Sep 16, 2026; Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA; New York Yankees right fielder Aaron Judge (99) before the game against the Minnesota Twins at Target Field. Mandatory Credit: Matt Blewett-Imagn Images
With the postseason less than two weeks away, the Yankees are left holding their breath regarding the status of their slugging captain, Aaron Judge, who left Wednesday’s game against the Minnesota Twins early with what the team described as right lower-leg tightness.
Judge, who started the game in right field, was seen wincing during his second and final at-bat of the afternoon in the top of the third inning following a check-swing. He was pinch-hit for by Heliot Ramos in the top of the sixth, sending up immediate red flags for a team fighting to catch the Tampa Bay Rays for the top spot in the American League East.
Manager Aaron Boone said that Juge felt something in the first inning and took him out to make sure he didn’t “push through anything.”
He will undergo treatment, and the team will get a better sense of how severe the issue is on Thursday.
There may be some relief in that it is not his rib or oblique that is bothering him, though such a statement is a bit premature, considering the specifics of this lower-leg issue is unknown. Judge has already missed three months this season due to a rib injury that kept him out from late May to Sept. 7.
Wednesday’s game was just his seventh game back from the injured list, and he has struggled mightily after the long layoff, going 4-for-23 (.173) with one home run, three RBI, and 13 strikeouts.
Boone previously stated that he was going to take things slow with Judge because they forewent a rehab assignment. But he played six straight games before getting Tuesday off — the day after New York clinched its ninth postseason berth in 10 years.
The prospect of being without Judge this postseason should be a daunting one for the Yankees. Their offense struggled mightily without him, scoring 341 runs in the 84 games without him (4.06 runs per game). Only the Cincinnati Reds, Toronto Blue Jays, Cleveland Guardians, Los Angeles Angels, and Seattle Mariners scored fewer runs in all of baseball during that stretch.
Still, the Bronx Bombers should like their chances regardless of the status of their captain. The American League is exceptionally poor this season, with only six teams possessing records over .500. Three of them, including the Yankees, inhabit the AL East.
They also have one of the most imposing pitching staffs in all of baseball, as they are set to trot out AL Cy Young favorite Cam Schlittler, Gerrit Cole, Max Fried, and Carlos Rodon in a shortened postseason rotation.
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