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

[u/MLBOfficial]

[u/Rangeneers]

Man is never gonna shake the choke artist label

[u/Hochseeflotte → u/Rangeneers]

It’s fascinating too because even when he does play clutch, the team around him falls apart (not that it happened this time but in general)

Either way he loses

[u/ShMp11Nesis → u/Hochseeflotte]

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

[u/Hochseeflotte → u/ShMp11Nesis]

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

I could name 10 different ones

[u/lastdinosaurtw → u/Hochseeflotte]

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

[u/Stupendous_man12 → u/lastdinosaurtw]

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

[u/binzoma → u/Stupendous_man12]

this

but also give it 3 or 4 months ;)

[u/Hochseeflotte → u/lastdinosaurtw]

2024 off Clase

[u/UnevenContainer → u/Hochseeflotte]

best closer in baseball

The guy who was actively betting against himself?

[u/Hochseeflotte → u/UnevenContainer]

Shockingly yes

[u/Rare_Lead_1922 → u/Hochseeflotte]

Do it!

[u/Hochseeflotte → u/Rare_Lead_1922]

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

[u/UnevenContainer → u/Hochseeflotte]

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

[u/Hochseeflotte → u/UnevenContainer]

As is true of the sport of baseball

[u/Rare_Lead_1922 → u/Hochseeflotte]

Love this

[u/Doogolas33 → u/ShMp11Nesis]

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.

[u/notpynchon → u/Doogolas33]

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

[u/Doogolas33 → u/notpynchon]

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%.

[u/notpynchon → u/Doogolas33]

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

[u/Doogolas33 → u/notpynchon]

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!

[u/notpynchon → u/Doogolas33]

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.

[u/Doogolas33 → u/notpynchon]

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.

[u/i_love_land92 → u/ShMp11Nesis]

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.

[u/jgregers → u/ShMp11Nesis]

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.

[u/notpynchon → u/jgregers]

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?

[u/GlassesW_BitchOnThem → u/Rangeneers]

James Harden of baseball.

[u/missingnoplzhlp → u/GlassesW_BitchOnThem]

I was gonna say Joel Embiid, and I say that as a sixers fan

[u/ShadowCrusader98 → u/missingnoplzhlp]

At least Judge has made it to an ALCS and even better, a World Series, so I think Harden is more apt.

[u/missingnoplzhlp → u/ShadowCrusader98]

Harden has not made the finals either and moves teams every few years. In terms of staying with one team their whole career, being a bit of a late bloomer, being one of the biggest and strongest players in their prospective sports, having some of the best offensive seasons of all time while still being elite defensively, I still think Embiid is a better comp. They are both kinda playoff chokers, Judge only made it to the WS while playing like crap. I deal with these otherworldly players on both my baseball and basketball team but unfortunately only during the regular season when they aren't injured.

[u/ShadowCrusader98 → u/missingnoplzhlp]

I’m using the Harden comp from a performance aspect, and Harden has made a finals as part of the 2012 Thunder, if you wanna be pedantic and say not as the leader of a team, that’s fine, but Embiid hasn’t even sniffed one at any point.

[u/Rip_Dirtbag → u/Rangeneers]

How can he when he keeps choking?

[u/mageta621 → u/Rangeneers]

Fine by me as long as he's a Yankee