Guardians intentionally walk Yankees' Juan Soto to load bases for Aaron Judge -- and ALCS gamble pays off

NEW YORK -- In a game they could not afford to fall behind early, the Cleveland Guardians made a mess of things in the first and second innings of ALCS Game 2 against the New York Yankees ( live updates here ). Shortstop Brayan Rocchio dropped an Aaron Judge infield pop up to allow a run to score in the first inning, and that was only the start of Cleveland's problems.

Anthony Volpe and Anthony Rizzo opened the second inning with back-to-back singles, then Alex Verdugo brought home a run with a double to left field. With runners on second and third with one out, the Guardians did something seemed unthinkable most of the season. They intentionally walked Juan Soto to load the bases for presumptive American League MVP Aaron Judge .

The move worked, at least in the sense that the Guardians avoided a big inning. Judge brought home a run with a sac fly against reliever Cade Smith , who then struck out Austin Wells to end the threat. Judge's sac fly gave New York a 3-0 lead through two innings.

Judge just wrapped up one of the greatest seasons by a right-handed hitter ever , but he's struggled in the postseason, taking a .133/.364/.200 batting line into Game 2. Soto, meanwhile, is hitting .353/.455/.588 this postseason, and he singled in the first inning of Game 2. Based on those small samples, walking Soto to get to Judge is defensible, even if it seems crazy.

That was the second time in 2024 that Soto was intentionally walked to get to Judge. On Aug. 14, the Chicago White Sox walked Soto with a runner on second and one out. Judge followed with his 300th career home run . The only other time in Judge's career that the batter ahead of him was intentionally walked came back in Aug. 2016, his first month as a big leaguer.

Our R.J. Anderson broke down Judge's postseason struggles prior to Game 1 of the ALCS .