99 problems but a Dodgers pitch ain’t one. Aaron Judge hits L.A. like no one else in history

The Dodgers’ biggest nemesis with a bat in his hands is Aaron Judge. During the first game of the series in June, a 2-1 Dodgers victory, Judge doubled to left field in his first at-bat against Yoshinobu Yamamoto, who will start for the Dodgers in Game 2 of the World Series, and was walked by Blake Treinen, who has become perhaps the Dodgers’ most trusted reliever. Judge played in two of three games between the teams in 2023, and again, the results don’t help much in predicting World Series outcomes. If you throw too many breaking balls and leave them in the zone, Judge kills in-zone breaking balls.” Even though the Dodgers and Yankees hadn’t met in the World Series since 1981, the three games in June in the Bronx were billed as a potential preview of the Fall Classic. “I think that playing with this media attention, sold-out, the energy you feel, against a team you potentially could meet in the World Series,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said at the time, “it’s sort of a barometer.” And if the forecast holds true for Judge, watch out.