Aaron Judge, Luke Voit discuss Yankees’ Wild Card victory

The Yankees defeated the Oakland Athletics in the 2018 American League Wild Card Game last night. The 7-2 victory extended the Bombers’ postseason run, placing New York in the ALDS. Critical moments of the game came in the form of Luis Severino overwhelming the batters he faced, Aaron Judge launching a first-inning home run, and Luke Voit legging out a two-run triple.

The game proved a total team effort, with many players stepping up and contributing to the success. After the game, several of them spoke with members of the media, looking back on how they pulled off the win. These are the highlights:

Aaron Judge on the Yankee Stadium crowd

“I was already excited from the National Anthem on. The crowd was on their feet all night. They were chanting the whole game. You know, Severino went out there in the top of the first and was 1-2-3. So, I knew right after that it was going to be a good first inning. [Andrew McCutchen] went up there and had a fantastic at-bat, allowed us to see a couple pitches, and I was just trying to do my job.”

Luke Voit on his baserunning

“I was so out of breath still. When Phil [Nevins] was like ‘Go, go, go!’, those first three steps, I felt like I had run 10 gassers. My legs were so heavy, but luckily enough, I could find a way to slide around it. And God dang, I think because I was screaming so much, I lost all my oxygen...I don’t know how I got it done. But I hit a triple and I scored on a sac fly. Who would have thought me doing that in a game?”

Giancarlo Stanton on if his first postseason game was like he imagined

“It was. This place was crazy tonight, everything I would have expected and more... That [eighth inning home run] was awesome. I didn’t start us off like Judgey did, but it was still great! He did great tonight, Sevy did great. That’s all we could ask for.”

Luis Severino breaks down his start

Aaron Boone examines the game from start to finish