Add The New York Post on Google The Yankees are planning on at least beginning the playoffs without Aaron Judge.
“I’m not expecting it,” manager Aaron Boone said Tuesday regarding whether the Yankees captain could return for the wild-card series that begins in one week. “But I’m not ruling it out either.”
Judge received a platelet-poor plasma injection Monday to help a calf that he strained on Wednesday.
The Yankees aren’t expecting Aaron Judge to play in the wild-card series. Charles Wenzelberg/NY Post The strain is “moderate,” Boone revealed for the first time, before the Yankees hosted a doubleheader against the Rays.
Boone again did not disclose how long the Yankees are expecting to be without Judge, who has been out since suffering the calf strain on Wednesday and is not doing much right now for a few days, Boone said, because of the injection.
Judge played seven September games in his return from a rib fracture before the calf setback, and the Yankees are operating as if he will not be back for what is expected to be a postseason date with the Red Sox.
“We’ve played much of the year without him, and 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.
“With or without him, we’re expecting to go into the series and know we can beat anyone when we play our game.”
