NEW YORK – Another World Series game, another tough night at the plate for Aaron Judge. After going 0-for-3 with another strikeout in Monday night’s Game 3 loss to the New York Yankees, New York finds itself at a familiar point: waiting for its star player to break out.

“He’s one strike away,” Yankees coach James Rowson told ESPN on Monday. “I know it’s a big story, but from my point of view this guy is one of the best players to ever play the game. Every night the whole story is rewritten.”

But with the Los Angeles Dodgers one win away from a World Series sweep, the superstar slugger from New York is running out of opportunities to flip the script. And those involved in the sport, watching from the scouts’ chairs, the executive offices or even just in front of their television sets at home, see a specific problem that needs to be solved: the judge is chasing too many pitches outside the zone, and LA is taking advantage of it.

“The Dodgers are giving him spin, spin, spin that he’s chasing,” an American League scout told ESPN. “Then the fastball looks harder than it actually is, so he has no timing. He has to stop worrying about the big moment and just go with those sliders and get them to right field and the right-center field gap. “

Dealing with anything thrown on break or spin has been Judge’s Achilles heel all postseason. He’s hitting just .071 on breaking pitches in October, compared to .258 during the regular season, according to ESPN Research. Meanwhile, his strikeout rate on these pitches is a whopping 58.5%, compared to 39.8% from March through September.

Every time he swings at another breaking pitch for a strikeout, the Dodgers can keep attacking with the same plan instead of challenging him with heat.

The righty still does damage with fastballs – when he sees them. He’s hitting .364 with an OPS of 1.429 against pitches thrown 95 mph or faster in the playoffs, but so far this month, Judge has seen 6% fewer fastballs than during the regular season, and the frustration of not getting of pitches he can drive becomes apparent to observers.

“I think he might be applying a little bit of pressure,” Ryan Howard, 2007 National League MVP, said on the field before Game 3. “Right now I think it’s just in his head. He knows what tone they’re trying to get him out.” on, and if you’re swinging and you miss it, you force it a little bit.”

Despite the problems, Judge’s manager has his back. Boone has made it clear he’s not considering moving Judge up or down the lineup: “That’s our guy, and there’s pressure in the Series no matter where you end up.”

One NL executive agreed with Boone’s mentality: “If this was the regular season, I could see him going to leadoff to get him started, but I don’t think Boone should do that. In This time of year you have to believe and stick with your best players. He is the best of the best.”

With the season on the line, can Judge rediscover his MVP form? Patience can be the key.

“He’s got to get them back in the zone or take some walks,” the NL ace said. “How many does he have in the postseason?”

Judge has walked eight times this postseason, but only twice in the past seven games after walking 133 times in the MLB during the regular season. But what could help spark Judge the most is about more than drawing open passes to first base — it’s about pitchers coming to him.

‘Just wait That pitch as long as it’s in the zone,” Howard said of the advice he would give Judge.

Now that the Yankees must accomplish the seemingly impossible — win four straight games to complete a World Series comeback — Judge may finally get the one pitch that gets him going.

“He’s big enough, strong enough to hit the ball out of any part of the ballpark.” said a NL scout. ‘He has to use the whole field. When he starts using the whole court and the middle, you’ll see the Aaron Judge you’ve seen all year.”

The Yankees just have to hope they play long enough to see it happen.