The Yankees will open their AL Wild Card series against the Red Sox on Tuesday night without Aaron Judge on the roster.
New York hosts Boston in Game 1 of a matchup that is a rematch of the Yankees’ 2025 AL Wild Card round victory over their longtime rivals. This time around, though, the Yankees will have to get through it without their captain.
Judge’s 2026 season was derailed by injuries after he followed up his second straight AL MVP award and third overall with a year limited to 66 regular season games. That total was the fewest of his career outside of his 27-game debut stretch in 2016 and the pandemic-shortened 2020 season.
The 34-year-old missed all of June, July and August, along with the first week of September, because of a fractured top right rib. He came back on Sept. 8, played in seven games, and then went down again with a calf strain on Sept. 16.
After that injury, Yankees manager Aaron Boone said the team was not expecting Judge to be available for the first round of the playoffs. Judge pushed back on that last week, saying he planned to play in the Wild Card series. Boone said Monday that Judge was " making progress" and that the Yankees would "continue to see where he is at."
Game 1 is set for Tuesday at 8 p.m. ET.
New York will send AL Cy Young contender and Massachusetts native Cam Schlittler to the mound to start the series, while Boston will counter with left-handed rookie Payton Tolle.
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Yankees Just Gave Red Sox Fans More Motivation Before The Wild Card
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Across the diamond, Aaron Boones comments about already weighing pitching strategies for the Divisional round only add a little extra fuel to an already charged playoff meeting. Whether Boone intended it or not, it gives Boston plenty of bulletin-board material heading into a Yankees-Red Sox showdown where the first job is simple: survive the opening round and make sure the conversation about later series gets cut short. [Read more 🡒]
Cam Schlittler Just Made Yankees-Red Sox Game 1 Even More Heated
The playoff stage at Yankee Stadium was already going to bring plenty of edge, but Cam Schlittler has helped turn the opener into something even more combustible. The Yankees starter has been trading public jabs with Red Sox fans online, leaning into the noise instead of ducking it, and that has only sharpened the atmosphere around a rivalry that hardly needed extra fuel.
For Boston, the matchup matters because it is not just another October game, it is the first look at a series that now comes with a little more bite. Schlittler is set to be one of the key figures in the spotlight, and his duel with Red Sox starter Payton Tolle adds another layer to a night already heavy with history, tension and the kind of crowd energy that can tilt a series before it really gets going. [Read more 🡒]
Red Sox Rookie Suddenly Enters Yankees Wild Card Pitching Debate
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Manager Chad Tracy still has a few pitching calls to make depending on how the series unfolds, and Bennetts outing only adds to the conversation. For a Red Sox staff that already has its starters mapped out, the bigger question may be how much trust Bennett has earned for October leverage, and whether his unexpected late-season push can turn into a real postseason role against their biggest rival. [Read more 🡒]