Aaron Judge’s crucial error ruined the defining moment in the World Series

Aaron Judge’s bat woke up. He made a fantastic jump attack in the outfield. But it was the play he didn’t come up with that will haunt him this offseason.

In the fifth inning, he failed to hit a Tommy Edman line drive with a runner on and nobody out, an error that led to a five-run frame for the Dodgers in their decisive 7-6 victory in Game 5 of the World Series led over the Yankees in the Bronx on Wednesday night.

In the fifth, the judge had company. Anthony Volpe made an error immediately afterward and had a chance to leave the inning unscathed when Anthony Rizzo batted out a slow-hit grounder from Mookie Betts.

From there, the floodgates opened, but it all started with the Judge drop when five unearned runs cruised against Gerrit Cole.

It ruined an otherwise great night for the near-certain American League MVP. He reached base four times and got the stadium going with a two-run blast to right-center field in the first inning.

Chants of “MVP” followed for Judge, who struggled for most of the postseason. He doubled in the eighth with one out and a run scored for the Yankees. He’s been looking better at the plate lately. He chased less and didn’t come out like he had done so many times this month.

“I thought he did well (in Game 4),” manager Aaron Boone said before the game. “I thought he made a lot of good swings. I thought he controlled the zone. This is often mechanical too. …Every person is a little different in how they get there. But you get into strong positions and usually that’s when you’re able to make the best swing decisions.”

In the fourth period, Judge made a great play, stopping a Freddie Freeman drive as it crashed into the midfield fence at full speed. It saved a run. But then the fifth came. The Edman drive that Judge couldn’t catch, a mistake that seemed to wake up the Dodgers.

Instead of preparing to board a plane back to Los Angeles, the Yankees’ season ended Wednesday night. Who knows how Game 5 will go if Judge doesn’t drop that line.

For Judge, it was an unfortunate end to an unforgettable postseason.

He is clearly one of the two or three best players in the sport.

But success in October failed to materialize for him. This trend continued on Wednesday evening.