CLEVELAND — Even as beer dripped down his back and he wiped champagne out of his eyes, Aaron Judge had not forgotten the motivating heartbreak that he experienced seven years ago.
Falling one win short of reaching the World Series as a rookie in 2017 still was on his mind in the hour after the Yankees finished off the Guardians with a 5-2 victory Saturday night in Game 5 of the ALCS to get their captain to his long-awaited first World Series.
“Even as sweet as this is, it’s still with me,” Judge said. “But we’re going to enjoy this.”
After a 58-homer regular season, Judge has taken a backseat in the playoffs to Giancarlo Stanton, who hit four home runs en route to ALCS MVP, and Juan Soto, whose tiebreaking three-run 10th-inning home run all but clinched the Yankees’ first pennant since 2009.
“You win with good people and good players,” Judge said. “That’s what it comes down to. You can have different formulas and different ideas … but we knew it was something special.”
Judge went 3-for-18 (.167) in the series and 0-for-4 in the clincher.
He continues to strike out at a rate incongruent with his regular-season numbers and is one of the highest in postseason history.
The soon-to-be two-time American League MVP’s one would-be signature moment — an eighth-inning game-tying home run off closer Emmanuel Clase in Game 3 — was washed away when the Yankees bullpen blew that game.
None of that was on his mind as he held the American League championship trophy that eluded the Yankees in past postseason failures.
Worse yet, the Yankees missed the playoffs completely last season.
“I don’t know how to describe it. It’s just so special,” Judge said. “You just look back at all the hard work and guys showing up in [spring training] after a disappointing season last season. That’s the first thing I thought of. That’s what I go back to.”
Of course, Yankees teams — and captains — are judged on more than just American League championships.
The Yankees have four more games to win against either the Mets or Dodgers.
Follow The Post’s coverage of the Yankees in the postseason:
“We didn’t come here for this,” Judge said. “We came here for the ultimate prize.”
It seemed only fitting to Judge that the Yankees took a hard road to the World Series.
Sure, a 4-1 series doesn’t sound that difficult, but the three games played at Progressive Field all were decided in the winning team’s final at-bat.
“You make friends in good times, but adversity builds a family,” Judge said. “It builds a trust that we’re going to have each other’s backs in good times and bad. That’s what we went through [in 2024]. I know we won our division, but we went through some tough times and had to answer some tough questions. Those tough times build moments like this.”
