Aaron Judge has not been himself this postseason. The All-Star slugger that led MLB with 58 home runs in the regular season went a combined 1-for-11 (three walks) in the first three games of the ALDS after a New York Yankees Wild Card bye.
Finally, New York's captain came alive in Game 4, a 3–1 Yankees win over the Kansas City Royals that punched their ticket to the ALCS. Judge walked twice, doubled and appeared settled into a more comfortable lane than the one he had occupied most of the series.
He didn't drive a run in himself but put himself in position to be driven in by Giancarlo Stanton, who has played well all series, in the top of the sixth, a run that pushed the Yankees win percentage up to 87.3%.
Judge spoke to Jon Morosi after the game and gave a very simple explanation for his return to form at the plate:
.@jonmorosi spoke with @TheJudge44 about securing his fourth career LCS appearance and what makes this @Yankees team special.
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"It's just timing, you know. You just gotta, you've got to be ready to hit. You know, if you're not ready to hit, you're not going to have a good chance."
The series underscored career-long struggles from Judge in the postseason, who is a career .201 hitter in the playoffs.
Judge's next opportunity to put those struggles behind him will be in the ALCS. The Yankees will go up against the winner of a winner-take-all Game 5 between the Cleveland Guardians and Detroit Tigers on Saturday.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Aaron Judge Gave the Simplest Explanation for Reboot Performance.
