It has been an American League Championship Series to forget for Yankees slugger Aaron Judge.
The presumptive AL MVP has been in a funk throughout the series with an .083 batting average against the Astros.
But he is hardly the only New York hitter struggling against the the Astros' excellent pitching. Aaron Boone's squad has amassed four runs in three games, unable to overcome Houston's mix of workhorse starters and strong bullpen arms.
The Bronx Bombers thus find themselves in a 3-0 hole against a team that is brimming with postseason experience.
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With potentially just one game left in the Yankees' season, The Sporting News examines the numbers behind New York's ALCS struggles:
Yankees' ALCS offensive struggles vs Astros, by the numbers
41
The Yankees have struck out 41 times in three games (13.7 per game). By comparison, Houston's batters have whiffed just 19 times against New York pitching.
New York's role players have struggled the most at putting the ball in play. Josh Donaldson and Matt Carpenter have each fanned seven times in nine at-bats. Aaron Judge, Anthony Rizzo and Giancarlo Stanton have combined for eight Ks.
.128
New York is batting.128 (12 for 94) against Astros pitching. Judge has one hit, Rizzo has two and Josh Donaldson has none.
Whether it has been Justin Verlander, Framber Valdez, Cristian Javier or any of Houston's abundance of arms, the Yankees haven't made decent contact.
2
Few teams are as reliant on the long ball as New York. The Bronx Bombers proved that in the ALDS against the Guardians with nine home runs in five games.
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That power has been sapped by Astros pitching. New York has gone deep just twice in the series. To add insult to injury, both dingers were recorded in the same game — Game 2. Both were solo homers, as well, further spotlighting New York's offensive atrophy.
316
Through three ALCS games, the Yankees have a .435 OPS, 316 points lower than their regular-season mark of .751. New York simply hasn't been able to get on base or drive the ball.
That Yankees turned in another dour offensive showing in Game 3. They racked up just three hits (but drew five walks) in a 5-0 loss.
By comparison, Houston's ALCS OPS after three games is .767, 24 points better than their .743 regular-season showing.
