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As the New York Yankees face the prospect of a World Series sweep at the hands of the Los Angeles Dodgers, fans and observers of the former are likely pondering who's to blame for what's happened to the pinstripers in this series. 

After some consideration given to Aaron Boone's grave tactical mistake in Game 1, those same fans and observers are likely to settle on Aaron Judge. By default, a team's best player tends to get the blame for any failures at the team level, but in this case the instinct isn't entirely off-base. We qualify with "entirely" because the Yankees' run-scoring issues in this series go beyond just the conspicuous struggles of the presumptive American League MVP. 

First, yes, let's address Judge. He has not performed up to his usual lofty standards, or even remotely close to them, for almost all of the 2024 postseason. In this World Series, however, he's reached new depths. Judge goes into Tuesday's Game 4 with a slash line of .140/.278/.302 for these playoffs with 20 strikeouts in 54 plate appearances. Through the first three games of the World Series vs. the Dodgers, however, he's been even worse -- 1 for 12 with no extra-base hits and strikeouts in seven of his 13 plate appearances. Judge's plate discipline and swing decisions have collapsed, and it's fair to wonder whether he's going to find his accustomed level in time to extend this series beyond the minimum four games. 

As noted, though, it's not just Judge. In simple no terms, no Yankee not named Juan Soto or Giancarlo Stanton is doing his job in this series. Soto and Stanton in this World Series have combined to slash .304/.385/.609 with two home runs and a double and three walks versus three strikeouts (all the walks are Soto's, all the strikeouts are Stanton's) in 26 plate appearances. As for the vast remainder of Yankee bats, they've teamed up to "hit" .158/.256/.203 in 90 combined plate appearances with one home run and nine walks against 28 strikeouts. Of those hitters, just Anthony Rizzo and Alex Verdugo have approached adequate production. Framed another way, Soto and Stanton have almost twice as many total bases (30) as the entire rest of the roster (16) in this series. The 2024 Yankees are accustomed to being top-heavy in the lineup -- albeit with Judge as a central part of that heaviness -- but this is another level altogether. 

As premised above, it's not just Judge dragging those numbers down. Remove the productive Soto and Stanton and unproductive Judge from the Yanks' World Series hitting stats and you get this: .164/.223/.224 in 77 combined plate appearances with one homer, one double, eight walks, and 21 strikeouts. That's the kind of production that leads to, well, a sweep, and to repeat for sufficient emphasis those numbers are with Judge removed from the calculus. Specifically, Yankee catchers Austin Wells and Jose Trevino are a combined 1 for 13 with a single and no walks. Shortstop Anthony Volpe has the exact same World Series slash line as Judge -- .083/.154/.083. 

Judge, of course, is going to draw the most fire because he's the team's superstar who authored another otherworldly regular season (a 223 OPS+ with 58 home runs during the 2024 regular season) and is the highest-paid Yankee. The team's issues, however, go well beyond Judge's offensive collapse. If indeed the Dodgers complete the sweep then the blame for what happened in the 2024 World Series will need to extend beyond "just" the best hitter in baseball.