MLB playoffs: Yankees' Aaron Judge seeks October redemption - ESPN

NEW YORK — It's been 11 years since the New York Yankees drafted Aaron Judge. Eleven years of the towering slugger absorbing the franchise's unyielding championship doctrine. Eleven years, from A-ball in Charleston to the scorching lights in the Bronx, of striving to meet that standard. World Series or bust. Every year.

«There's no other way to put it,» Judge said the morning of the Yankees' regular-season finale. «Ever since I've been a Yankee, getting drafted in 2013, all that was ever engrained in my head or what we were taught is win in New York. Be a winner. Championship mindset. It's just always been the way I was raised, even before I got here it was: If you don't win, what's the point?»

Judge has been a full-time major leaguer for eight years. By the Yankees' definition, the first seven ended with failure — but the eighth might be his best shot to avoid it. The Yankees are in a prime position this October in large part thanks to Judge's otherworldly regular-season feats.

After posting the best record in the American League and claiming home-field advantage until the World Series, the Yankees opened their postseason with a 6-5 win over the Kansas City Royals in Game 1 of the American League Division Series on Saturday.

Judge, however, went 0-for-4 with three strikeouts and a walk to extend his personal October struggles. Since 2020, the likely AL MVP is 10-for-74 (.135) with five home runs and 28 strikeouts in 18 postseason games. His strikeout with runners on first and second in the sixth inning even induced a smattering of boos from the Yankee Stadium crowd after he heard them during his disappointing 2022 postseason performance.

The Yankees stand 10 wins from snapping a 15-year championship drought. But to