Aaron Judge breaks silence after joining Babe Ruth with fourth 50-HR season as Yankees catch Blue Jays in AL East

Aaron Judge stepped into the box on Wednesday night with the Bronx buzzing, representing the New York Yankees with his familiar stance hinting at what was to come. A few pitches later, the crowd at Yankee Stadium roared as he launched his 50th home run of the season, a shot that marked yet another milestone in a career already filled with historic moments.

The Yankees’ captain wasn’t finished. In the eighth inning, Judge added his 51st homer, sealing an 8-1 victory over the White Sox and pushing New York back into a tie with theToronto Blue Jays atop the American League East. It was the kind of night that tied together team urgency with personal accomplishment, linking Judge’s bat to the franchise’s larger October ambitions.

Yet, when asked to reflect on joining Babe Ruth, Mark McGwire, and Sammy Sosa as the only players in history with four separate 50-homer seasons, Judge kept his focus forward. “I can’t. If you sit back and admire it, you’re going to stop your momentum,” he said, according to MLB.com. “There’s a lot of work that needs to be done. Hopefully I have a long career here and we do some special things. We can talk about it at the end.”

How much does Judge’s power shift the AL East outlook?

The Yankees (90-68) have now won seven of their last eight games, matching Toronto for first place in the division. The Blue Jays, who own the tiebreaker, have lost six of their past seven, creating a tense race in the season’s final stretch. Judge admitted he follows it closely: “When I go home, I turn on MLB Network, check all the scores, see what’s happening. It’s pretty amazing.”

Can New York keep its focus through the final push?

Just a night after celebrating their ninth postseason berth in ten years, the Yankees showed no signs of complacency. Judge credited his teammates for staying locked in. “Walking through here throughout the day, everybody just had a focused, determined look in their eye,” he said.

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He added: “They knew that we punched our ticket into the postseason and have an opportunity to go back to the World Series, but there’s still a greater goal ahead of us in the last couple of games.”