Aaron Judge is a future Hall of Famer. He’s authoring one of the greatest peaks in the history of baseball, maybe the best one by a right-handed hitter ever. He’s hit 50 home runs four times, broken the AL
all-time home run record, captured multiple MVPs, and even took home his first batting title in 2025.
The one thing that’s almost always evaded the larger-than-life slugger? Postseason success. Playing for a franchise that’s won 27 World Series titles and 41 pennants, Judge only has a singular pennant to his name, one in which he had an underwhelming performance, with co-stars Giancarlo Stanton and Juan Soto stepping up in his place.
Not winning a title isn’t a singular player’s fault. Barry Bonds never won a World Series, nor did Ted Williams, Ken Griffey Jr., Ernie Banks … the list goes on. It’s a team sport, after all. That said, Judge has been to the postseason in all but one of his first nine full seasons in his career. Most of the time when the Yankees lose, there are games where they are one swing away from breaking through. Judge just hasn’t been able to deliver in those moments, entering Tuesday’s game with a career postseason slashline of .223/.333/.454, a jarring decline from his career triple slash of .294/.413/.615.
That’s not to say he’s never had a big moment in the past. I 2019, he hit a go-ahead home run off Cy Young winner Justin Verlander in Game 2 of the ALCS with a chance to take a 2-0 lead back to the Bronx. The offense would short-circuit after that, and they’d lose in extras.
In 2020, he hit another go-ahead home run in the fourth inning of a winner-take-all Game 5 of the ALDS against the Rays at Petco Park. Gerrit Cole coughed up the lead one inning later, and Aroldis Chapman added to his Yankees infamy by allowing Mike Brosseau to take him deep near the end of the ballgame.
In 2024, he hit one of the most impressive homers you’ve ever seen, blasting a game-tying two-run homer off of a then-unhittable Emmanuel Clase in Game 3 of the ALCS, going back-to-back with Stanton. The lead was squandered with a Big Christmas present off Luke Weaver and a David Fry walk-off against Clay Holmes.
Judge needed a moment. Not only had all three of those prior moments been in eventual losses, all three were on the road. His most iconic playoff moment at Yankee Stadium? A first-inning homer against Liam Hendriks in 2018 AL Wild Card Game? Probably? He did have some key hits during during his rookie playoff run too, amid many strikeouts.
So, entering this game, with his Yankees’ backs against the wall, down 0-2 to the rival Toronto Blue Jays, the captain needed to step up. After Carlos Rodón started a miserable outing by allowing a two-run home run to Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Judge started a rally with a one-out single to improve to 9-for-19 in the postseason. He came around to score on a Stanton RBI single.
After Rodón’s nightmare outing ended with the Jays going ahead 6-1, the Yankees had to reset in the bottom of the third and chip away. A double by Trent Grisham set the table for a rally and Judge responded, fighting off a changeup on the hands from Shane Bieber down the left field line for an RBI double to make it 6-2.
After Fernando Cruz and Camilo Doval combined to hold the line, the Yankees went back out there in the fourth. Austin Wells reached on a dropped pop-fly (sound familiar?), Grisham walked, and up stepped Judge as the tying run against the flamethrowing Louis Varland. This was the moment. If it was ever going to happen, it had to be now. Being 10-for-20 is cool, but eight are singles and zero are home runs. The most prolific power hitter of this generation had to come through.
Foul ball. Strike 1.
100-mph heater down the pipe, Judge swings right through. Strike 2.
Varland looked to go in on the hands on 0-2 to jam the hulking slugger even if he dared to make contact. This ball was so far inside, it was almost impossible to do any significant damage to. It was 99.7 mph. What’s your move, Aaron?
There’s the signature moment at Yankee Stadium. A 99.7-mph fastball so far inside that it almost hit him in the wrist — 5.9 inches off the inner corner, to be precise. He somehow got his hands in far enough to not only make good contact, but also obliterate a ball 103.1 mph, 373 feet, and off the damn foul pole. The moment. Less than an hour after the Bronx sounded like a morgue, the game was tied.
He wasn’t done. Doval allowed a one-out double in the fifth and Anthony Santander lined a ball to right field, sinking fast. However, we all know Judge isn’t just a hitter, especially when he’s roaming right field.
A diving catch (60-percent catch probability) saved a run. The Blue Jays never got closer to scoring the elusive seventh run, and the Yankees staved off elimination with a 9-6 win. Judge went 3-for-4 with a home run, a double, and four RBIs. The Jays even intentionally walked him with nobody on base.
That’s a captain. That’s an MVP. That’s a Yankee.
