The Athletic | Ken Rosenthal ($): Even though his October reputation isn’t the best, the Yankees need a healthy Aaron Judge if they’re going to make any noise in the playoffs. In order to do that, the Yankees have to be careful with Judge, who skipped a rehab assignment after missing more than three months with a rib injury. The last thing they want to do is overexert him and have him reaggravate the injury. So they must be careful with him to keep him in the lineup and then unleash him in October, even if he gets upset when they take him out.
FanGraphs | Dan Szymborski: In case it wasn’t obvious, Aaron Judge brings a lot to the table. He’s arguably the best right-handed hitter ever and if the Yankees are going to try and make a run at the AL East crown, Judge gives them the best chance to do that. While the Rays refuse to fully go down or even regress to the mean, the projection systems still like the Yankees’ chances now that Judge is back in the mix. In case you wanted to know more about just how good Judge is, he’s literally better than everyone else.
MLB.com | Bryan Hoch: Shockingly but also maybe unshockingly, the Yankees finally hit their first grand slam of the 2026 season last night off the bat of George Lombard Jr. It’s a little shocking that it took this long but grand slam opportunities don’t happen every day and to say the offense had been sputtering the last few months, especially with Judge out of the lineup, would be an understatement. With the grand slam, though, Lombard becomes the second-youngest Yankee to hit a grand slam, only older than Mickey Mantle who accomplished the feat twice in his age-20 season (and a mere three days apart at that).
MLB.com | Bryan Hoch: Jazz Chisholm Jr. is expected to officially be placed on the 10-day injured list today with Anthony Volpe getting the callup as the corresponding move. While just a few weeks ago this wouldn’t have been a very inspiring choice, Volpe “became Barry Bonds all of a sudden” once he got to the minors, at least according to his teammate Jasson Domínguez but also according to his numbers.
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