New York Yankees slugger Aaron Judge will not play in the AL divisional series against the Tampa Bay Rays after being left off the team’s 26-man roster on Saturday.
Judge missed the Yankees’ wild-card round sweep of the Boston Red Sox due to a moderate calf strain. He was placed on injured reserve on September 18, and four days later, manager Aaron Boone said the team planned to play without Judge in the first round.
“We feel like within a few weeks of his injury, he’s made some real progress and significant improvements,” Boone said Wednesday. “I hope we will be able to make another decision in a few days.”
Advertisement
Join or create a Yahoo Fantasy Basketball league for the 2026-27 NBA season
Judge participated in live batting practice at Yankee Stadium on Monday and took additional live at-bats at the team’s Double-A affiliate in Somerset on Wednesday. He told reporters he limited himself to running on an anti-gravity treadmill designed for rehabilitation before running on the field at Yankee Stadium before the Red Sox series opener.
One factor in being a judge at Tropicana Field is the stadium’s artificial turf, something Boone said could have been part of the decision-making process.
“It plays a small role,” Boone said Friday, via the Associated Press. “But we look at the days, and so it’s more about, will he be available at any point in this series, potentially, as a player? That’s what we kind of evaluate and then see where he’s at in the last few days, after we take BP live.”
Advertisement
The Yankees will travel to Tampa and the Rays will host Games 1 and 2 on Saturday and Monday. The series will move to Yankee Stadium for Game 3 on Wednesday and a possible Game 4 on Thursday. If necessary, a winner-take-all fifth game would take place on Saturday, October 10 at Tropicana Field.
Gn sports
