Aaron Judge hits two homers as Yankees top White Sox to move into AL East tie

A day that might have been threatened by a hangover instead witnessed a potential takeover.

Fresh off a champagne-spraying, playoff-clinching celebration, the Yankees showered, freshened up and charged up the division behind their captain and their ace.

Aaron Judge’s 50th and 51st home runs of the year and one last regular-season gem from Max Fried keyed an 8-1 destruction of the White Sox in The Bronx on Wednesday. Combined with the Red Sox winning in Toronto, the Yankees and Blue Jays are all tied up atop the AL East with four games to play.

Toronto holds the tiebreaker over the Yankees (90-68), so the Yankees are essentially a game behind with one more to go against Chicago before three against the Orioles. The Blue Jays will finish up their series with the Red Sox and then host the Rays.

Nonetheless, the Yankees, who insisted Tuesday they were not content with just any playoff slot — and backed that insistence by spraying much more champagne than they drank in the victorious clubhouse — suddenly own a share of first place for the first time since July 2.

Aaron Boone’s bunch was amid a six-game skid nearly three months ago when it was overtaken during the same June and July swoon that seems to strike every season.

But a deadline-strengthened club has come alive and won seven of eight, 10 of 13 and 21 of 29 while the Blue Jays have perfected their Mets imitation.

The Yankees have awakened behind quality starting pitching, and Fried (seven innings, one run on four hits and two walks) put his finishing touches on a first season in pinstripes that will earn him AL Cy Young Award votes. The lefty, who began and finished brilliantly, ends his season with a 2.86 ERA in 195 ¹/₃ innings and will be their Game 1 starter in their first postseason series.

They have awakened behind improved defensive work, like Paul Goldschmidt avoiding a broken bat from Colson Montgomery while catching his line drive and immediately slapping a tag on Miguel Vargas for a double play to end the top of the sixth.

They have awakened behind a deep and powerful lineup that flexed in the third inning. A sizzling Ben Rice tripled and scored on a Goldschmidt single. After Jazz Chisholm Jr.’s double — which saw Goldschmidt truck through a stop sign from Luis Rojas and score — the Yankees had a four-run cushion.

And they have awakened because they house the best offensive player in the sport in their order.

Down a run in the bottom of the second, the Yankees put two runners on base and watched Judge do the rest in a swing both historic and helpful.

On a first-pitch sinker from Jonathan Cannon, Judge cranked the go-ahead three-run shot into the home bullpen to become the fourth player in major league history with four 50-homer campaigns. His company: Babe Ruth, Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa. No player has five.

Judge, who never seems to be done, then delivered the second end of back-to-back homers with Trent Grisham in the eighth, 37,751 fans raining down sporadic “MVP” chants through the end of the game.

Judge, who blasted 52 homers in 2017, 62 in ’22 and 58 in ’24, has four more regular-season games to pad his total and pad a case for a third MVP in five seasons.

There was not a more drenched player in the clubhouse Tuesday. There seems never to be a more clear-eyed player at the plate.

“Hit pause to kind of appreciate where we got to [Tuesday] night,” Boone said before the game. “But I think [we] really understand the bigger picture and where we want to go.”