Aaron Judge put more than one ‘ghost’ behind him in Yankees clincher

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Aaron Judge ran through the same dugout where he sat immobilized in disbelief only 375 days earlier.

Back then, the Yankees’ 2023 season was over.

No playoffs.

Just a bunch of players helplessly staring out at the field at Kauffman Stadium after the regular-season finale ended in defeat.

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Fast forward to Thursday and he was wearing a sopping-wet shirt as he hurried from the team photo on the mound back to the champagne-popping clubhouse celebration that followed a 3-1 series-clinching victory against the Royals in Game 4 of the ALDS.

“Since I’ve been here with the Yankees, we haven’t secured a pennant ,” Judge said, looking forward to the ALCS. “The group that we have, just excited for this opportunity. It’s going to be something special.”

Judge wasn’t the driving force behind the Yankees advancing — he went 2-for-13 over four games and continued his career-long playoff struggles — but he came up big in the clincher.

He doubled and scored in the sixth inning, drew two walks and stole a base.

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“I think we got a little bit of the ghost from the old stadium,” Judge said. “A little bit of magic there, too.”

The once-raucous Kauffman Stadium crowd — quieted by a 2-0 deficit — had died down to the point that you could listen for a sigh of relief from Judge as he reached second base on his double.

The likely American League MVP’s only other hit in the series was an infield single, which continued a building narrative that he comes up small in the postseason. Or at least nothing like the way he delivered in the regular season while hitting 58 home runs and driving in 144 runs with a 1.159 OPS.

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“It’s about getting results,” Judge said. “I’ll take four bloop singles at this point. It’s just part of it. You mishit a couple balls and it’s just about, don’t worry about it. Focus on the plan, focus on what you can do. All I’m doing is trying to treat it just like the regular season.”

Judge is a career .206 postseason hitter with the second-highest strikeout rate (minimum 200 plate appearances) in MLB history. The numbers are worse over the last two postseasons.

So, he surely welcomed the pitching change from unlikely nemesis Michael Wacha, whom he is 1-for-21 against in his career, to Lucas Erceg in the sixth. The 359-foot double jumped off his bat at 115.5 mph.

“You’re not going to hold him down long,” manager Aaron Boone said. “I think for all the talk around it, he’s on base seven times in four games. He’s in a good spot, and we’re excited for the next challenge.”

But, first, Judge soaked in the full circle as much as the champagne soaked his shirt.

“In ’23, our season ended here,” Judge said. “I think a lot of guys took that to heart. And I think that’s what fueled a lot of guys to say, ‘Hey, I don’t want to have this feeling again.’ ”

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