Aaron Judge’s iconic ALDS home run was basically impossible
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Aaron Judge achieved a remarkable feat, setting a new standard in baseball with a moment that could be considered his most iconic postseason performance for the Yankees up to this point.

In Game 3 of the ALDS, Judge hit a game-tying three-run homer, spearheading the Yankees’ 9-6 comeback win. Remarkably, this marked the first instance in 2025 that a player homered off a 99-mph-plus pitch that was outside the strike zone on an 0-2 count, an achievement highlighted by Fox Sports’ Ken Rosenthal during the sixth inning.

The pitch, thrown at 99.7 mph by Louis Varland and hit by Judge off the left-field foul pole, was the fastest outside-the-zone pitch any player has homered against since data tracking began in 2008. Furthermore, it was the highest velocity pitch Judge had ever hit for a home run and the most-inside pitch (1.2 feet) he managed to send out of the park, as confirmed by Statcast data shared by CBS.

“He does things mere mortals don’t,” Fox announcer Joe Davis said during the sixth inning.

Judge is truly a special player and it’s not hyperbole to say that he may be the only player in the majors who could have possibly homered against that pitch last night.

With two on and one out in the fourth and the Blue Jays leading, 6-3, Varland got ahead, 0-2, after Judge fouled off a knuckle curve and then swung through a middle-middle 100-mph heater.

Varland went back to ol’ No. 1 and attempted to jam Judge high and inside.

Judge somehow managed to use his strength to turn on the ball and power it enough to deep left to clank it off the foul pole for a game-tying three-run homer.

“I felt like I made good contact, and I thought we had a chance,” said Judge, who went 3-for-4 with four RBIs and a walk. “You just never know with the wind, if it’s going to push it foul, going keep curving or not. But I guess a couple ghosts out there helped kind of keep that fair.”

Blue Jays manager John Schneider tipped his cap.

“Give him credit, man, that was a ridiculous swing,” he said.

That homer breathed new life into the stadium and the Yankees tacked on two runs in the fifth and one in the sixth to force a Game 4 on Wednesday night in The Bronx.

Yankees fans have been clamoring for years for Judge to have his postseason moment in the same way Vladimir Guerrero Jr. has dominated this series for the Blue Jays.

With one “How did he do that?” swing on a ball not designed to be a home run, Judge changed the narrative after his costly Game 1 strikeout that helped swing the contest in the Blue Jays’ favor.

“I get yelled at for swinging at them out of the zone, but now I’m getting praised for it. It’s a game,” Judge said. “You’ve got to go out there and play. I don’t care what the numbers say or where something was at, I’m just up there trying to put a good swing on a good pitch, and it looked good to me.”

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