The New York Yankees will have to survive their American League wild-card series against the Boston Red Sox without Aaron Judge.
The reigning American League MVP will not play in the best-of-three set because
of a moderate right calf strain and he was left off their roster when the Yankees submitted it Tuesday, Sept. 29.
Judge was playing in just his seventh game after returning from a rib fracture when he suffered the injury Sept. 16 in Minnesota. He aimed to make it back for the wild-card round – Games 2 and 3, if necessary, will be Wednesday and Thrusday at Yankee Stadium – and Boone initially said it was highly unlikely Judge would be available. The 6-7 slugger pushed back on that assertion, and Boone noted that "hopefully we move on. His body will tell us that."
Indeed, if the Yankees are to make a deep playoff run, they'll potentially have 19 more games before winning a World Series title. Trotting out a compromised Judge could exacerbate the injury.
Judge played in just 66 games this season, the lowest total of his career and coming off a stint of playing at least 152 games in three of the past four years. He hit 18 home runs in 285 plate appearances.
In his absence, the club will aim to rotate a group of players among the outfield positions, first base and DH. Trade acquisition Heliot Ramos will likely join center fielder Trent Grisham - recovering from a hamstring strain himself - and Cody Bellinger in the outfield, while right-handed hitting Paul Goldschmidt should get a pair of starts at first base against Red Sox left-handers Payton Tolle and Ranger Suarez, shifting 41-homer lefty swinger Ben Rice to DH.
The Yankees will attempt to defeat the Red Sox in the wild-card round for the second consecutive year. They were pushed to a third game in 2025 before Cam Schlittler threw eight shutout innings in the decisive game. Schlittler will start Game 1 on Tuesday.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Aaron Judge out for AL wild-card series in crushing blow to Yankees
