Aaron Judge's game-changing HR sends Yankees' spirits soaring — and changes his postseason narrative
The Yankees' Aaron Judge watches the flight of his game-tying three-run home run as Toronto Blue Jays catcher Alejandro Kirk and home plate umpire Jordan Baker look on during the fourth inning in Game 3 of the ALDS at Yankee Stadium on Tuesday. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
After six months of building his case for a third MVP, this October still has the potential to be the finest yet for Aaron Judge, and now we can finally put to rest the lingering debate over his signature playoff moment.
What Judge did Tuesday night, with the Yankees facing elimination for third a time of this postseason, was as breathtaking a snapshot as the Captain has ever delivered -- and that’s a lengthy catalog to consider from his Cooperstown-worthy career.
Judge stopped competing against contemporaries long ago. His achievements now are measured daily among the legends -- Ruth, Gehrig, Mantle, DiMaggio -- and Judge’s tying three-run blast in the fourth inning not only completed the Yankees’ five-run comeback, but propelled them to a season-saving 9-6 victory over the Blue Jays in Game 3 of the Division Series.
This was more than just another one of Judge’s many scenic blasts. This carried Broadway-level drama, with the Yankees down, 6-3, and Judge falling behind 0-and-2 to Jays reliever Louis Varland. Judge already had two hits on the night, raising his October average to an even .500 (10-f0r-20) by then, but zero home runs in five games.
Until Varland tried to beat him inside with a 99.7-mph fastball, one nearly a foot off the plate, virtually unhittable by mere mortals. But Judge is playing at a supernatural level this month, and he hammered a high fly ball (35-degree launch angle) that skyrocketed toward the leftfield foul pole.
The Yankees held their collective breath -- along with the 47,399 fans on their feet, mesmerized by the ball’s flight. Cody Bellinger has the best vantage point in the Bronx as he watched from the on-deck circle.
“He hit it so true -- somehow,” Bellinger said. “It was fading, but not at like a crazy rate.”
Said Carlos Rodon, watching from the dugout rail: “I was screaming at it to stay fair. And I’m happy it did.”
Manager Aaron Boone: “I was kind of giving it some body language, but I felt like it was going to hold.”
And Jazz Chisholm Jr.: ”I thought it was really going to go over the foul pole and they were going to make the wrong call. But it hit the pole, so I didn’t have any worries about that.”
As for Judge himself, he wasn’t so sure. “I felt like I made good contact,” the captain said, “and I thought we had a chance. You just never know with the wind, if it’s going to push it foul, keep curving or not. But I guess a couple ghosts out there in Monument Park helped keep that fair.”
When the baseball finally caromed nearly off the top of the pole -- not far from clearing it entirely -- it seemed like all of the Bronx shook, too. Judge flipped his bat, then pointed to the Yankees’ dugout as he jogged to first.
It was Judge’s sixth career homer with the Yankees facing elimination, tying Red Sox Hall of Famer David Ortiz for the most all-time, and the mojo from cathartic blast seemed to carry the rest of the Yankees, too. Chisholm broke the 6-6 tie with his second-deck homer in the fifth inning and Judge scored an insurance run in the sixth after the Jays finally walked him intentionally.
So much for Vlad Guerrero Jr. stealing the show in Judge’s house. Guerrero landed the opening punch with a two-run blast off Carlos Rodon in the first inning -- his third homer in as many games -- and seemed well on his way to making this Division Series his personal October star turn. But Judge made Vlad a footnote, flipped the series momentum with one swing, and once again put the stunned Yankees on his broad shoulders.
“Ball’s in the air, it’s kind of silent,” Judge said. “You’ve got a lot unknown. But then right when it hits the pole, I’m looking straight at my teammates -- all the guys that have been battling with me all year along, battling for this moment. Seeing their excitement was pretty special.
The Yankees are now very much alive in this Division Series, but the clubhouse was mostly buzzing about that Judge swing. How was that even possible?
“Me and [Anthony Volpe] were actually talking about it,” Chisholm said. “It was up-and-in, he’s (6-7), and he’s still hitting that ball. He’s just unbelievable. We all went over the video about 10 times in the dugout after he did it. It was crazy.”
Added Bellinger: “That was a good pitch -- he’s just different. You see it on TV when you’re with other teams. I got to watch it with my own eyes this year.”
History wasn’t on the Yankees’ side. Entering Tuesday, teams that had taken a 2-0 lead in a best-of-five series had won 80 of those 90 lopsided scenarios, with 54 of those ending in sweeps.
But if anyone wearing pinstripes was immune to such a defeatist narrative, it was Judge, the only remaining Yankee from the 2017 team that rallied back from 0-2 to beat Cleveland in the Division Series. Judge made sure to mention that fact Sunday night in the losing clubhouse at Rogers Centre. Then he did something about it Tuesday night, becoming the playoff hero everyone was waiting to emerge.
“Just trying to do my job,” Judge said.
As for those lingering October narratives? Judge bashed them high off the leftfield pole.
David Lennon is an award-winning columnist, a voter for baseball's Hall of Fame and has covered six no-hitters, including two perfect games.
