NEW YORK — Aaron Judge is the best hitter in baseball and in a few weeks he will win his second AL MVP award in three seasons. When he’s on, it’s an absolute nightmare for opposing pitchers to watch him walk to the batter’s box.

But unfortunately, since the calendar turned from September to October and when the Yankees needed him most, Judge has been largely absent. When the Yankees return to the Bronx, they need Judge to wake up or see their season come to a bitter end in the World Series against the Dodgers.

The Yankees captain is struggling as his team faces a 2-0 deficit, and it appears baseball’s leader in home runs is starting to apply pressure.

“I definitely have to go a step further. I have to do my job,” Judge told reporters after Game 2. “Guys around here do their job and get on base. I abandon them, (not) support them. We have to turn it around.”

Judge didn’t have an October to remember fondly, in which he hit .150 (6-for-40) with two home runs, seven walks and a whopping 19 strikeouts. Swing-and-miss has always been a part of Judge’s game, and he struck out 171 while putting together one of the best seasons ever for a right-handed hitter.

The problem is that these strikeouts in this postseason don’t come with the prodigious power and 1.159 OPS that Judge had during the regular season.

What makes Judge special is that when he is active, it is almost impossible to get him into the offensive zone. The only hope a pitcher usually has is that Judge will expand the zone. And in October he expands considerably more than during the regular season.

“Look, I think swing decisions are part of that. I think everyone is different in the way they load, start and time, and then your swing comes out,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said after his team’s 4-2 loss Saturday in Game 2. “… .When I was asked about Anthony (Rizzo), what’s different about him in the playoffs? He’s getting into a good groove and now he’s in a strong position to make good swing decisions.

“At the end of the day, that’s what hitting is all about. It’s about putting yourself in the best position to make a good swing decision, but also putting yourself in a strong position to make a good swing. Everybody’s different in the way they do that, and I think (judge) is kind of working through that now.

The Dodgers did a nice job of getting ahead in Judge’s count, and once they got him to two hits, whether it was Yoshinobu Yamamoto’s splitter, Jack Flaherty’s curveball or Blake Treinen’s sweeper, Judge went swinging down.

One of the things that makes Judge’s struggles even more frustrating is that Gleyber Torres (.389 OBP) and Juan Soto (.460 OBP) have both done a great job of getting on base and setting the table for both Judge and Giancarlo Stanton.

What’s worse is that such October woes are not uncommon for Judge. In 55 career postseason games, he owns a .199/.304/.436 slash line with 15 home runs, and he has struck out in more than 40% of his 211 postseason at-bats.

As Judge and the Yankees prepare for Game 3 on Monday, the time for baseball clichés is over. Yes, hitting a baseball is very difficult, and the pitching in the postseason is even better than during the regular season. But the reality is that the New York Yankees will not win the World Series if their captain plays the way he has played. And now that they are facing a 2-0 deficit, the pressure is only increasing.

“It definitely eats away at you,” Judge said. “You want to contribute and help the team, but that’s why you have to keep working and keep swinging. I can’t sit here and feel bad for myself.

“Nobody feels sorry for me.”