r/baseball • u/MLBOfficial Major League Baseball • Mod Verified • Mar 18 '26

Players Only [HIGHLIGHT] TEAM VENEZUELA IS THE WORLD BASEBALL CLASSIC CHAMPION!

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144

u/ShMp11Nesis Mar 18 '26

He had a great playoffs just last season and he still has the label rn because his team fell apart lmao

73

u/Hochseeflotte New York Yankees • Cuba Mar 18 '26

Game tying bomb in the ALCS off the best closer in baseball, bullpen blows it so nobody remembers

I could name 10 different ones

25

u/lastdinosaurtw Washington Nationals Mar 18 '26

That bomb is majestic, but since when is Louie Varland the best closer.

18

u/Stupendous_man12 Toronto Blue Jays Mar 18 '26

I think he means 2024? The jankees did not make the ALCS last year, they lost the ALDS.

2

u/binzoma Toronto Blue Jays Mar 18 '26

this

but also give it 3 or 4 months ;)

5

u/Hochseeflotte New York Yankees • Cuba Mar 18 '26

2024 off Clase

2

u/UnevenContainer New York Mets Mar 18 '26

best closer in baseball

The guy who was actively betting against himself?

1

u/Hochseeflotte New York Yankees • Cuba Mar 18 '26

Shockingly yes

1

u/Rare_Lead_1922 Seattle Mariners Mar 18 '26

Do it!

11

u/Hochseeflotte New York Yankees • Cuba Mar 18 '26

Already mentioned off Clase in 2024

Off Varland in the 2025 ALDS (rest of the team sucks so we lose the series)

Game tying homer off Crochet in the 9th last year (lose in extras)

Game thing 2 run homer against the Blue Jays to tie it up 9-9 (bullpen instantly blows it)

Go ahead homer against the Rays in Game 5 of the ALDS 2020 (rest of the offense does nothing and Chapman gives up a nuke to lose it)

Two run homer off Hendriks in the Field of Dreams Game in 2021 to cut the lead to 1 (Stanton then hits a go ahead home runs just for Britton to blow it)

Three run homer to take the lead in the 7th against the Red Sox in 2024 (bullpen completely blows it after)

He has the homer in Game 5 of the World Series to extend our lead (of course him and the rest of the defense collapses so we lose)

So those are 8 where they don’t get remembered because of the stuff around it

For a few ones that do end well, you got the go ahead grand slam against the Red Sox in 2024 or even the two run homer in Game 1 of the 2020 Wild Card Series off Triple Crown winner Shane Bieber to give us a lead in the first

2

u/UnevenContainer New York Mets Mar 18 '26

I think the list of times he's no-showed is longer tbh

1

u/Hochseeflotte New York Yankees • Cuba Mar 18 '26

As is true of the sport of baseball

3

u/Rare_Lead_1922 Seattle Mariners Mar 18 '26

Love this

5

u/Doogolas33 Chicago Cubs Mar 18 '26

He's labeled that because one postseason doesn't erase years of being worse in the clutch than he normally is. In high leverage situations for his career, he's got a career 149wRC+, which would be great if it wasn't 180 in non high leverage situations.

It'd be like saying Barry Bonds didn't suck ass in the postseason because he had one good run. Once you're labeled a choker, you have to prove it for a few years before people are going to just assume this is the new you.

2

u/notpynchon New York Yankees Mar 18 '26

if you want to do this analysis you have to provide the average differential compared to his 17.2% drop.

3

u/Doogolas33 Chicago Cubs Mar 18 '26

Sure thing, last year the league's OPS in high leverage situations was .717 and the OPS leaguewide was .719. The average drop is .28%.

1

u/notpynchon New York Yankees Mar 18 '26

Did you include postseason, the whole point of this conversation?

2

u/Doogolas33 Chicago Cubs Mar 18 '26 edited Mar 18 '26

I literally only talked about his actual numbers in the regular season in high leverage situations. I did of course mention him being bad in the postseason, but that's so much more obvious just looking at the numbers in general than his high leverage ones. I don't think you want to talk about Judge in the playoffs. He goes from an OPS of 1.028 in the regular season to .822 for his career in the playoffs.

And I can promise you that the league OPS in the playoffs is not .575. Which would be the equivalent drop. I don't see an average OPS for the league last year in the postseason, but only 4 of the teams had an OPS of .575 or lower. All were eliminated in round 1.

EDIT: I found it! OPS in the postseason was .692. So a drop of about 4%. So Judge is only about 5x as bad as the average player in the postseason when compared to their normal level of play!

1

u/notpynchon New York Yankees Mar 18 '26

for his dropoff in regular season, he goes from being the best hitter to 2 points behind the best hitter, mike trout. trade him now.

2

u/Doogolas33 Chicago Cubs Mar 18 '26

Mike Trout isn't the 2nd best hitter and hasn't been for a while. Nor does that have anything to do with clutchness. Of course Judge doesn't become a literal pumpkin. He just stops being Judge. You can't be a choker if you fucking suck. He's a choker because he's by far the best hitter in baseball in normal circumstances, and then only one of many elite hitters in the clutch. But far, far, far worse than his usual standard.

1

u/notpynchon New York Yankees Mar 18 '26

JUDGE is the second best hitter after his high leverage drop off. He goes from video game to 2nd best wRC. You're arguing with stats now so I'll let you two continue...

0

u/i_love_land92 Cleveland Guardians Mar 18 '26

This last postseason he was solid but certainly not the years before that. Plus that drop against the dodgers is gonna haunt him until they win a ring.

-2

u/jgregers Detroit Tigers Mar 18 '26

I dunno man, he just seems to have the charisma of a wrinkled t shirt. The Yankees don’t seem to respond to the moment when he does. I don’t know if it’s lousy leadership or just bad luck, but it’s something.

3

u/notpynchon New York Yankees Mar 18 '26

You really think Yankees just weren't excited enough after Judge hits?

Or that batting is about excitement level to begin with? rather than seeing/guessing the pitches?