Matt Higgins
The World Series chase begins Tuesday as 12 teams battle it out to call themselves champions. October baseball elevates stars to a stratosphere they’ve never seen before. It can also lead to incredible heartache, falling short of a career-defining goal. Here are five players under intense pressure to win a World Series this year.
Aaron Judge
Aaron Judge’s postseason struggles have been talked about ad nauseam at this point. Across 58 playoff games, the New York Yankees superstar is slashing .205/.318/.450 — incredibly down from his career line of .294/.413/.615 — with 86 strikeouts and 16 home runs in 220 at-bats. Last year, Judge hit just .184 in October and made a critical error in Game 5 of the World Series that helped the Los Angeles Dodgers capture the championship. Judge will never reach the pantheon of Yankees greats until he brings a World Series title to the Bronx.
Bryce Harper
Bryce Harper was on the cover of Sports Illustrated when he was only 16, was 17 when selected first overall in the 2010 draft by the Washington Nationals, and 19 when he made his MLB debut. He’s an eight-time All-Star, two-time National League MVP and an NLCS MVP. He’s never shied away from the spotlight in October and has posted a 1.016 OPS in 53 postseason games with 17 home runs, 13 doubles and a triple. But that first World Series ring has remained elusive.
He’s in the postseason for the fourth consecutive year with the Phillies, who have gone from a World Series appearance in 2022 to an NLCS upset in 2023 and then an NLDS loss last year. Another quick exit for Harper and the Phillies will raise questions about whether he’ll ever win a championship in Philadelphia.
Manny Machado
Manny Machado is one of the best third basemen of this generation. Over 14 seasons, he’s blasted 369 home runs while hitting .279/.338/.486 with a 124 OPS+. He’s a seven-time All-Star with two Gold Gloves and two Silver Slugger awards. But when it comes to October baseball, Machado turns into a pumpkin. He’s hitting just .215 with a .684 OPS and 11 home runs in 48 games. In his only World Series appearance with the Dodgers in 2018, he had a .182 average and .390 OPS with no extra-base hits. Machado desperately needs a strong postseason showing and that first World Series championship to cement his legacy.
Vladimir Guerrero Jr.
Vladimir Guerrero Jr. is one of the best young players in the game, and the Toronto Blue Jays rewarded him with a 14-year, $500 million extension earlier in the season. During his seven-year career, Vladdy Jr. has made the All-Star team five times and cranked out 183 home runs while putting up an .861 OPS and 136 OPS+. He’s one of the most feared hitters in the game, but it has yet to translate to the postseason.
Guerrero has made the playoffs three times with the Blue Jays and has yet to win a game. In six career postseason games, he’s slashing just .136/.240/.182 with only three hits and no home runs. That needs to change drastically if he wants to do something his Hall of Fame father never did — win a World Series.
Kyle Tucker
The only player on this list to win a World Series, it seems strange that Kyle Tucker would be here, but here’s the rub: he was brought in to lead the Chicago Cubs to a championship, played like an MVP in the first half, tailed off due to injury since the All-Star break and is a free agent after the season looking to back up the Brink’s truck. Tucker had a .280 average, .882 OPS and 17 home runs in his first 95 games, but that plummeted to a .231 average, .738 OPS and five home runs in the second half. He also hasn’t lived up to lofty expectations at the plate in October, hitting just .229 with a .685 OPS.
