Coming off an MVP-winning 2024 campaign, it was apparent that New York Yankees captain Aaron Judge would likely need to sustain that level of production if his team was going to make a return to the postseason.

Judge hit his first home run as part of a historic start for New York. The Yankees took Nestor Cortes, who pitched for the organization in 2019 and from 2021-24, deep on three consecutive pitches to begin the game, with Judge blasting the final home run of the sequence.