rewrite this content and keep HTML tags
After a riveting American League MVP battle between the Yankees’ Aaron Judge and the Mariners’ Cal Raleigh — the winner of which will be announced next month following the late-September vote — it would have been ideal if the two had met up in the ALCS, which would have opened in Seattle on Sunday if the Yankees had gotten past the Blue Jays in the ALDS.
Instead, nearly all of the Yankees’ bats came up empty against Toronto — except Judge, who did what he could to at least make the series competitive after the Yankees got by the Red Sox in the wild-card series.
The Yankees went home, unable to have a lengthy October run like they did a year ago, when Judge met Shohei Ohtani and the Dodgers in the World Series in a matchup of that season’s two unanimous MVPs. Ohtani got the best of that matchup as Judge was in the midst of another rough postseason at the plate and the Yankees fell in five games.
In these playoffs, Judge shed his postseason struggles and was nearly impossible to keep off the bases. He also added what would have been an iconic playoff home run with his three-run, game-tying shot off the left-field foul pole in the fourth inning of the Game 3 win over the Blue Jays in The Bronx.
