Aaron Judge's stoicism finally feels like leadership after ALDS heroics

After years of being told that he was a postseason choker, that the New York Yankees would never win anything as long as he was the one leading them, Aaron Judge finally offered some irrefutable evidence to the contrary on Tuesday night.

Another miserable performance from a starting pitcher (and another scorching start from the Toronto Blue Jays offense) had put New York's season on the brink, down 6-1 after just two and a half innings of a must-win Game 3. But just when everyone was ready to stick a fork into not just this season but this entire era of Yankees baseball, Judge came to the rescue — first with an RBI double in the bottom of the third, and then with a three-run moonshot to tie the game an inning later.

It's just one win, one that ultimately won't mean very much if New York can't find a way to build on it and at least send this series back to Toronto. At least for now, though, it feels significant: This is the version of Judge everyone has been begging to see, a spectacular swing against an inch-perfect pitch at the most critical possible time.

But when Judge spoke with reporters after the game, he didn't seem all that excited to relive his heroics. In fact, he sounded exactly like same as he always does, whether it's an elimination game in October or a series opener in mid-May.

Aaron Judge delivered the perfect response after sparking Yankees' Game 3 comeback

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"Just trying to do my job, what I've been trying to do all year," Judge said, when asked about what this moment — finally, the postseason moment, and at home no less — meant to him. "Not try to do too much: guys on base, drive them in, if no one's on base try to get a rally going. That's all you can do."

Time and time again, New York media gave him the space to wax poetic, or at lesat give them something to work with on deadline. But Judge wasn't having it: His focus was already on Wednesday's game.

Not that Yankees fans will be particularly surprised. This is who Judge has always been, ever since he burst onto the scene way back in 2017. You'll hardly ever see or hear him show any kind of emotion, at least publicly, and no matter whether things are going good or bad, his mantra remains the same: He has the utmost confidence in his team, and it's time to focus on the next play or the next day.

That used to be something that his own fans and media would hold against him, particularly as the postseason pratfalls piled up. Judge wasn't just the Yankees' best player; he was their captain, a hugely meaningful designation in the team's history, and his relentless commitment to being even-keel started to look more like complacency as years went by and New York keep on failing to reach the mountaintop. Where was the fire, the accountability? What would it take for Judge to get fed up and demand change?

After Tuesday night, though, the same song hits just a bit different. It was Judge who kept the Yankees' season from going off the rails, and he did it the same way he always has — which should maybe call for a reexamination of his leadership of this clubhouse.

Aaron Judge's leadership was never the Yankees' problem

Asked after Game 3 about Judge's performance, Yankees manager Aaron Boone went out of his way to compliment not just his outfielder's contributions on the field but what he meant off of it.

It's fair to feel frustrated with all the ups and downs the Yankees have been through, not just over the last few months but over the last few years. This is a team that's been seemingly incapable of getting out of its own way at times, and Game 3 notwithstanding, the postseason track record is what it is — and will remain as much unless and until this core manages to capture title No. 28. (We'll pause here to let the 29 other fan bases roll their eyes at the idea of yearning for a 28th World Series, or cursing a 15-year title drought.)

And sure, as a fan, it can be exasperating to have been just put through the emotional wringer of a gut-punch loss — the sort of performance this team has been no stranger to of late — only to turn around and listen to your best player preach the virtues of staying the course. Maybe that course does need to be abandoned; maybe, by this time Thursday, the Yankees will have been sent packing and fans will be asking some existential questions at the start of what could be an awfully anxious offseason.

In Game 3, though, this team that everyone decries as fragile managed to bow up. And not for the first time: They did it twice in a row to survive a Wild Card series against the Boston Red Sox, and they even did it in last year's World Series until everything went horribly wrong. If we're going to talk about how the Judge/Boone era is known for its dysfunction, we also need to talk about how it's known for its resilience as well.

And much of that resilience stems from Judge himself. That same ability to not get too high or too low sure served him well on Tuesday night, when he put together two huge at-bats to drag his team back into the game and then made a diving catch in right field to help preserve a tie score. New York is a famously unforgiving place to play; if you get too caught up in what's going on around you, you'll drown in it. The reality is that, while soundbites might be what fans want, they're probably not what players and coaches need to succeed in this sort of environment. Judge's way is the healthier way, and now that he's finally delivered when the chips were down, that's become clear for everyone to see.