New York Yankees captain and slugger Aaron Judge has a lot of accomplishments under his belt. He just secured a trip to his seventh All-Star game, he holds the AL record for single-season home runs and he's a three-time MVP.

It wasn't a conscious decision made by the best hitter on the planet to swing early and often. You can't argue with the results, though.

You wouldn’t have known it from the way Aaron Judge swung the bat on Sunday, but his back bothered him prior to the Yankees’ 12-5, rubber match win over the Athletics. “I was just a little banged up pregame,” Judge said, downplaying the ache after Aaron Boone briefly mentioned it in his postgame press conference.