Aaron Judge’s iconic ALDS home run was basically impossible

Aaron Judge once again did something no one else in baseball has accomplished at this point, delivering perhaps his most iconic Yankee postseason moment yet on Tuesday night.

Judge’s game-tying three-run homer that helped fuel the Yankees’ 9-6 come-from-behind victory in Game 3 of the ALDS marked the first time in 2025 that a player homered on a pitch over 90 mph outside the zone in an 0-2 count in 528 such regular season and postseason pitches. This was reported by Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports during the sixth inning.

Judge’s 93.7 mph hit off the left-field foul pole marked the fastest pitch outside the zone that any player homered against since the data became available in 2008, the highest pitch Judge has ever taken deep and the furthest inward pitch (15 feet) he has ever hit out of the park. according to Statcast data from CBS.

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

Judge is truly a special player and it’s no exaggeration to say he might be the only player in the Majors who could have homerun against that pitch last night.

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

Varland went back to old number 1 and tried to block Judge high and inside.

Judge somehow managed to use his power to turn on the ball and give it enough power to go deep to left to ram 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. “With the wind, you just never know if it’s going to make a mistake, if it’s going to keep bending or not. But I think a few minds there helped keep that honest.”

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 scored two runs in the fifth and one in the sixth, forcing a Game 4 on Wednesday night in The Bronx.

For years, Yankees fans have been clamoring for Judge to have his postseason moment 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 that wasn’t intended to be a home run, Judge changed the story after his costly Game 1 strikeout that helped tilt the game in the Blue Jays’ favor.

“I get yelled at for swinging them out of the zone, but now I get 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 anything was, I just try to put a good swing on a good pitch, and it looked good to me.”