Aaron Judge Sends Message About Yankees Elimination Game

In the Aaron Judge era, the Toronto Blue Jays have a chance at becoming the latest rival to celebrate a playoff series at Yankee Stadium, joining the Boston Red Sox in 2018 and the Houston Astros in 2022. The Los Angeles Dodgers did it in 2024, as well, with last year's World Series against the New York Yankees rekindling one of baseball's oldest championship showdowns.

Oct 5, 2025; Toronto, Ontario, CAN; Toronto Blue Jays first baseman Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (27) celebrates after hitting a grand slam in the fourth inning against the New York Yankees during game two of the ALDS round for the 2025 MLB playoffs at Rogers Centre. Mandatory Credit: Kevin Sousa-Imagn Images | Kevin Sousa-Imagn Images

Yankees Facing Elimination

The Yankees will do everything to make sure that doesn't happen. If they do win, it would be their third straight victory this postseason when facing elimination. According to the captain, Judge, the team is used to these do-or-die situations.

"We've been doing it all year long," Judge said, according to Bryan Hoch of MLB.com. "We've had our backs up against the wall and been in some tough spots. In the Wild Card Series, we lost the first one and played two elimination games. It's kind of what we did even at the end of the year."

Any thoughts of making a comeback may seem too grandiose given how bad those games north of the border went, but there is credence to what Judge is saying. The Yankees won eight straight to finish the season, nearly winning the division, when, a week before their streak started, they were five games behind the Jays.

"We were chasing the division," Judge continued. "We were out there and had to win every single game going down to the wire. So just get back to playing our brand of baseball, put the pressure on them, and anything can happen."

Not Judge's First Time

This isn't Judge's first ALDS deficit, either. In his rookie year, the Cleveland Indians took a 2-0 lead at home. They looked poised to return to the World Series before the Yankees battled back in the Bronx.

In that series, the heroes were Luis Severino, Masahiro Tanaka, and the once-upstart left-handed first baseman Greg Bird, who took the former Yankee Andrew Miller deep. Brett Gardner ultimately put the death knell on Cleveland's year.

You guys have been really well-behaved lately- you've earned a little Brett Gardner icing the 2017 ALDS pic.twitter.com/U7xQeucefx
— Big Baby David (@BigBabyDavid_) December 19, 2023

“I even go back to my rookie year in ’17, we had a Wild Card Game and go to Cleveland, lose those first two against them,” Judge said of that ALDS. “They were division champs that year, too, just coming off an appearance in the World Series. We came out on the other side.”

That was a very different team with a very different manager, though. Judge is hoping for similar results as he chases down his first championship to add to his trophy case. It's a tall task for a team that has been thoroughly outclassed the way they were.

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