Yankees Not Expecting Aaron Judge for Wild Card Series

The New York Yankees are preparing to start their upcoming American League wild-card series without captain Aaron Judge, who is recovering from a moderate calf strain. Manager Aaron Boone stated Tuesday that he is not expecting Judge to be available for the series, which begins in one week, though he did not entirely rule out the possibility.

Judge sustained the injury last Wednesday and received a platelet-poor plasma injection on Monday to aid his recovery. Boone indicated that the injection requires Judge to rest for a few days, limiting his current activity. He has not played since suffering the setback, which occurred after he played seven games in September following a return from a rib fracture.

The Yankees are proceeding under the assumption that Judge will not be back for the postseason opener, which is anticipated to be against the Boston Red Sox. Boone acknowledged that the team has played a significant portion of the year without Judge and has managed to perform well. "For the most part, we’ve done a pretty good job, and so guys are used to it," Boone said. "Obviously you always want your best player in the mix, but we understand we’ve got a job to do and an expectation to win and I think that expectation doesn’t change."

He added, "With or without him, we’re expecting to go into the series and know we can beat anyone when we play our game."