Aug 23, 2026; Bronx, New York, USA; New York Yankees injured right fielder Aaron Judge (99) warms up before the game against the Toronto Blue Jays at Yankee Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images
Aaron Judge’s mad scramble and vocal pleas to get back on the field for the start of the postseason were ultimately futile.
The two-time defending American League MVP has been left off the New York Yankees’ roster for their best-of-three Wild Card Series against the Boston Red Sox, which begins on Tuesday night in the Bronx.
Judge suffered a moderate calf strain just seven games after returning from a three-month stint on the injured list due to a fractured rib. He was seen on Monday at Yankee Stadium taking live batting practice, even going as far as telling reporters that he was feeling “great’ and “doing a lot of convincing” in recent days.
The problem was that Judge had only run on an anti-gravity treadmill and not on a ballfield.
It always felt as though Judge’s availability for the Wild Card round was a long shot. Yankees manager Aaron Boone said last week that the team was planning for Judge not to be a part of its early postseason equation.
Suffering the injury on Sept. 16 against the Minnesota Twins, a three-week timetable for a return is commonplace. Judge was trying to get back in just 13 days.
In hopes of accelerating the rehab process, he received PPP (platelet-poor plasma) injections, in which fluids are drawn from a patient’s blood sample after it has been spun in a centrifuge. While the more well-known PRP (platelet-rich plasma) injection promotes the healing of tendons and joints, PPP injections have been used over the last few years to work on injured muscles — though it is new enough to still be considered by many as experimental.
“I’ve done a lot of PRP, a lot of stuff, but this is the first time I’m doing this,” Judge said Monday of the PPP injection. “So far, it’s felt pretty good. I’ve had a good response.”
Without Judge, additional at-bats will likely fall to Heliot Ramos, which is a big ask considering the All-Star has batted just .198 since being acquired from the San Francisco Giants at the trade deadline.
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