MLB.com | Bryan Hoch: Yankee captain Aaron Judge recently tied the iconic Yogi Berra for fifth place on the Yankees all-time home run list with 358. Sole possession of fifth place, and fourth for that matter, are near certainties before the 2025 regular season concludes. But Judge’s preternatural power lends itself to a simple yet crazy question. How high can he go? The top three Yankee home run hitters of all-time are the stuff of Homeric legend. Ruth. Mantle. Gehrig. As recently as 2021, you’d
be forgiven for thinking their hallowed numbers were out of reach for any current Yankee. But Judge’s historical heater has changed that. For Hoch’s part, he’s bullish on where Judge could end up. I won’t spoil his prediction. Read and find out.
The Athletic | Brendan Kuty ($): George Carlin famously talked about the seven words you can’t say on television. Alas, the surname of 2025’s breakout Yankee flamethrower leaves announcers constantly on the verge of uttering taboo. Inevitably perhaps, someone has already slipped. Ryan Ruocco, come on down. In the 11th inning of the Yankees’ recent game against the Chicago White Sox, Ruocco stumbled over the pronunciation of Cam Schlitter. Ruocco remarked that it was bound to happen eventually. His peers, including Michael Kay and Dave Sims, acknowledged the difficulty of not slipping up.
NJ.com | Randy Miller: The Yankees were furious after Wednesday night’s loss to Houston. The main target of their ire? The umpires assigned to this series against the Astros. Jazz Chisholm Jr. struck out looking to end the game on a called strike that was a markedly worse pitch than many Devin Williams threw in the eighth only, to be called balls. After the game, Jazz didn’t hold back. “When you’ve got umpires that want to be the players, that’s what happens… When they don’t have no repercussions for what they do, that’s what happens.” It’s important to note there is plenty of blame to go around for last night’s loss. But Jazz’s sentiments are definitely not out of place. We’ll see if he faces any discipline for some post-loss social media activity last night as well.
Also of note on Jazz, as Peter covered during last night’s wild Yankees/Astros game, the second baseman had to be pulled after suffering contusions on both knees — the first on a hard grounder to second and the second when Jose Altuve collided with his left knee on a stolen-base attempt. In the postgame, Chisholm said that they ran tests and there was no damage. He’s hopeful to play tonight against Toronto.
ESPN | Jeff Passan: I am struck by two conflicting impulses. One, I try to avoid looking ahead to the offseason when it’s the first week of September. But the second is that when Passan talks, I listen. He takes a look at what the off-season could look like. A couple of points of interest for the Yankees. In the first, Passan offhandedly remarks the Yankees could be players for Alex Bregman if (when, according to Jeff) he opts out of his deal with Boston. The second is a bit of a no-brainer, namely that Cody Bellinger will opt out and go hunting a nine-figure deal in free agency. I for one Belli-eve in Cody and genuinely hope said money comes from the account of Hal Steinbrenner.
Lastly, the Yankees announced after the win on Thursday that third catcher J.C. Escarra would be returning to Triple-A. He had returned to the team for September call-ups, but this was always expected to be a short-term deal with Trade Deadline platoon bat Austin Slater on a rehab assignment. Look for him to be activated and on the Yankees’ bench this weekend, ready to pinch-hit against a lefty reliever.
