Rain delay prevents Aaron Judge from hitting his 61st prime-time homer

Last night, during prime time, the New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox faced off and the fans had only one man: Aaron Judge.

In New York, it’s obvious: when the Judge strikes, everyone holds their breath. The crowd is so involved like never before.

And when he’s done knocking? People get up to go eat or go to the bathroom, even if the Yankees offense is still on the field.

We feel that it is starting to work on the outfielder (who is also aiming for the Triple Crown and who is in a position to win it), who has not hit a homer since September 20. He seems preoccupied with all the attention, which is normal.

And yesterday, we had further proof of Judge’s appeal when during the Sunday evening match, a rain delay prevented the match from being played.

With the score 2-0 for New York after six innings (and #99 was scheduled to bat), not only was the pitch soggy, but there were thunderstorms.

It was getting late, the Red Sox were heading back to Boston and the Yankees were heading to Toronto. But still, even if Boston has no advantage in waiting for the temperature to calm down, the game was on hold.

Why? Because of Aaron Judge, who had gone on base twice, but hadn’t hit a long ball yet. Without him, the end of the match would have been announced a big hour earlier. Everyone there agreed with that.

I will say this: If Aaron Judge had 50 homers rather than 60 homers right now, this game would be called. No doubt in my mind. The field is soaked and both teams have to travel tonight for games tomorrow night in Toronto (Yankees) and Boston (Orioles at Red Sox).

—Joel Sherman (@Joelsherman1) September 26, 2022

After all, the Yankees’ next three games are in Toronto and one can understand MLB wanting home runs #61 and #62 to be hit in New York and not the Queen City.

But yesterday, it was bordering on the ridiculous. That’s why the managers finally decided that it was time, around 10:45 p.m., to put an end to everyone’s wait.

No, that’s not what MLB wanted, but hey.

In the end, this defeat officially eliminated the Red Sox from the playoff race. They are the first team in the American Division East to suffer such a fate in 2022.

The Yankees, on the other hand, have a magic number of 2 to take control of the division. A victory over the Blue Jays (who have a magic number of 4 to qualify for the playoffs) on Monday would allow them to secure the division title.

With ten games on the clock, it will be in the pocket and it is the goal of the star of the Yankees, who wants to come into force in the playoffs.

• Here is the National standings.

• The Dodgers are the National champions.

• Nestor Cortes Jr. was good at it all.

Six shutdown innings for Cortes. That gives him a 2.56 ERA in 151 innings. The last time a Yankee had lower with at least 150 innings — Rudy May, 2.46 in 1980. The second best performance by a Yankee this year after, well, you know who after.

—Joel Sherman (@Joelsherman1) September 26, 2022

• Ouch. He is right, colleague Berrouard, that said.

• He works for his job in 2023, him.