Sports
‘You could feel it like in your bones’: Aaron Judge meets his October moment at last
NEW YORK — Never were the questions of Aaron Judge‘s fitness for October particularly fair, but that’s life for the biggest man in the biggest city whose biggest failures had come at the biggest times. The burden of greatness is heavy. The burden of greatness in New York is planetary. And for those unleashing screeds on Judge’s postseasons — on hot take shows and sports-talk radio and in bars and at family dinners and everywhere, really, that anyone talks about the Yankees — it was never about whether they were fair. After all, his performances had been undeniably foul.
Judge never paid any of this any mind because he does not wire himself to do so. He cares about winning. He cares about success. He cares more than anyone who criticizes him, mocks him, derides him, leans into his past performances as if they’re predictive of an unknowable future. Judge always separated those struggles, not just because he needed to but because it is how he lives, purposely boring and boringly purposeful. He believed the moment would present itself and he would meet it. And why wouldn’t he think that? Every other endeavor in his baseball life had treated him that way.
Regardless of how the American League Division Series between the Yankees and Toronto Blue Jays breaks, what Judge did Tuesday night was the sort of thing that should put to rest questions about his October aptitude. It won’t, because it never could, but the wide-eyed, wonderstruck, childlike gawking of everyone in the Yankees’ clubhouse told the story of Tuesday night’s season-saving 9-6 victory against the Blue Jays in which Judge left jaws agape.
Poor Louis Varland. The right-handed reliever entered in the fourth inning to protect the Blue Jays’ 6-3 advantage in a game that could have clinched their spot in the AL Championship Series. He fooled Judge on a 90 mph curveball and then blew a 100 mph fastball by him and then threw another fastball at 100, up and in. Like, really in. Like, 5.9 inches off the inner corner of the plate, at triple digits, with tremendous carry, an absolute nightmare of a pitch for any hitter at any time in the game’s history to touch, let alone punish.
Nearly 400 feet later, when the ball banged off the left-field foul pole — the one place in Judge’s world where something foul is indeed fair — no one on the field could believe it. The absurdity of it all — manipulating his 6-foot-7, 282-pound body to so thoroughly alter his standard bat path, turn on 100 and keep it fair — was not lost on Varland, the Yankees who kept watching replays of the swing in the dugout, or the 47,399 at Yankee Stadium who bore witness.
“He made a really good pitch look really bad,” Varland said.
All postseason, Judge has been doing that. His 11 playoff hits lead MLB. For all of the ugliness of striking out with the bases loaded in Game 1 of this ALDS, his at-bats have been competitive all October. What he did to Varland was the culmination, precisely what the Yankees needed to see another day.
“You could feel it like in your bones,” Yankees reliever Tim Hill said. “It was crazy. It was amazing. I mean, just the pitch that he hit. All that. I’m sure my guy over there on the other side is questioning everything.”
Yes, pitching to Aaron Judge is the sort of thing of which existential crises are made. Before Tuesday, he had never hit a pitch 100 mph or faster for a home run. He hit 53 home runs this season — and none on a pitch outside the rulebook strike zone. Before Tuesday, the Blue Jays were 39-0 this season in games during which they led by at least five runs, too.
It’s impossible to overstate how out of character this was for Judge. He prides himself on good swing decisions because he knows how important they are. On pitches in the strike zone this season, Judge batted .400, 40 points higher than the next-best hitter. He slugged .867, 115 points higher than Shohei Ohtani. In his 214 plate appearances this year that ended on pitches outside of the rulebook zone, Judge batted .109 and drove in one run. All year. He didn’t have a single extra-base hit on such pitches.
One of the biggest home runs in the career of a two-time MVP favored to win a third this year was on something he never does. And if a willingness to exit his comfort zone and in the process do something that few in the history of baseball would be physically capable of doing doesn’t show that Judge isn’t just capable of success in October but destined for it, well, nothing would. And that’s fine with him. He knows emotion is the fuel that feeds the prognostications of inevitable letdown, not consistency or logic.
“I get yelled at for swinging at them out of the zone, but now I’m getting praised for it,” Judge said. “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.”
Inside the Yankees’ clubhouse, they’ve been yearning for Judge to have a game like this, to further validate their unflinching belief in him. The past is indisputable. Judge’s postseason OPS is more than 250 points lower than during the regular season. The Yankees haven’t won a championship during his 10 years in the big leagues. It’s real, and it’s regrettable, and it’s part of his legacy. It is also not the ink with which the future is written, which is why Aaron Boone, the Yankees’ manager with whom Judge is extremely close, said: “I don’t worry about Aaron and his state, even understanding all the outside noise.”
From Boone’s perch atop the dugout, he had the perfect view of the left-field foul pole. As the ball carried through the night, Judge stood near home plate. He didn’t pull a Carlton Fisk, trying to wave it fair. He just waited for it to land.
And when it did, helping raise his batting average this postseason to .500 and his OPS to 1.304 — nearly 300 points better than his career regular-season OPS, for the record — Judge uncorked a mini-bat flip and started his jog around the bases. When he got back to the dugout, teammates lined up and greeted him with a full high-five line.
“He’s the real deal, and as beloved a player as I’ve ever been around by his teammates,” Boone said. “They all admire him, look up to him, respect him, want his approval, and that’s just a credit to who Aaron is and how he goes about things.”
After slapping the last hand, Judge took one more step toward the end of the dugout. There awaited a television camera. Judge looked at it, pointed and turned around. He then pirouetted back and gave the audience one more stare. This was not an accident. Nothing Judge does is. It was a message, a reminder, a siren for everyone that didn’t believe.
The Yankees were still alive. And as long as that’s the case, he plans on carrying them. Even in October.
Ounahi gave Girona the lead before half-time, but Mbappe equalised from the penalty spot
French forward Kylian Mbappe earned Real Madrid a point from the penalty spot. Photo: AFP
BARCELONA:
Real Madrid were held to a third consecutive La Liga draw in a 1-1 tie at Girona on Sunday, allowing Barcelona to retain pole position.
Azzedine Ounahi fired the hosts into a surprise lead before half-time, with Kylian Mbappe earning Madrid a point from the penalty spot.
After Barcelona beat Alaves on Saturday to move top of the table, Madrid needed a victory at Girona to reclaim top spot but now sit second, a point behind the champions.
Earlier Alberto Moleiro helped Villarreal, third, move back ahead of fourth-place Atletico Madrid with a stoppage time winner in a 3-2 victory at Real Sociedad.
Real Madrid’s draw increases the pressure on Madrid coach Xabi Alonso, after recent rumours suggesting his future is insecure in the Madrid dugout.
“We are up there, it’s all very even, it’s a long season and we have to continue,” Alonso told reporters.
“I liked the reaction from the players. It was not enough to turn it around but we were close, and we have to continue with the unity we have, being self-critical enough, and wanting to win away from home.”
Madrid travel to face Athletic Bilbao on Wednesday for a fourth consecutive league match on the road, a game moved because of the club’s participation in the Spanish Super Cup in January.
“The table will be hard-fought, there will be lots of movement,” added Alonso.
Mbappe and Arda Guler fired off target for Madrid early on in a hotly-contested but scrappy clash, in front of a raucous home crowd.
French superstar Mbappe had a goal ruled out for handball moments before Morocco international Ounahi fired Girona ahead, rifling home from just inside the area to stun their illustrious visitors.
Catalan minnows Girona, 18th, have twice beaten Real Madrid at Montilivi since making their top flight debut in 2017 and for a while it looked like they were going to manage it again.
Real Madrid goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois made a stunning save to tip away Vanat’s drive across goal before Los Blancos fought back.
After having a goal disallowed for offside Vinicius was clumsily felled in the box by Hugo Rincon.
Mbappe smashed the resulting penalty into the bottom left corner past Gazzaniga’s dive for his 14th La Liga goal of the campaign.
“Absolutely not the result we wanted tonight, but the league is still on and very long,” wrote Mbappe on social media network Instagram.
“We need to change this dynamic and show who we are as a team.”
Keeping the pressure on
Villarreal playmaker Moleiro netted twice in the second half of a thrilling game in San Sebastian.
Villarreal secured their fifth consecutive league win to stay firmly in the Spanish title fight.
Ayoze Perez sent the visitors ahead midway through the first half and teed up Moleiro for Villarreal’s second soon after the break.
Real Sociedad fought back strongly, with Carlos Soler netting on the hour mark.
The Basque side ramped up the pressure and levelled in the final stages through a spectacular Ander Barrenetxea free-kick.
However, Moleiro had the final say, firing home in the 95th minute to maintain his team’s momentum.
“We had that little bit of luck to get three very important points, as important as they were difficult (to get),” said Marcelino.
“To get 32 points out of a possible 42 to me seems a stunning achievement.”
Elsewhere, Real Betis claimed a 2-0 win at Sevilla in a fiery derby clash which was briefly suspended after home fans threw bottles onto the pitch.
The referee ordered players from the field in the 87th minute at the Ramon Sanchez-Pizjuan stadium, with the match resuming 15 minutes later as Betis held on to fifth place.
Star batsman Virat Kohli slammed a record-extending 52nd one-day international century, scoring 135 off 120 balls to lead India to a thrilling 17-run victory over a determined South Africa in the first ODI on Sunday at Ranchi.
Kohli shared a second-wicket partnership of 136 runs with fellow stalwart Rohit Sharma, setting India on course for a competitive 349-8.
South Africa’s number eight, Corbin Bosch, made a valiant 67 off 51 balls, keeping his team in contention until the final moments. Entering the 50th over, the visitors needed 18 runs with one wicket left, but Bosch fell on the second ball, leaving South Africa all out for 332.
Earlier, Matthew Breetzke (72) and Marco Jansen (70) had forged a fighting 97-run stand for the sixth wicket, reviving the chase after South Africa slipped to 11-3 and 77-4.
Kuldeep Yadav was the standout bowler for India, taking 4-68, including a crucial double strike to dismiss Jansen and Breetzke in just three balls—a turning point in the match that helped India secure a 1-0 lead in the three-match series.
Kohli, now 37, raised his 83rd international century across all three formats with a boundary off Jansen, celebrating with the raucous home crowd.
“If you’ve played over 300 games and so much cricket, you know your reflexes and physical ability are there to bat long,” said Kohli, the player of the match.
“As long as you’re hitting the ball well and playing good cricket, it’s about being physically fit, mentally ready, and excited.”
Kohli mania
An enthusiastic Indian fan breached security and ran onto the field to touch Virat Kohli’s feet before being restrained.
Kohli now holds the record for the most ODI hundreds, with Indian legend Sachin Tendulkar second with 49.
In a single format, he also leads the list, while Tendulkar’s 51 hundreds came in Tests.
Kohli and 38-year-old Rohit Sharma, who scored 57, now only play ODIs after retiring from T20s and Tests.
Their presence strengthened India, led by KL Rahul in the absence of the injured Shubman Gill, following a 2-0 Test series whitewash against South Africa.
Rohit lost fellow opener Yashasvi Jaiswal early for 18, but Kohli walked in to a roar from a 38,000-strong crowd.
The pair steadied the innings before Rohit was trapped lbw by Marco Jansen.
Rohit hit three sixes in his 51-ball knock, taking his total to 352 sixes in ODIs, surpassing Pakistan’s Shahid Afridi (351).
Kohli accelerated after reaching his first century since February, hitting off-spinner Prenelan Subrayen for two fours and two sixes in the 39th over, scoring 21 runs. He eventually fell to Nandre Burger, caught by Ryan Rickelton, after hitting 11 fours and seven sixes.
KL Rahul contributed 60 off 56 balls, while Ravindra Jadeja added 32 off 20.
Corbin Bosch recorded his first ODI half-century, keeping South Africa in the contest, making the series opener an exciting match ahead of the second ODI in Raipur on Wednesday.
“Great to sit in the change room and watch the guys do their thing,” said stand-in skipper Aiden Markram. “Never losing the belief that we can pull off a rabbit from the hat.”
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The Denver Broncos and Washington Commanders’ matchup on Sunday featured several great plays, but the most impactful came in overtime.
It didn’t take long for the Broncos to score. Bo Nix made four completions, including a 41-yard pass to Evan Engram, and then handed the ball off to running back RJ Harvey, who scored from five yards out to take a 27-20 lead.
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Denver Broncos running back RJ Harvey celebrates after scoring during the second half of an NFL football game against the Washington Commanders Sunday, Nov. 30, 2025, in Landover, Maryland. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)
Washington Commanders quarterback Marcus Mariota (8) throws during the first half of an NFL football game against the Denver Broncos Sunday, Nov. 30, 2025, in Landover, Maryland. (AP Photo/Nick Wass)
Commanders quarterback Marcus Mariota created some late-game heroics. He found Deebo Samuel on 3rd-and-14 for a 38-yard gain. He connected with Terry McLaurin to bring the game to within one point. With nothing to lose, the Commanders decided to go for two and the win. Mariota dropped back to pass and his attempt to Jeremy McNichols was blocked by Broncos pass rusher Nik Bonitto.
The Broncos won the game, 27-26.
Nix finished 29-of-45 for 321 yards and a touchdown pass. Harvey had 35 rushing yards and two rushing touchdowns.
Harvey and Bonito’s overtime heroics were just two of a handful of great plays made during the game.
Nix did his best to pull out all the stops. He helped put Denver ahead before halftime when he threw a touchdown pass to Courtland Sutton as he was falling to the ground. He avoided the rush and his calf was about to hit the ground before he fired the ball to Sutton in the end zone.
Denver Broncos linebacker Alex Singleton (49) breaks up a pass intended for Washington Commanders tight end Zach Ertz (86) in the fourth quarter of the game at Northwest Stadium on Nov. 30, 2025. (Geoff Burke/Imagn Images)
BRONCOS’ BO NIX THROWS TD PASS WHILE FALLING TO GROUND IN STUNNING PLAY
Commanders wide receiver Treylon Burks likely said, “Watch this,” before he made his sensation play. Burks received a pass from Mariota in the end zone. He, somehow, made a one-handed catch for a crucial go-ahead touchdown.
It was Burks’ second career touchdown catch and it was one that the Commanders really needed.
Mariota was trying to keep the drive alive with under four minutes to go in the game. He found tight end Zach Ertz open in the middle of the field. The ball was thrown high and Ertz was able to grab the pass and bring it down.
Denver Broncos quarterback Bo Nix throws during the first half of an NFL football game against the Washington Commanders Sunday, Nov. 30, 2025, in Landover, Maryland. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)
Washington Commanders running back Chris Rodriguez Jr. (36) celebrates after scoring during the first half of an NFL football game against the Denver Broncos Sunday, Nov. 30, 2025, in Landover, Maryland. (AP Photo/Nick Wass)
Denver Broncos wide receiver Courtland Sutton (14) celebrates after catching a touchdown pass from quarterback Bo Nix, right, during the first half of an NFL football game against the Washington Commanders Sunday, Nov. 30, 2025, in Landover, Maryland. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)
But just as he was going to secure the catch, Broncos linebacker Alex Singleton knocked the ball loose and the pass was incomplete. Washington punted the ball away.
Singleton was playing in his first game since he underwent testicular cancer surgery three weeks ago. It was a big play, but it came just a few minutes too early as Mariota would lead the Commanders down the field to tie the game.
Mariota played as well as one could play in a hard-fought game. He was 28-of-50 with 294 passing yards and two touchdown passes. He also had 55 yards on the ground.
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Ertz finished with 10 catches for 106 yards. McLaurin had seven catches for 96 yards.
Denver improved to 10-2 with the win and have won nine straight games. Washington fell to 3-9.
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