The Yankees don’t expect Aaron Judge to be available during the Wild Card round of postseason play, manager Aaron Boone announced to the team’s beat today (via Bryan Hoch of MLB.com). Judge received a platelet-poor plasma injection for what Boone described as a “moderate” calf strain, which landed Judge on the injured list three days ago.
New York and their archrivals in Boston appear to be on a collision course for a matchup in said Wild Card round. They’re currently the Nos. 4 and 5 seeds in the American League playoff picture, despite both having better records than the division leaders in the AL Central (Cleveland) and AL West (Texas). A prominent winning or losing streak from one of the Junior Circuit’s playoff clubs could still alter the expected matchups, but a Yankees/Red Sox showdown is the likeliest outcome.
With Judge sidelined, the Yankees would turn to an outfield including Cody Bellinger, Spencer Jones and deadline pickup Heliot Ramos. Trent Grisham, out since early September due to a hamstring issue, isn’t expected back before the end of the regular season but could return for the playoffs. That’s very much up in the air at this time. Switch-hitting Jasson Dominguez is healthy but was optioned to Triple-A, where he’s spent a significant portion of the summer, earlier this month. He’s hit well since being sent down again (7-for-19, two homers, two doubles) but hasn’t consistently shown an ability to hit big league pitching.
Stress fractures in Judge’s ribcage shelved the two-time AL MVP from June 1 through Sept. 7. The Yankees played 84 games in the interim and had one of baseball’s least-productive offenses. The Judge-less Yankees ranked 26th in runs scored (341), 29th in batting average (.227), 30th in on-base percentage (.295), 26th in slugging percentage (.386) and 28th in wRC+ (90).
Judge’s absence for a likely Wild Card showdown with the Red Sox is all the more crushing given the lefty-heavy state of the Boston pitching staff. Sonny Gray is the Red Sox’ only right-handed starter. Payton Tolle, Ranger Suarez, Jake Bennett and Patrick Sandoval all throw from the left side. (Gray, Suarez and Tolle would presumably be skipper Chad Tracy’s rotation choices in a three-game Wild Card set.) Closer Aroldis Chapman and setup man Erik Miller are both left-handed as well. Judge is a batting .242/.407/.548 against lefties this season and carries a career .285/.432/.623 line versus southpaws.
Barring a swifter-than-expected recovery, it seems the Yankees will be left to face their longtime nemesis without the benefit of their best player in the lineup. Whether Judge would be available for subsequent rounds of play remains unclear. The American League Division Series will begin on Oct. 3 — five days after the Wild Card round. The American League Championship Series would start on Oct. 12. The World Series is slated to begin on Oct. 23.
