Fansided

Yankees vs. Royals ALDS could be decided by which MVP candidate wakes up first

By Bill Felber |
Oct 5, 2024; Bronx, New York, USA; Kansas City Royals shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. (7) talks with umpire Adam Hamari (78) after striking out during the ninth inning against the New York Yankees during game one of the ALDS for the 2024 MLB Playoffs at Yankee Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images
Oct 5, 2024; Bronx, New York, USA; Kansas City Royals shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. (7) talks with umpire Adam Hamari (78) after striking out during the ninth inning against the New York Yankees during game one of the ALDS for the 2024 MLB Playoffs at Yankee Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images / Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images

Two days into the division series between the Royals and Yankees, it’s obvious which team will win. It  will be the one that is first to get its superstar gassed up and in motion.

Yankee star Aaron Judge, the certain AL Most Valuable Player, has one infield hit in seven official at-bats, and he’s struck our four times. His Royals counterpart, certain MVP runner-up Bobby Witt Jr., is hitless in 10 at bats with another four whiffs.

Judge has left nine teammates on bases ahead of him, four in scoring position. Witt’s corresponding numbers are seven and three.

Throughout history, there have been cases of great players having bad postseason series. Ty Cobb’s postseason batting average was 105 points below his career average. Ted Williams batted .200 in postseason play. Barry Bonds hit .245 in October.

The big knock on Clayton Kershaw’s Hall of Fame resume has always been his pedestrian 13-13, 5.40 postseason record. And given those numbers, it’s no surprise that the teams led by those four stars went a combined 13-20 in their postseason series.

Still, it's nigh onto impossible for a team to succeed in elite play with its unquestioned star in a major slump. The only saving grace for both teams is that the other guy's star is laboring, too.

Will Aaron Judge, Bobby Witt Jr. wake up in Yankees-Royals ALDS?

Witt’s performance is also complicated by the fact that he isn’t getting any help from his major supporting players. Vinnie Pasquantino, who hits right behind Witt, has returned from a fractured thumb to go hitless in nine at-bats with five strikeouts. Sal Pérez, the team’s catcher, leader and cleanup hitter, is 2-for-8, with the only home run and RBI among the trio.

The situation isn’t much better on the Pinstripe side of things. The Yankees, as a team, are batting just .246, including .125 from Giancarlo Stanton, .167 from Gleyber Torres and .167 from Anthony Volpe.

The Royals have already left 14 men on base, the Yankees 19. And it’s not like they haven’t had run-producing opportunities. The Pinstripers are a sorrowful 3-for-19 with runners in scoring position.

The record says both are due to break out any minute now. Witt went hitless in only 33 of his 161 appearances this season, and only four times did he fail to hit safely in back-to-back games. His longest hitless stretch lasted just 12 at bats between June 21 and June 24.

Judge’s season was, befitting his greater propensity for power, more volatile. He was held hitless 45 times, seven times in back-to-back games. His longest hitless stretch was also 12, and there were two of them: April 30 to May 2 and July 3 to 6.

Who will emerge from their slumber first? Given that Royals-Yankees is one of four Division Series tied at one game apiece -- a first in MLB history -- a swing in either direction could very well tip momentum.

Home / MLB Playoffs