Aaron Judge Needed Just 1 Game to Start Writing Yankees Postseason Legend

NEW YORK — The kid is the star. He has been since April.

It's just as true in October.

You see it with all those shirts with No. 99 on them. You hear it when Aaron Judge comes to the plate at Yankee Stadium.

"Obviously, he's a guy [the fans] get excited about," Brett Gardner said. "We get excited about him, too."

The fans got excited again Tuesday. They chanted for Didi Gregorius and David Robertson and Gary Sanchez, all through an 8-4 New York Yankees win over the Minnesota Twins in the American League Wild Card Game.

But it was the 25-year-old outfielder who had them chanting, "M-V-P! M-V-P!" over and over and over again. They chanted his first time up, when his single played a part in the Yankees' key three-run first inning. They chanted in the fourth inning, when his laser of a home run (108.1 mph, according to Statcast) turned a close game into one the Yankees led a little more comfortably. They chanted again in the seventh inning, when Judge clobbered a pitch an incredible 116.5 mph, impressive even though it went foul.

The other guys may have been more important on this night—Gregorius with his huge three-run first-inning home run and Robertson with his 10 huge outs in relief. But the biggest star was still the guy who stands 6'7", and the fans let it be known.

"I didn't hear much," Judge said. "It was a loud crowd. I was so focused on the game."

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He acknowledged having nerves before the first postseason game he ever played, with more to come this week now that the Yankees have advanced to play the Cleveland Indians, and probably a lot more after that, either later this month or in years to come.

"Once the first pitch was thrown, it was still the same ballgame," Judge said.

It sure was. It was the same game the Yankees have played for much of the year, at least after the blip of a first inning by starter Luis Severino. Going down three runs early and going to the bullpen one out into the game was obviously a little different, but a dominant bullpen, an impressive lineup and a rocket of a home run from the rookie right fielder was basically Yankees baseball 2017.

"Don't change a thing," Judge said. "Play our game."

The bigger stage didn't change him, but did you expect it to? This is a guy who had the attention of all the baseball world during All-Star week and came away as the star of the show. This is the guy who didn't get beat down by a serious midseason slump, rebounding with 15 home runs in 27 games in September.

He finished the season with 52, the most a major league rookie has ever hit. He finished with 33 home runs in 77 home games, beating Babe Ruth's record for the most ever by a Yankee.

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He was a Statcast star way back in April, from the time a home run off Baltimore's Kevin Gausman was clocked at 119.4 mph. He had four of the five hardest-hit balls in the major leagues this season, according to the MLB.com metric. He hit the longest home run in the majors this season, too, a 495-foot shot off Logan Verrett of the Orioles on June 11.

And if you had any doubt about how popular he has become, just look around at all those Judge jerseys. MLB announced Tuesday that Judge led all of baseball this season in jersey sales. No other rookie even made the top 15.

He moved to a bigger stage Tuesday, the postseason stage that eventually tests all Yankees stars. Judge understands that playing for a franchise that has won 27 World Series means you'll be remembered most for what you do in October.

He's off to a good start, and so is his team. The Yankees hadn't won a postseason game since Game 5 of a 2012 American League Division Series, so even though they were expected to beat the Twins, this was a significant night.

"The place was rocking," Judge said. "They were electric from the first pitch on."

They were, but they were at their most electric every time a certain rookie right fielder stepped to the plate.

It's been that way all season. On the first night of baseball's postseason, it was still the same ballgame.

Danny Knobler covers Major League Baseball as a national columnist for Bleacher Report.

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