Prime Time

Aaron Judge crushed Shane Bieber's fourth pitch of the night. 411 feet later, it was bouncing off the floor of the left field seats at Progressive Field. It brought home DJ LeMahieu, who singled leading off the game. An instant 2-0 lead, as the Yankees, behind a 13-strikeout performance from Gerrit Cole, rolled to a 12-3 victory in the opener of their Wild Card round series. 

Cole was dominant, while Bieber, the likely AL Cy Young Winner, was shaken. He departed after Gleyber Torres' 5th inning homer, which boosted the score to 7-2. But let's swing back to Judge.

The Yankees "face of the franchise" had not looked right after returning from a lingering calf injury, swinging softly and contributing six singles and a double, with just two RBI over his final ten games.

Then Tuesday night, the switch flipped and Judge was back to being NUMBER 99. That home run was his only hit of the night. But it made a loud statement, getting  these hot-and-cold Yankees off to the best possible start,

It underscores why, with the TV partners helping shape the schedule, every Yankees post-season game starts at 7pm Eastern. In this era of October baseball, Derek Jeter, Bernie Williams and Mariano Rivera reinforced the notion that the Yankees were must-see TV. Aaron Judge, at least for one night, picked up the baton and carried it forward.