It's no exaggeration to suggest that Aaron Judge and Shohei Ohtani had historically great regular seasons in 2024. These were legendary seasons. Seasons we'll be remembering decades from now.
Judge hit .322 with 58 home runs and 144 RBIs and nearly won the Triple Crown. The New York Yankees captain was the first player to slug .700 since 2004 and his wRC+ -- weighted runs created, which is league- and park-adjusted -- was the seventh highest of all time, only behind seasons from Barry Bonds, Babe Ruth and Ted Williams. Historic? Absolutely.
On the opposite coast, Ohtani hit .310 with 54 home runs and 130 RBIs. Like Judge, the Los Angeles Dodgers star led the National League in home runs and RBIs and nearly won the Triple Crown. He became the first player with 400 total bases since 2001 and, you might have heard, stole 59 bases to go with his 54 homers, shattering the 50-50 barrier. Historic? Absolutely.
And let's not forget Kansas City Royals shortstop Bobby Witt Jr., who had his own incredible season, hitting .332/.389/.588 with 32 home runs, 31 stolen bases and 88 extra-base hits. While his overall level of offense wasn't quite what Judge and Ohtani reached, Witt also brings supreme defense at shortstop -- his 9.4 bWAR edged out Ohtani's 9.2 and ranks as the third-highest WAR total this century for a player 24 or younger playing in the postseason.
With the division series under way, it raises the question: How have players who have had amazing, historic-type regular seasons fared in the postseason?
Consider Bonds, who shows how random postseason success can be. In the first five postseasons of his career, he hit .196 with only one home run in 27 games. In 2002, after he hit .370/.582/.799 with 46 home runs during the regular season, Bonds went off, including that famed home run off Troy Percival in the World Series that landed somewhere between Disneyland and the moon. Overall, he hit .356/.581/.978 with eight home runs, 16 RBIs and 27 walks in 17 playoff games.
Should we expect Judge, Ohtani or Witt to do that? Well, no -- although let's not put anything past that crew. Ohtani stepped right into the spotlight to kick off October, blasting a mammoth three-run home run in second at-bat to lead the Dodgers to a Game 1 victory over the San Diego Padres -- but went 0-for-4 the next day. Witt and Judge, on the other hand, are off to slow starts. Witt did drive in two of the Royals' three runs against the Orioles in the wild-card round but is 0-for-10 the first two games against the Yankees. Judge's postseason struggles have continued as he's 1-for-7 with four K's in the ALDS.
To predict how far these players might take their teams -- and what else we could see from them this October -- let's dig into a few categories that they fit into, looking at how the biggest stars in the game have historically done in the postseason.