If you said during the regular season that a team intentionally walked Juan Soto to face Aaron Judge with the bases loaded, you’d think they were taking some crazy pills.

Well, the Guardians did just that in their 6-3 loss in Game 2 of the ALCS in a stunning development.

Manager Stephen Vogt later defended the decision to intentionally walk Soto with first base open and load the bases with one out for Judge while trailing 2–0 in the second inning.

“They hit the ball around the ballpark and we had to stop the game,” Vogt said. “In that situation you want to try to get a double play ball. You want to try to get two zeros with one roll. You want to try to find a way to get out of that inning, and Cade (Smith) did a great job of that.”

The hope of encountering a double play ball did not materialize, though Judge hit only a sacrifice fly to push the lead to 3-0 and struck out beleaguered cleanup hitter Austin Wells to end the inning.

Smith, a righty, had replaced starter and fellow right-hander Tanner Bibee, who allowed Vogt the intentional walk before leaving.

It’s possible that until Judge starts to look like his MVP self, although he did hit his first home run of the postseason later in the game, Soto could continue to draw walks in big spots.

Judge is hitting just .167 with a .735 OPS this postseason.

Follow The Post’s coverage of the Yankees in the postseason:

“It’s win or go home,” Judge said of Soto being walked intentionally. “Every out, every inning is important. They try to get a few outs there with a double play, but we were able to take away a point.”

Soto went 1-for-3 on Tuesday, while Judge drove in three runs on a 1-for-3 night.

The Yankees have made quick work of the Guardians thus far to take a 2-0 series lead and send Clarke Schmidt to the mound on Thursday, with the series shifting to Cleveland for Game 3.