Aaron Judge isn't alone in his massive Yankees World Series failure

Aaron Judge will have to endure his growing October legacy with diminishing returns. Fifty-six games hold great significance in the history of the Yankees and baseball surrounding Joe DiMaggio.

But what it meant before World Series Game 4 began Tuesday night was the number of games Judge has already played in the postseason. Judge's most ardent clubhouse defenders invoke N and N – narrative and noise – to suggest that it is outside purveyors of negativity that are creating his dirty postseason image.

However, the Yankees can't have it both ways and talk about Giancarlo Stanton becoming a wizard this time of year without acknowledging Judge's fall to tragic postseason results. Finally, this is no longer an insignificant sample size. In 56 postseason games, Hideki Matsui finished 11th in Yankees history.

However, Matsui was among the best October players in franchise history. Among the 51 Yankees with at least 100 postseason plate appearances, his .312 average was seventh-best, while Judge's .196 average was seventh-worst. Matsui won the World Series MVP the last time the Yankees were in the World Series, in 2009. Judge was on his way to becoming the Goat of this Fall Classic, going 1-for-12 with seven strikeouts while the Dodgers conceded a three-games-to-nothing lead.

The Yankees had played 12 games this postseason, all decided by three runs or fewer. They survived with a unique big moment from Judge in the first two rounds – a game-winning two-run home run in the eighth inning against Cleveland closer Emmanuel Clase in ALCS Game 3. That, by the way, was one of the two games the Yankees lost in the playoffs.

The Yankees could do without much from Judge and still prevail against their little brothers in the AL Central. Not against the Dodgers. If Judge were to strike, the Yankees could have — and possibly would have — won each of the first three games instead of falling into their near-impossible hole.

He is the biggest star on the team. The highest paid player in franchise history. Therefore it has the greatest weight. It's a big burden for a sample that is no longer small. Judge simply hasn't joined the triumvirate of hitting power with Stanton and Juan Soto, a duo that went 7-for-23 (.304) with two home runs and four RBIs in World Series Game 3, compared to everyone else's 12-for-79 hit one homer and three RBIs.

It's emphasized that the long lineup the Yankees thought they had built never really materialized and deteriorated at the worst possible time — their No. 7-9 hitters were 4-for-34 (.118) with 12 strikeouts.

What's underscored here is that the Dodgers are winning both superstar parts of this program, with Freddie Freeman in particular already pretty much clinching World Series MVP after Monday's first inning. But also won the chorus. And there should be no surprise here.

During the regular season, the Dodgers had seven players make at least 250 plate appearances with an OPS-plus of 110 or higher, which tied for the MLB lead. The Yankees had three (you guessed it: Judge, Soto and Stanton) who were tied with the Pirates, among others.

After years of being legitimately played and exploited this way in the playoffs, the Yanks added three bats for this year: Austin Wells made the team from the start and eventually became the starting catcher, Alex Verdugo in an offseason trade, and Jazz Chisholm in a deadline deal. At times it worked, particularly when Chisholm appeared shortly after substitution and Wells stepped up to clean up at the start of the second half.

But in the postseason, Verdugo hit .195, Chisholm hit .170, and Wells carried his terrible September into October, hitting .093.

Conversely, the Dodgers, concerned about being vulnerable to lefties, signed Teoscar Hernandez and Enrique Hernandez in the offseason and traded them at the deadline for switch-hitter Tommy Edman (who hits best from the right side). Enrique Hernandez would have signed with the Yankees but preferred the familiarity of the Dodgers. The Yanks tried to acquire Edman at the deadline even after receiving Chisholm, and the White Sox were more focused on a three-way deal that would give the Dodgers not only Edman but also another Yankee target, reliever Michael Kopech, landed.

Edman has an .896 OPS this postseason, won the NLCS MVP and is the type of solid, heady player the Yankees are missing. Enrique Hernandez has an OPS of .850 and Teoscar Hernandez has an OPS of .743. The trio was 11 for 33 (.333) in the World Series.

So yes, Judge is the face of the Yankees' slide into the winter. But he's not alone against a Dodger opponent whose entire lineup has gotten much closer to All Rise.