Aaron Judge Hit His First Home Run Since May as the Yankees Clinched a Record Sixty First Postseason Berth
A three run shot at Target Field ended a drought of almost four months and secured a ninth playoff place in ten years for New York.
The New York Yankees beat the Minnesota Twins 8-3 at Target Field on 14 September 2026 to clinch a 61st postseason berth, a Major League record, in front of a crowd of 24,204.
Aaron Judge hit a three-run home run off A.J. Minter, his first home run since 24 May, a gap of roughly three and a half months. He had missed 84 games with a fractured rib and had gone 3 for 20 with 11 strikeouts since returning.
The difference he makes is stark. Without Judge this season the Yankees were 46-39 and averaged 3.93 runs a game; with him they were 40-24 and averaged 5.17. The manager Aaron Boone said Judge had for the most part been swinging at the right pitches, taking pitches he should and not chasing a lot.
The win was the Yankees' ninth playoff qualification in ten years and took them to 87-63, four games behind the Tampa Bay Rays, who lead their division on 90-59 and clinched their own berth on 11 September. New York have used eighteen players on the injured list this season, among them the second baseman Jazz Chisholm Jr, and are seeking a first World Series title since 2009.
Elsewhere the same night, the Los Angeles Dodgers clinched a fourteenth consecutive postseason appearance by beating the Cincinnati Reds 4-1, with Tarik Skubal throwing seven scoreless innings and striking out nine.