Aaron Judge needed No. 62 more than he realized

It took until Game 161, but Aaron Judge blasted his 62nd home run of the season, breaking a tie with Roger Maris to surpass the 61-year-old record for most home runs in a single season in AL history. It’s a remarkable feat — the likes of which we may not see for a generation — and the perfect conclusion to one of the greatest offensive seasons in baseball history. However, for Judge and the Yankees, that home run served a far more important purpose than putting him in the record books.

The plain truth is that Judge was pressing at the plate as soon as he hit number 60 to tie Babe Ruth and put him one away from Maris. We heard manager Aaron Boone repeat ad nauseam in the 14 games between home…