Judge’s HR fuels Yanks: ‘Ghosts were pulling’ to CF
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Jeff Passan, ESPN
NEW YORK — Aaron Judge, the best hitter on the planet, finally looked the part in Game 2 of the American League Championship Series. Five postseason games of struggles gave way to one giant swing Tuesday night, when Judge’s two-run home run capped a 6-3 win that gave the New York Yankees a 2-0 series lead against the Cleveland Guardians.
While the Yankees scored three early runs to capitalize on sloppy play from the typically tidy Guardians, Judge’s home run — a 414-foot blast to center field off Cleveland reliever Hunter Gaddis in the seventh inning — energized the crowd of 47,054 at Yankee Stadium and served as a reminder that the future AL MVP is more than capable of providing memorable October moments.
“You never know on these windy, chilly nights what that ball is going to do when you hit the center here,” Judge said, “but the ghosts were pulling out there to Monument Park, that’s for sure.”
The Yankees had won four of their first five playoff games with little production from their captain. While Judge did walk five times, he had managed only two hits in 15 at-bats this postseason before Tuesday. In one night, he tripled his previous RBI output, and a three-hit night from Gleyber Torres and five hits from the bottom three in the lineup made up for a substandard outing from Gerrit Cole.
In a game that featured a pair of errors from Cleveland, two awful baserunning mistakes in the same inning from New York, and a combined 2-for-17 effort with runners in scoring position, the Yankees cobbled together enough offense and made pitches at opportune times.
They scored in the first after shortstop Brayan Rocchio dropped a sky-high pop-up from Judge that allowed Torres to score and added a pair of runs in the second off Guardians starter Tanner Bibee, who lasted only 1.1 innings and allowed five hits. Cleveland fireman Cade Smith inherited a bases-loaded jam in the second after manager Stephen Vogt intentionally walked Juan Soto to load the bases and face Judge, whose sacrifice fly extended New York’s lead to 3-0.
Cole, the Yankees’ ace who clinched a division-series win against Kansas City in his last start, struggled with his control, allowing 10 baserunners over 4.1 innings. He left with the bases loaded in the fifth inning, and reliever Clay Holmes allowed one run to score via a force out before striking out Austin Hedges to end the threat.
“We had traffic all night tonight,” Vogt said. “We do what we do. We get on base and make things happen. We just didn’t get a big hit with runners in scoring position tonight. We’re one swing of the bat away from taking the lead in that game. We’re one swing of the bat from being right back in it. That is who we are. We don’t quit. We just need to keep being us.”
As the series heads to Cleveland for at least two and potentially three games, who the Guardians have been isn’t enough. New York tacked on another run in the sixth, when Anthony Rizzo — in his second game back after he broke two fingers Sept. 28 — doubled in shortstop Anthony Volpe. Both finished the game with a pair of hits ahead of No. 9 hitter Alex Verdugo, who drove in a run with double.
“Our bottom of the order could be the top of our order,” Rizzo said. “Our top of the order is so potent and so good. We know our role down at the bottom. We just want to get it to the next guy, get it to the next guy, and that’s been our mentality.”
Torres’ third hit of the night helped get it to Judge in the seventh, when he ambushed a high, 95 mph fastball from Gaddis. Only once this season had Gaddis allowed a home run on a top-of-the-zone fastball, but then no hitter in the game is capable of doing damage like Judge, who finished the season hitting .322/.458/.701 with 58 home runs and 144 RBIs.
“I’ve been booed here plenty of times. There’s been a lot of legends that played here that have been booed. It’s just part of it. You can’t focus on that. You’ve got to go out there. They want to see you win. They want to see you do well. You’ve just got to focus on what you can control. What I can control is what I do in the box and what I do on the field.”
Aaron Judge
“The preparation he does, who he is as a person, who he is as a teammate, it’s so easy to root for him,” Rizzo said. “In these games, it really doesn’t matter who it is, how excited we are for everyone, but when Aaron does stuff, it’s extra special just because he’s such a special human being.”
Judge’s postseason issues had been minimized because his teammates had played so well in the previous five games. He never wavered from his approach, which sounds simple and cliched — take things one at-bat at a time — but has led to historic results. Though his career postseason numbers pale to those in the regular season, Judge continued to tune out any naysayers.
“I’ve been booed here plenty of times,” he said. “There’s been a lot of legends that played here that have been booed. It’s just part of it. You can’t focus on that. You’ve got to go out there. They want to see you win. They want to see you do well. You’ve just got to focus on what you can control. What I can control is what I do in the box and what I do on the field.”
What he did on the field Tuesday was far more in line with what Judge expects of himself. And when closer Luke Weaver finished out the game after allowing a ninth-inning home run to Jose Ramirez, it reinforced that these Yankees might be cut from a different cloth than those of recent vintage.
“This is a really good baseball team we’re playing,” Vogt said. “We’ve known that all year. We know we have our work cut out for us, but that’s who we are. We thrive under this, and we’re going to be ready to go.”
Former Heisman Trophy winner Eddie George was named the next head coach at Bowling Green on Sunday.
George agreed to a five-year deal, sources told ESPN.
His hiring came two days after George, who spent the past four seasons as the head coach at Tennessee State, was one of three finalists to interview for the position.
“Today, we add another transformative leader to this campus in Eddie George,” Derek van der Merwe, Bowling Green’s vice president for athletics strategy, said in a news release. “Our students are getting someone who has chased success in sports, art, business, and leadership. As our head football coach, he will pursue excellence in all aspects of competition in the arena. More importantly, beyond the arena, he will exemplify what excellence looks like in the classroom, in life, in business, and in relationships with people.”
George emerged as a successful head coach in the FCS at Tennessee State. This past season, he led the program to the FCS playoffs and a share of the OVC-Big South title, the school’s first league title in football since 1999.
“I am truly excited to be the head coach at Bowling Green State University,” George said in the news release. “Bowling Green is a wonderful community that has embraced the school and the athletics department. We are eager to immerse ourselves in the community and help build this program to the greatness it deserves. I am overwhelmed with excitement and joy for the possibilities this opportunity holds.”
George returns to the state where he rushed for 3,768 yards over four seasons as a running back for Ohio State, winning the Heisman Trophy in 1995.
George went on to star in the NFL for nine seasons, rushing for more than 10,000 yards. He was a 1996 first-round pick of the Houston Oilers and made his name by playing seven seasons in Nashville for the Titans, becoming the franchise’s all-time leading rusher. The Titans retired his jersey in 2019.
Tennessee State hired George despite his lack of traditional coaching experience, with the school president at the time calling the move “the right choice and investment” for the future of TSU. George has worked as an actor and entrepreneur and earned an MBA from Northwestern.
George paid back the administration’s faith by building Tennessee State into a winner, including a 9-4 season in 2024 that culminated in its first FCS playoff appearance since 2013. Tennessee State lost to Montana in the first round.
George’s hire at TSU continued the trend of former star players being hired at historically Black colleges and universities. Jackson State made the biggest splash in hiring Deion Sanders, who went on to a successful stint at Colorado. Michael Vick’s hire at Norfolk State and DeSean Jackson’s hire at Delaware State continued that trend in the current hiring cycle.
George will replace Scot Loeffler, who left the school to become the quarterbacks coach of the Philadelphia Eagles.
Bowling Green has become one of the top coaching springboards of this generation, with Urban Meyer, Dave Clawson and Dino Babers all advancing from the school to power conference jobs. Loeffler went 27-41 over six seasons, a run that included bowl appearances in each of the past three seasons.
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Eli Lederman
Defensive end prospect Richard Wesley, one of the nation’s top recruits in the 2027 high school class, has reclassified into the 2026 cycle and will sign with a college program later this year, he told ESPN on Friday.
A 6-foot-5, 245-pound pass rusher from Chatsworth, California, Wesley completed his sophomore season at Sierra Canyon (California) High School this past fall. His move marks the latest high-profile reclassification in the current cycle, following wide receiver Ethan “Boobie” Feaster (No. 21 in the ESPN Junior 300), tight end Mark Bowman (No. 23), running back Ezavier Crowell (No. 29) and cornerback Havon Finney Jr. (not ranked) in the line of the elite former 2027 prospects to reclassify into the 2026 class since the start of the new year.
ESPN has not yet released its prospect rankings for the 2027 class, but Wesley is expected to slot in among the nation’s top five defensive line recruits in 2026. He took unofficial visits to Oregon and Texas A&M in January and holds a long list of offers across the SEC, Big Ten and ACC.
Following his reclassification, Wesley told ESPN he will take trips to Ohio State, Georgia, Texas, Miami, Oregon, USC, Ole Miss and Texas A&M across March and April before finalizing a slate of official visits for later this spring.
“I really can’t say what the future holds for me,” Wesley said. “I’m excited for more opportunities to go talk with these coaches and see what they’re about. I’m really open to everyone that’s offered me and who really wants me in their program.”
Wesley emerged as one of the nation’s most coveted high school defenders after he totaled 55 tackles and 10 sacks in his freshman season at Sierra Canyon in 2023. He followed this past fall 44 tackles (16 for loss) with nine sacks and four forced fumbles as a sophomore.
The rash of reclassifications into the 2026 class comes after a series of top prospects opted to reclassify during the 2025 recruiting cycle, headlined by five-star recruits Julian Lewis (Colorado) and Jahkeem Stewart (USC) and Texas A&M quarterback signee Brady Hart. Wesley told ESPN that his decision to enter college early was motivated by conversations with college coaches and his belief that he will be physically ready to compete at the next level by the time his junior season ends later this year.
“All the colleges I talk to have shown me their recruiting boards and told me I’m at the top of their list at the position regardless of class,” Wesley said. “They’ve told me good things and they’ve told me the things I need to work on. I need to work on my violence. I’ve been grinding at that every single day.”
Wesley now joins a talented 2026 defensive end class that features 11 prospects ranked inside the top 100 in the ESPN Junior 300.
Five-star edge rusher Zion Elee, ESPN’s No. 1 defender in the class, has been committed to Maryland since this past December and closed his recruitment last month. JaReylan McCoy, a five-star prospect who decommitted from LSU in February, and four-stars Jake Kreul (No. 19 overall) and Nolan Wilson (No. 54 overall) stand among the cycle’s top uncommitted defensive ends.
IRVING, Texas — The Big 12 has moved six of its conference football games to Friday nights next fall, along with another matchup of league teams that won’t count in the standings.
Those were among the 10 games involving Big 12 teams selected Friday by the league’s television partners, ESPN and Fox, for Friday night broadcasts. There will be two games on three of those nights.
On the opening weekend of the season, Baylor will host SEC team Auburn and Colorado will be home against ACC team Georgia Tech on Aug. 29. Arizona plays at Arizona State and Utah is at Kansas on Nov. 28, the day after Thanksgiving.
There will also be two games Sept. 12, with Colorado at Houston and Kansas State at Arizona. That matchup of Wildcats won’t count in the Big 12 standings since it was part of a preexisting schedule agreement between the two teams before the league expanded to 16 teams last year.
The other four Friday night games are Tulsa at Oklahoma State (Sept. 19), TCU at Arizona State (Sept. 26), West Virginia at BYU (Oct. 3) and Houston at UCF (Nov. 7).
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