Aaron Judge's home run helps the Yankees take a two-game ALCS lead

NEW YORK – They're systematically piling up wins and adding heroes almost every night, and as the New York Yankees head toward their first World Series appearance since 2009, it's becoming increasingly obvious that they'll rely on all 26 men of their squad their 28 wins^Th Championship.

On Tuesday night in Game 2 of the American League Championship Series, New York pushed a handful of top performers closer to the floor by winning the kind of simple, methodical battle necessary to survive October.

It just so happens that the latest is the expected AL MVP.

Aaron Judge provided the culmination of their latest triumph, waiting until this ALCS was nearly 21 innings old before putting his stamp on it: a 414-foot drive that went over the wall at a massive 37-degree angle and over the Monument Park started in right-center field, providing the breathing room the Yankees have been missing in this postseason run.

When the ball finally landed, the Yankees had a four-run, seventh-inning lead en route to an eventual 6-3 triumph and seemingly a commanding 2-0 lead in this ALCS.

Game 3 is Thursday at Cleveland's Progressive Field, and as the series ages, the Yankees' advantage seems to be resurfacing.

Their leadoff hitter, Gleyber Torres, is unstoppable: He had three more hits in Game 2, reached base at a .448 clip this postseason and has scored more than a quarter of the Yankees' runs this postseason.

Their bullpen, led by smooth but deadly closer Luke Weaver, is indomitable: They posted a 0.77 ERA in 23 1/3 innings and called on ace Gerrit Cole to pitch the last 4 in two innings on Tuesday /3 innings to cover. Hit, one-run mode.

Their lineup is now, nearly 1-for-9, complete and stout, with Anthony Rizzo coming off the injured list and scoring three times in his first seven at-bats, as if he never broke two fingers at the end of the season.

And now their captain has checked in.

“You know it's coming,” says reliever Clay Holmes, the demoted closer who has simply transformed himself into a near-perfect player with 6 2/3 scoreless innings in tough situations this postseason.

“If he keeps swinging, it will happen. He's Aaron Judge. We've been watching it for years. As teammates, there is no doubt who Aaron Judge will be for us.”

In fact, the discrepancy between public perception and Judge's actual contribution may create a rift in October. While others succeed, it's easy to forget that Judge will always be the one thrown hardest, with the fewest shots to hit, and the name that will be in the 50-point headlines when he hits and fails.

Shifting away from public perception and instead making good hitters is a daunting balancing act, but Judge manages it. Entering Game 2, he was batting .133 with no home runs and one lousy RBI this postseason. Panic numbers!

Still, he also drew a half-dozen walks and posted an OBP of .364 – healthy contributions for a team that is now 6-1 this postseason.

“When he's feeling good,” Rizzo said after Game 2, “he's still working on his swing and tweaking things and going about his business the same way when he's, quote, unquote, not feeling good.” The The only place he doesn't do well might be in some newspapers, but I'm pretty sure I know he doesn't really look at any of that.

“Whatever the narrative is outside of it, but inside he doesn’t deviate from who he is every day.”

The reward came in the seventh inning, when the Yankees defended their 4-2 lead and Cleveland's second-leading reliever, Hunter Gaddis, kept the streak alive. By this point, it was already a strange but productive night for Judge: His windblown pop-up in the first inning, sent a mile high, was butchered on the re-entry by Cleveland shortstop Brayan Rocchio, an error that led to a Run led.

One inning later, a strange humiliation: Juan Soto was intentionally walked to load the bases for… Judge?

On paper, he could have taken it personally. In fact, Cleveland went all in in the second inning, bringing in reliever Cade Smith to staunch the bleeding in a 2-0 game. Judge scored again, sending it high and far enough for a sacrifice fly.

It turned out to be a precursor to the seventh-inning shot that turned Yankee Stadium into a madhouse, flipping the scoreboard to 6-2 and putting his teammates in a state of stupidity.

“Always. Always,” says helper Tim Hill. “With Aaron, it's always a matter of time.”

That's the kind of reputation you deserve after posting an AL-record 62 homers in 2022 and a 58-homer campaign with a 1.152 OPS this year. Yet none of his nine seasons ended with a championship, let alone the World Series.

Things are already looking a lot different this year – especially because the Yankees are only getting better at winning the ugly games.

Should the Yankees win six more games and win their 28?^Th World Series, there will certainly be documentaries and Yankeeographies and perhaps a book or two about the club that broke a 15-year championship drought. These reports will likely contain very few details from this Game 2, and that's a good thing.

Cole wasn't great, even as he pitched four shutout innings but allowed ten baserunners to reach him; Traffic finally caught up with him in the fifth and he couldn't escape without Holmes recording the final two outs.

Rizzo and Jazz Chisholm were each picked off from second base after hitting doubles. Two runs by the Yankees were due to fumbles by the Guardians.

Leave it to the judge to provide the art.

“On these windy, cool nights, you never know what the ball will do when you hit it in the middle here,” said Judge, whose 14 passed Stanton^Th Career playoff home run, “but the ghosts retired there to Monument Park, that’s for sure.”

He will never be just a cog in this operation. But the lesson the Yankees are teaching is that they will need everyone to end this title drought, from the superstar who brought the house down to the parade of relievers who took the mound.

On Tuesday, it was Hill who received a standing ovation from the crowd after his five-up, five-down performance won the sixth inning and part of the seventh inning. Moments later, a more familiar face would take center stage.

“It’s a tough game,” Judge said. “It's a humbling game.

“It’s going to take everyone if we want to get where we want to go.”

Even the superstars.

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