ESPN | Jorge Castillo: From the man himself! Aaron Judge spoke on the record with ESPN ahead of last night’s game and said he intends to be in the lineup for next week’s Wild Card Series, and in the postgame, he sounded displeased with manager Aaron Boone describing his calf strain as “moderate.” For whatever it’s worth, Meredith Marakovits of the YES Network said on the telecast last night that this actually wasn’t all that dissimilar from what Judge was saying over the weekend in Arizona; the difference is that this came after Boone’s comments on Tuesday, when he said he wasn’t expecting Judge to return by then.
The Yankee captain is eligible to come off the IL in the season finale on Sunday versus Baltimore, but after the team spent most of the early part of the week downplaying expectations of him appearing in the first round of the postseason…both sides can’t be right.
MLB.com | Bryan Hoch: The Yankees have a little under a week to round out how they want to approach the Wild Card Series, and the first two questions pertain to the roles of Anthony Volpe and Ryan McMahon seem to be getting slightly clearer. Volpe was taking grounders at third ahead of Wednesday’s game with the Rays, and Mac has gradually placed himself in the near-unplayable category (big night at the plate last night notwithstanding). Volpe’s never been at third before as a pro, and it’s fair to question whether he has the arm strength, but he’s hit better than McMahon since returning and the Yankees need runs.
Also in this article: Giancarlo Stanton hasn’t given up on contributing to the 2026 playoff run just yet. He and Trent Grisham were working out on the field at Double-A Somerset. Grisham’s eyeing the Wild Card Series to get back from his hamstring injury, but Stanton is at least trying to make himself a pinch-hit option.
New York Post | Matt Ehalt: Garrett Crochet has dominated the Yankees since coming over to Boston, but the lefty hasn’t appeared in an MLB game since April 25th of this year. The rehabbing southpaw is hitting 96 in bullpens though, and while he likely won’t start for the Red Sox in the Wild Card round, it’s entirely possible Boston has one of the more overpowering arms in baseball ready to go in the bullpen.
FanGraphs | Michael Baumann: The Yankees spent more of the year without Aaron Judge than with him, and will play at least the first round of the postseason without him as well. Losing the game’s best hitter would hurt any team but New York especially seems to struggle in a Judge-less offense, scoring a full run less per game when he’s IL’d against when he’s in the lineup. Ben Rice and Cody Bellinger now face outsized pressure next week, as often the only two representative hitters on the club should Judge not actually return.
CBS Sports | Todd Feurer: A melancholy happy trails to Don Cooper, best known for spending 33 seasons as a coach with the White Sox organization including 18 as the MLB pitching coach, up through 2020. Cooper also spent part of the 1985 campaign on the mound for the Yankees, and took home a World Series ring on the South Side in 2005. Don Cooper was 70 years old.
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