The Yankees have the matchup they expected and the home-field edge they wanted. What they still don’t have is a clean answer on Aaron Judge.
Boston is set to walk into Yankee Stadium on Tuesday night for Game 1 of the American League Wild Card Series, and New York will host the full best-of-three round after finishing 93-68 when Sunday’s finale against Baltimore was canceled. The Yankees also handled the Red Sox in the season series, 7-6, including a 4-2 mark in the Bronx.
But the biggest lineup question hanging over the series is Judge, whose latest injury has turned into a roster call with real consequences. He has appeared in just 66 games this season after missing most of the summer with a fractured right rib, then came back Sept. 8 without a minor league rehab assignment. In MLB’s final regular-season data, he hit .241 with 18 home runs and 41 RBIs.
That return lasted only seven games before another setback hit. Judge felt something in his lower right leg against Minnesota on Sept. 16, and an MRI later revealed a strain in the soleus muscle.
The Yankees put him on the 10-day injured list, retroactive to Sept. 17, and Aaron Boone later called the strain moderate. Judge then received a platelet-poor plasma injection Sept.
By Sunday morning, Judge still had not gotten back to hitting, running or any other baseball work. Boone said his activity had been limited to rehab, plyometric drills and treadmill work.
“Just still rehabbing stuff. Started to do some plyos.
I know he was on the treadmill a little bit yesterday. So not a whole lot yet,” Boone said.
The Yankees have until Tuesday morning to turn in their Wild Card roster, and Boone made clear the decision will go right down to that deadline.
“Yeah, I mean, look, it’s Sunday. We’ll obviously get to Tuesday morning where we have to enter [our roster], and we’ll just kind of see what we have. Along with the trainers and medical [staff], we’ll make a decision,” Boone said.
There’s also a tricky wrinkle in the postseason rules. Teams must submit a 26-man roster before each round, and while an injury replacement can be requested during a series, any player removed for injury is done for the rest of that round and the next one too.
That makes this a much bigger gamble than simply asking whether Judge can help against Boston. Carry him if he’s not ready, and the Yankees lose a bench spot in a short series. Leave him off, or lose him later if the calf doesn’t cooperate, and the decision can carry into the AL Division Series.
Even a limited Judge changes the way the Red Sox have to play it. But the Yankees are still dealing with a player who has not yet resumed baseball activity, and in a round that could be over in two games, there isn’t much room for delay.
Judge has said he wants to play the field if he comes back, and that matters because New York already has multiple players in the mix for first base and designated hitter duties. Ben Rice, Paul Goldschmidt and Luis García Jr. are options there, while Giancarlo Stanton could be used as a pinch-hitter as he works back from his own calf issues.
That makes Judge’s ability to run and defend even more important. A DH-only return would narrow the Yankees’ choices further. A return to right field would give Boone more flexibility, but as of Sunday the club still had not tested Judge in game-like running or hitting.
“We got a great team,” Judge said earlier in the week. “We got a great opportunity in front of us.
The future is not guaranteed, good or bad. So my job is to do whatever I can to get back, and things are feeling great.”
The timing is tight. A moderate, second-degree calf strain is generally associated with a three-to-six-week recovery window before full activity, according to general guidance cited by the Boston Sports Medicine & Research Institute. Judge is trying to beat that clock with no regular-season games left to use as a ramp-up.
There’s another concern, too: MLB data shows Judge went 4-for-23 after returning from the rib injury before the calf issue stopped him again.
The Yankees have the rest of their October plan in place. Cam Schlittler will start Game 1 at 8 p.m. ET Tuesday, Max Fried is lined up for Game 2 and Gerrit Cole is slated for a possible Game 3.
Now it comes down to whether New York believes Judge’s upside is worth the roster spot before it knows exactly how much of him it can actually use.
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