As Aaron Judge braced for an 0-2 pitch, Yankee Stadium roared in unison.

“MVP! MVP! MVP!” the crowd bellowed, desperate for the Yankees’ captain to deliver a signature October moment.

Judge, whose prior postseason struggles have been well-documented, rose to the occasion Tuesday, turning on a 99.7-mph, inside fastball from Blue Jays reliever Louis Varland. With two runners on, one out and the Yankees trailing — 2-0 in the ALDS and 6-3 in the fourth inning of a do-or-die Game 3 — Judge could only watch and wait as his lumber sent a towering flyball deep into the Bronx night.

He had the distance. That much was clear off the bat.

But would the ball stay fair?

“I was just saying, ‘Hit the f–king foul pole,’” Cody Bellinger said. “That’s what I was thinking. Or hit it past the foul pole.”

“I was kind of giving it some body language, but I felt like it was going to hold,” Aaron Boone said.

“I was screaming at it to stay fair,” added Carlos Rodón, who had already surrendered six earned runs over 2.1 innings. “I’m happy it did.”

It was the left field foul pole that left no doubt, impeding the game-tying homer’s trajectory. With a clank toward the upper half of the pole, Yankee Stadium exploded as the ball dropped to the field and Judge’s legend soared.

He and teammates credited former Yankees icons for the blast, which helped them secure a 9-6 win.

“I guess a couple ghosts out there in Monument Park helped kind of keep that fair,” Judge said, returning to an line that the Yankees used to explain their 2024 postseason successes.

He went on to say that his world went “silent” as he watched the ball, even as the 47,399 fans in attendance lost their minds.

“You just got so much adrenaline pumping and you’re so locked in on the moment, you really don’t hear anything,” Judge said. “The noise is probably so loud it’s deafening.”

With Judge’s home run staying fair, the Yankees’ dugout celebrated. Jazz Chisholm Jr. slapped the railing in excitement. Bellinger strolled by, his arms extended in the air. Rodón, let off the hook, embraced Clarke Schmidt with a bear hug.

Then there was Judge. Typically calm and collected, he gestured and shouted repeatedly at the Yankees’ bench, knowing full well he had just done his part to keep their season alive.

“I have no idea,” Schmidt said when asked what Judge yelled. “I don’t think anyone knows. I don’t even think he knows. We were all just going crazy.”

With Chisholm adding a go-ahead homer off Varland in the fifth and a few insurance runs following, the Yankees cruised to a comeback with the help of their bullpen. But it was Judge who swung the game’s momentum with his club staring down the barrel of elimination.

“You could feel it in your bones,” said Tim Hill, who threw 1.1 scoreless innings in relief. “It was crazy. It was amazing.”

Aaron Judge with some impeccable timing for his first HR of this postseason. #Yankees pic.twitter.com/TdCDlJrFHF

— Gary Phillips (@GaryHPhillips) October 8, 2025

For Hill and several other Yankees pitchers, it wasn’t just Judge’s clutch-ness that astounded. It was also the result he got off that particular pitch.

“I’m sure my guy over there on the other side is questioning everything, because the pitch that he hit was crazy,” Hill continued. “I can’t even comprehend.”

“All of us pitchers were in there saying that was the greatest swing we’ve ever seen,” said Schmidt, citing the combination of velocity, location, circumstances and result.

Asked what his reaction would be if he were Varland, Gerrit Cole simply said “frustrated,” as the pitch was nowhere near the strike zone.

“But big man decided to put his foot down and get his hands started early,” Cole added with Varland’s 99.7-mph heater being the fastest pitch Judge has ever homered off of.

According to MLB.com’s Sarah Langs, Judge’s jack also came on a pitch 1.2 feet inside from the center of home plate. That’s the furthest inside or outside pitch he’s homered off of in his career.

“I get yelled at for swinging at them out of the zone, but now I’m getting praised for it,” Judge said with a smile when told of that stat. “It’s a game. 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.”

Yankees pitchers weren’t the only ones stunned that Judge homered on that pitch, as Bellinger called the swing impossible “for most.”

“He’s just unbelievable,” Chisholm chimed in. “We all went over the video about 10 times in the dugout. It was crazy.”

Judge, who asked fellow slugger Giancarlo Stanton for tips on Varland before the home run, didn’t stop making his mark on Game 3 then and there, as he laid out for an Anthony Santander liner with a man on second in the fifth. With the game still tied at the time, the Yankees’ right fielder saved a run with his diving catch.

Judge, who also had an RBI double in the third, scored again in the sixth inning, crossing the plate after Ben Rice drove a sac fly to right field. Judge reached via an intentional walk, Blue Jays manager John Schneider’s go-to approach for the feared hitter.

Alas, Toronto couldn’t implement that strategy for Judge’s home run at-bat, as a free pass would have brought the go-ahead run to the plate.

“Hopefully he gets a bad night’s sleep and has some bad food tonight or something like that,” Schneider joked after the game as he praised Judge. “Give him credit, man, that was a ridiculous swing.”

Not only did Judge deal a blow that catapulted the Bombers to victory in Game 3, but he also made up for his shortcomings in Game 1 of the series, when he struck out chasing a Kevin Gausman splitter with the bases loaded, nobody out and the Yankees down two in the sixth.

It’s been an otherwise impressive postseason for No. 99, as Judge is now hitting .500 with a 1.304 OPS after going 3-for-4 with three runs scored and four RBI on Tuesday.

“I know there’s been a lot of narrative about Judge and previous postseasons and stuff like that,” Schmidt said. “Just to see how locked in he is right now and where his swing is at, and he’s playing with a chip on his shoulder, it doesn’t come as a surprise.”

While previously dinged for his lack of power — his Game 3 home run was his first of the postseason — Judge’s ongoing October performance has certainly risen above his past ones. He entered these playoffs a career .205 postseason hitter. He had been even worse over his last four postseasons, hitting .160 with a .648 OPS despite having eight homers over 31 games.

But on Tuesday, Judge, contending for his third MVP Award, reminded the baseball world just how deadly he is, no matter the month. A few more reminders may just help the Yankees climb out of their ALDS hole.

At the very least, they survived another day thanks to their superstar.

“It was a best-player-in-the-game-type performance,” Boone said. “It was special when, needless to say, we’re backs against the wall and then some.”