Aaron Judge proved on Tuesday night why he is about to win his third MVP award in the last four seasons.
The New York Yankees captain continued his red-hot postseason hitting with arguably the biggest blow of his career: A three-run home run to tie the game and complete a comeback that saved the Yankees’ season.
The Yankees entered Tuesday night a loss away from their season ending, and they trailed 6–1 at one point. But Judge’s homer was the catalyst, and the Yankees live to fight another day.
After Judge’s record-breaking 62-home-run season in 2022, he entered free agency. That came just months after he turned down a $213.5 million extension with the Yankees.
But the gamble worked out, as he signed a nine-year, $360 million contract. At the time he signed the deal, his $40 million annual average value was the largest ever given in Major League Baseball history, but it has since been surpassed by Shohei Ohtani, Juan Soto and Zack Wheeler.
Since then, he’s actually been quite the bargain, considering he has had similar seasons in each of the past two years. Last season, he hit 58 home runs and had a .322 batting average, then the best mark of his career. This season, while missing 10 games, he hit 53 and led the majors with a .331 batting average.
The one knock on Judge, though, had always been his postseason performances. Entering this postseason, he hit just .205 with a .768 OPS — a stark comparison to his regular-season career numbers of .294 and 1.028.
YANKEES’ AARON JUDGE PRAISES ‘GHOSTS OUT THERE IN MONUMENT PARK’ FOR SEASON-SAVING HOME RUN
But this year, he has dominated. In six games, he’s had at least two hits in five of them, and he’s hitting .500 on the dot with a 1.304 OPS.
President Donald Trump met the 6-foot-7, 282-pound slugger in the Yankees’ clubhouse on the 24th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks last month and was stunned by his size.
“If you have that much muscle, you have to hit the ball further,” Trump said. “You’re a fantastic player.”
Trump also joked that he wished Judge was “a little bigger.”
This season, Judge became the fourth player in MLB history to have four seasons of 50-plus home runs, joining Sammy Sosa, Mark McGwire and Babe Ruth. He also became the first player since Jimmie Foxx in 1938 to hit at least .330 and bang out 50 or more home runs.
Because of Judge’s home run, instead of the Yankees getting sent home, they will look to force a decisive Game 5 against the Toronto Blue Jays on Wednesday at 7:08 p.m. ET.
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