The Big Lead

'Mike and the Mad Dog' disagree on Yankees' best hope for Aaron Judge

By J.P. Hoornstra

Oct 26, 2024; Los Angeles, California, USA; New York Yankees outfielder Aaron Judge (99) reacts after striking out in the ninth inning during game two of the 2024 MLB World Series at Dodger Stadium.
Oct 26, 2024; Los Angeles, California, USA; New York Yankees outfielder Aaron Judge (99) reacts after striking out in the ninth inning during game two of the 2024 MLB World Series at Dodger Stadium. / Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images
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From Sept. 1989 to Aug. 2008, Mike Francesa and Christopher "Mad Dog" Russo made their mark on the New York radio landscape by doing, well, a lot of what they did Monday: disagreeing sharply about how to solve the New York Yankees' woes.

In an exchange that could have been ripped from any point in their 20-year run on WFAN, Francesa and Russo dropped in on one of the most polarizing questions to arise from Games 1 and 2 of the World Series: what should the Yankees do about Aaron Judge?

Judge is having a miserable postseason. The presumptive American League MVP is 6 for 40 (.150) with 19 strikeouts and three extra-base hits since the calendar turned to October. In the World Series, he's 1 for 9 with six strikeouts as the Dodgers continue to exploit his uppercut swing with high fastballs.

Still, Judge will hit third in Game 3 of the World Series in Aaron Boone's lineup, announced Monday morning.

The Yankees are apparently planning to ride or die with their captain in the number-3 spot in the lineup, despite the torrid hitting of cleanup man Giancarlo Stanton.

Stanton has a hit in all but two of the postseason games he's played so far; his streak of hitting a home run in four consecutive postseason games ended in Game 2 at Dodger Stadium on Saturday.

Russo advocated moving Stanton up. Francesa did not.

Can the Yankees wait for Judge to turn things around? Maybe not. Teams that fall behind 3-0 have only come back to win one postseason round in MLB history — when the Boston Red Sox stunned the Yankees in the 2004 American League Championship Series.

Coincidentally, the biggest difference between that series and the 2003 ALCS, which the Yankees won in 11 innings, might be that the Yankees had Aaron Boone (their current manager) in 2003 and the Red Sox had Dave Roberts (the Dodgers' current manager) in 2004.

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