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    • A painful end at the end of October for Aaron Judge and the Yankees
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    A painful end at the end of October for Aaron Judge and the Yankees

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    NEW YORK – Aaron Judge has known October heartache, but never like this.

    “Falling short in the World Series will stay with me until I die,” the Yankees captain said, speaking softly in the home clubhouse as the Los Angeles Dodgers celebrated.

    Judge and the Yankees were heading to California midway through Wednesday night’s Game 5, ready to bring their impossible dream — all the way back from an 0-3 deficit — back to Dodger Stadium.

    Instead, the Yanks will remember a five-run lead that collapsed in stunning fashion, and a one-run lead that came away in the eighth, leading to a Dodger victory celebration.

    “Just like any other loss, those things don’t go away,” Judge said after the ruthless Dodgers claimed 120.e World Series with 7-6 victory at Yankee Stadium.

    Addition to Aaron Judge’s ‘battle scars’

    Judge considers these losses “battle scars,” but “hopefully when my career is over, we will have a lot of battle scars, but also a lot of wins along the way.”

    One of those scars was self-inflicted; a Judge error on a simple, soft liner to center that somehow bounced off his glove – setting the stage for LA’s improbable five-run inning against Gerrit Cole.

    The ace toughened up with the bases loaded, getting two strikeouts and a soft grounder from Mookie Betts to first base, where Cole — after taking a bad route off the mound — failed to cover the bag.

    A soft single by World Series MVP Freddie Freeman (4 HRs, 12 RBI) and a long double by Teoscar Hernandez tied the game, and a sold-out crowd went from celebratory to stunned almost immediately.

    Judge blamed his error up center, the first of three Yankee errors if you count Cole’s.

    “If that doesn’t happen, it could be a whole different story,” Judge said of his drop. “I just didn’t make the play.”

    An inning earlier, Judge had saved a run with a sensational running catch, which bounced off the 300-foot board in left center to snare Freeman’s final drive.

    Judge had finally rediscovered his A-swing, hitting a two-run homer in the first inning and helping end Dodger starter Jack Flaherty’s night early on his way to a 5-0 lead.

    The Yankees’ long road back to October

    But the endings were all too painful and familiar, like the victories of the Houston Astros in the AL Championship Series, or the Tampa Bay Rays in the pandemic Division Series, or the Boston Red Sox in a wild-card game.

    Once again, winter arrived earlier than Judge wanted, leaving him with a legacy that is still minus a world championship.

    And the road back will be tough if Juan Soto isn’t in the lineup with Judge.

    “I’d love to have him back,” Judge said, praising Soto’s efforts behind the scenes as much as his importance as a consistent threat and on-base machine.

    But now, two years after his own whirlwind as a free agent, Judge knows what’s in store for him: a free agency period that could land him a contract bigger than anyone besides Shohei Ohtani.

    Both Ohtani and Judge will likely win their leagues’ MVP awards, with Ohtani also getting a World Series ring.

    But the Yankees lost this Series, while Ohtani became a non-factor since Game 1; he was 2-for-19 overall and 1-for-11 with singles since injuring his left shoulder on a slide in Game 2.

    Mostly, the Yankees couldn’t overcome Judge’s postseason woes, an out-of-rhythm swing — 1-for-14, seven strikeouts — that lasted late into World Series Game 4.

    Soto and Judge were each on base four times in Game 5, with Juge also walking twice and double in the eighth inning, but he stranded.

    In the Dodger eighth, Aaron Boone asked Tommy Kahnle to navigate the bottom of the order – saving Luke Weaver for the ninth – but Kahnle’s command problems led to two runs.

    Weaver couldn’t save them, and Dodgers Game 3 starter Walker Buehler – the last of seven Dodger relievers – capped off another Yankees season, their 15e directly without a world title.

    The right one is 0-for-8, with one battle scar remaining.

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