New York Yankees star Aaron Judge has finally hit his first home run in the 2022 postseason. This one came in the second inning of game five against the Cleveland Guardians. It could not have come at a more perfect time for Judge to return to his regular-season form.
This homer comes in a critical game of the American League Divisional Series, where the loser will be eliminated from the playoffs. For the 99 win New York Yankees, an ALDS elimination would be seen as an abject failure. This home run gave the Yankees a 4-0 lead over the Guardians, giving them a significant lead to try and hold on to for the rest of the game.
The Yankees uploaded a clip of Aaron Judge's home run to Twitter.
![march madness logo](http://staticg.sportskeeda.com/skm/assets/march-madness-logo.png)
Through the good and bad of the 2022 season, Judge has been the leader of the Yankees. This is no easy task for any player, let alone one who is a pending free agent. Judge has exceeded all expectations, both with his play on the fiel and his leadership off of it. He had been struggling thus far into the postseason. Yankees fans were thrilled to see him turn it around.
Due to his pending free agency, fans loved to see certain aspects of his celebration. After entering the dugout, Judge kissed the New York Yankees logo on his jersey. This was incredibly reaffirming for Yankees fans who hope he will re-sign with the team in the offseason.
It has been a tumultuous start to the playoffs for Judge, but fans hope that is in the past now. Things were going so poorly that he was even being booed after strikeouts at Yankee Stadium. Yankees fans have high standards for their stars, and it took Judge a while to get back to reaching those heights.
The New York Yankees needed Aaron Judge to step his game back up to the MVP level it was at, and he has finally gotten there.
Aaron Judge will need to be at his best for the New York Yankees postseason run
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If the Yankees do manage to hold this lead and move on to the championship series, Aaron Judge must continue to play at this level. If he is not a consistent source of offense for the Yankees, they will have an incredibly tough time getting past the Houston Astros.
Judge has to build on this homer and continue to be the offensive juggernaut that he was in the regular season.