The New York Yankees are just going to have to keep on plugging along with Aaron Judge.
Judge could potentially return to the team’s lineup in mid-September, Jon Heyman of The New York Post reported on Friday. Heyman did add though that the timeline on Judge is a “guesstimate” for now.
The three-time AL MVP Judge has not played at all for the Yankees since the end of May. He is nursing a fractured rib and was originally given a 4-to-6-week re-evaluation date.
But Judge is now nearly 11 weeks removed from his last game appearance and could still miss at least another 4 weeks or so before returning. The Yankees have also been hurt by injuries to other offensive stars like Giancarlo Stanton (calf) and Cody Bellinger (hamstring).
As a result, New York has underachieved a bit this season at 68-53 and sits 6.5 games back of the Tampa Bay Rays for the division lead (though they have a stranglehold on the No. 1 Wild Card spot in the AL). The Yankees are also just 14-11 ever since the All-Star break.
Judge previously revealed that he had been playing through his rib injury for a good amount of time before the pain became too much. While the 34-year-old slugger recently made a bold guarantee amid his injury recovery, time is quickly running out for Judge to make his return during the 2026 regular season.
