pandemic Division Series, or the Boston Red Sox in a wild card game.
Once more, winter arrived sooner than Judge wanted, leaving him with a legacy that’s still minus a world championship.
And the road back will be rough if Juan Soto isn’t riding shotgun with Judge in the lineup.
“I’d love to have him back,’’ said Judge, touting Soto’s behind-the-scenes commitment as much as his importance as a constant slugging threat and on-base machine.
Yet, two years since his own free-agent whirlwind, Judge knows what’s ahead of Soto – a free agency period that could land him a contract greater than anyone but Shohei Ohtani.
Both Ohtani and Judge will likely win their leagues’ MVP awards, and Ohtani is getting a World Series ring, too.
But the Yankees lost this Series while rendering Ohtani a non-factor since Game 1; he was 2-for-19 overall and 1-for-11 with a single since injuring his left shoulder on a slide in Game 2.
Mostly, the Yankees couldn’t overcome Judge’s postseason woes, an out-of-rhythm swing – 1-for-14, seven strikeouts – that lasted until late in World Series Game 4.
Soto and Judge were each on base four times in Game 5, with Juge also walking twice and doubling in the eighth inning, but he was stranded.
In the Dodger eighth, Aaron Boone asked Tommy Kahnle to navigate the bottom of the order – saving Luke Weaver for the ninth – but Kahnle’s command issues led to two runs.
Weaver couldn’t save them, and Dodgers Game 3 starter Walker Buehler – the last of seven Dodger relievers – closed out another Yankees’ season, their 15th straight without a world title.
Judge is 0-for-8, with one more battle scar.
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