Aaron Judge watches his three-run homer in Game 3 hit the foul pole and tie the game. (Photo by Ishika Samant/Getty Images)
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As one famous New Yorker wrote for another famous New Yorker, who was singing about another famous New Yorker, it was only “a matter of time.” The gods of small sample size have felled many a baseball player; but the Law of Large Numbers tends to win out in the long run. That truth is finally starting to resonate in the minds of baseball fans – specifically New Yorkers – after Aaron Judge’s monumental performance in Game 3 of the American League Division Series.
Judge has been repeatedly criticized for not performing when the lights shine the brightest. Those criticisms weren’t unwarranted. From 2017 through 2022, Judge played in 44 post-season games and slashed .211/.310/.462, with 66 strikeouts in 198 plate appearances.
Last season he added to the negative lore, going 2-for-13 in the Division Series against Royals, with one extra base hit. Against Cleveland in the Championship Series, he went 3-for-18 (with two of those hits being home runs). But in the World Series against the Dodgers, he started to heat up (even if the stats don’t back that up). His last seven at-bats in that series went:
- 92.8 MPH fly out
- 107.8 MPH single
- 108.9 MPH home run
- Walk
- 100.9 MPH fly out
- Walk
- 100.1 MPH double
This year, he went 4-for-11 against the Red Sox in the Wild Card round – but the critics focused on his lack of homers. Then he struck out with the bases loaded in Game 1 of the Division Series against the Blue Jays, and the critics took to the airwaves again, eliding the fact that he was 4-for-7 over the first two games.
But last night in the Bronx, Judge broke free of his shackles and his haters.
In the first inning, with the Yankees already trailing 2-0 and on the brink of elimination, Judge lined a ball 100mph to center for his first hit of the night. He came around to score New York’s first run of the game – cutting the lead in half and exciting the crowd – on Giancarlo Stanton’s two-out single.
In the bottom of the third, with the Yankees now trailing 6-1, Judge doubled home Trent Grisham (107 mph off the bat).
The next inning, with two on and one out, and the Yankees trailing by three, Judge found himself with an 0-2 count after swinging through a Louis Varland 100mph fastball. What happened next will be talked about in bars and barbershops for years to come. Varland through another 100mph fastball (99.7, to be exact) that rode in to his arm side. Judge somehow got his hands inside the ball; he somehow got the head of the bat out in front of a pitch coming in at 147 feet/second; he somehow hit the ball 103mph straight down the left field line; and he somehow clanked the ball of the 3.5-inch foul pole 318-feet away. According to MLB.com’s Sarah Langs:
She also noted that that was the first home run Judge has hit this season (he hit 53 of them) on a pitch outside the strike zone. (His first since August of last season, in fact).
What Judge also managed to do with that swing was change the complexion of the series – the Yanks would go on to score three more unanswered runs and win the game 9-6 – and change his post-season reputation.
Teammate (and potential future Hall of Famer) Paul Goldschmidt proclaimed: “The best swing I’ve ever seen, definitely in person, maybe all time.” And Varland, the victim in this battle, said: “He made a really good pitch look bad.” Stanton, no stranger to hard and far hit homers, when asked if someone else could do that, scoffed: “Show me video of another.”
Aaron Boone, in his post-game press conference tossed out the names Edgar Martinez and Manny Ramirez, two players who are often counted among the best right-handed hitters of all time. Goldschmidt added Miguel Cabrera to the mix. Heady company, indeed.
Judge is the team’s captain; he is signed through the 2031 season at $40 million per year; and he is the face of the franchise. Regardless of what happens tonight or the rest of the post-season, Judge will always have that moment in Game 3 to fall back on.
That said, Judge could go 0-fer tonight, leave a bunch of runners on base, and the Yankees lose to Toronto to end their season. If that were to happen, New York fans – with their emotions running high – may fall back to their former trope about Judge. If he has any questions about how long glory lasts in the world’s largest media market, he need look no further than the manager’s office. Aaron Boone once hit a home run that brought a pennant to the Bronx, and that hasn’t stopped the boo birds and talk radio jockeys repeatedly for calling for him to be fired.
There is still a lot of baseball to be played this season and over the course of Judge’s career. But after his performance on Tuesday night, Judge can be sure that when he’s gone people will remember his name and they will tell his story.