Earlier in the week, New York Yankees manager Aaron Boone revealed that slugger and captain Aaron Judge likely won’t play in the expected American League wild-card playoff series between the Yankees and the Boston Red Sox.
Thus, Yankees fans were understandably stunned to learn on Wednesday that Judge declared his “plan” is to be “ready to go” for the opening game of the wild-card series on Tuesday, Sept. 29.
Following the Yankees’ 9-2 win over the Tampa Bay Rays on Wednesday night, Boone had an opportunity to respond to Judge’s comments.
Does Aaron Boone expect Aaron Judge to play in wild-card series?
According to Gary Phillips of the New York Daily News, Boone was asked after Wednesday’s victory if his expectations have changed regarding Judge’s availability for the first round of the playoffs.
“No,” Boone responded.
Judge was out of the Yankees’ lineup from June 1 through the evening of Sept. 7 with a stress fracture of the first rib on his right side, and he then appeared in just seven games before he suffered what has been called a “moderate” calf strain.
As Joe Najarian of Sports Illustrated and others have mentioned, the area of Judge’s injury “leads into the Achilles tendon, which becomes vulnerable to tears if the calf is already injured.” Thus, it makes sense the Yankees would want to be cautious regarding Judge’s long-term health.
“Like I said [Tuesday], I’m not ruling anything out,” Boone added. “We got days away till that. Not that I’m necessarily expecting that one way or the other, but we’re going to listen to the body and see how he heals. If he’s in a position to do that, obviously we’re going to want him.”
Aaron Judge doubles down on playoff vow
Judge made it clear following Wednesday’s game that he hadn’t misspoken earlier in the day.
“My goal is to come back as soon as I can,” he explained. “That’s what we’re doing right now. So if [Boone] says I’m not going to be ready, I got no control over that. I got control over what I can do to try to get back as soon as I can. So if you ask me if I’m going to be back, I’m going to tell you, yeah. I’m doing everything I can every single day I show up here to get back and be ready to go.”
Judge slashed .241/.360/.511 with an .871 OPS, 18 home runs and 41 RBI across 66 games this season. Whether or not he actually will take another in-game at-bat before 2027 remains unclear.