The Los Angeles Dodgers may have a commanding 3-1 lead over the New York Yankees in the 2024 World Series as well as a clamp on Yankees superstar Aaron Judge at the plate, but one MLB legend believes that the Dodgers could be in for a rude awakening if they don’t shut the door on their American League foes in Game 5.
MLB great David Ortiz thinks Yankees’ Aaron Judge could break out in Game 5
Former Boston Red Sox champion David Ortiz liked what he saw from Judge at the end of Game 4 when the AL MVP frontrunner hit an RBI single to left field in the bottom of the eighth inning that put the stamp on New York’s 11-4 win over Los Angeles.
So much so, that he predicted that the hit could lift Judge out of his current slump and catalyze the Yankees to a second-straight win on Wednesday night, offering a word of caution to the Dodgers in the same breath, per Alexander Rosquez of Bolavip:
“This game works sometimes in a type of mysterious way that it’s hard to understand,” Ortiz said. “I’ll tell you what, that last at-bat coming from [Aaron] Judge, look out, look out. I mean, the guy showed the best balance that he had shown for the past four games. And sometimes, Kevin [Burkhardt], that’s all you need for your confidence level to rise. And that’s gonna put that team in a better situation tomorrow [today].”
Dodgers need to put pressure on Judge after he showed signs of emergence in Game 4
The Baseball Hall-of-Famer would know better than most what to identify when analyzing a player’s mechanics in accordance with their ability to emerge from a drought. It’s taken a proverbial village to keep Judge in his funk, but Jack Flaherty, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Walker Buehler, and Los Angeles’ bullpen have all chipped in to limit the three-time Silver Slugger Award winner from smashing home runs and timely hits in the Fall Classic so far.
Nevertheless, there’s no better time for the 32-year-old to fully emerge out of his pronounced World Series slump than in New York’s final home game of the slate on Wednesday night. He can quickly make his subpar .133/.278/.133 slash line a thing of the past if he connects on his first home run while leading the Yankees toward narrowing the Fall Classic to 3-2 heading back to L.A.
As with all great players across sports, all it takes is seeing one flash of brilliance to sharply turn the tide amid struggles. In this case, Judge, who has not hit any better than .167 in any of New York’s three playoff series this year, needs that jolt. The Dodgers don’t want to see that jolt increase in power.
Thus, the Dodgers, who will rely on Flaherty to drive them toward their second World Series crown in the last five years, will need to continue what’s worked against Judge so far — placing pitches in areas that’ll entice the California native to chase outside of the strike zone. Otherwise, all could rise on Oct. 30, and not for L.A. being crowned as champions.
