Judge\u2019s late push was not enough<\/a> to be included on the AL wild-card series roster against the Red Sox, but after the Yankees took care of business without him, he seems to have a better shot of joining them against the Rays, even if he is not immediately a full player.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re looking at the days and so it\u2019s more, is he going to be available at some point in this series, potentially, as a player?\u201d manager Aaron Boone said Friday afternoon before the Yankees worked out on the turf. \u201cThat\u2019s what we\u2019re kind of weighing and then seeing where he\u2019s at now these last few days having taken live [batting practice].\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n The schedule could play into Judge\u2019s favor. There are off days after Games 1, 2 and 4 in the best-of-five series, giving him more time to recover from the moderate right calf strain that he suffered Sept. 16. And while the Yankees may not want him playing on the turf at Tropicana Field \u2014 they do not seem inclined to use him at DH either, which would force Ben Rice to first base<\/a> and Luis Garc\u00eda Jr. to the bench \u2014 it is possible he could take on the role of Giancarlo Stanton<\/a> in the wild-card series as a pinch-hit threat in the first two games and then be ready to play right field by Game 3 back in The Bronx.\u00a0<\/p>\n But as was the case for the wild-card series \u2014 and Judge\u2019s entire comeback from the calf injury \u2014 the Yankees were not offering much insight on how they were leaning.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThe trainers will obviously play a big part in this,\u201d Boone said. \u201cAs the day unfolds, we\u2019ll see where we\u2019re at and what it potentially looks like for the series.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Judge took live batting practice for the first time Monday, did some light running in the outfield Tuesday, then took live batting practice on both Wednesday (in Somerset) and Thursday (at Yankee Stadium) before the Yankees flew here. The biggest box left to check appears to be running the bases, but after taking on-field batting practice at Tropicana Field on Friday, he did not do any running or defensive work on the turf.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cSometimes running the bases, they replicate things in other ways,\u201d Boone said. \u201cWe\u2019ll make those calls probably later [Friday night].\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n The amount of off days in the series could also benefit Judge in that it may allow the Yankees to carry more position players than they might if it was condensed. Boone mentioned deciding between 10-12 pitchers, which means 14-16 position players, after carrying 16 position players and 10 pitchers for the wild-card series. It might be risky to carry someone who is not a full player if they were limited in bench options, but with an extra spot or two, it could be worth taking Judge. He only hit 4-for-23 with one home run, one walk and 13 strikeouts in seven games after returning from a three-month absence for a broken rib. But it is Aaron Judge.\u00a0<\/p>\n The Rays, meanwhile, were doing their prep work as if Judge would be in the lineup \u2014 if only because doing so was the best defense mechanism.\u00a0<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\tGo beyond the box score with the Bombers\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSign up for Inside the Yankees by Greg Joyce, exclusively on Sports+.\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\tThank you\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n \u201cI was thinking that Aaron Judge was going to be there a week ago just so I\u2019m not devastated when he\u2019s on,\u201d Rays manager Kevin Cash said. \u201cI expect him playing right field, hitting third.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve done my deep dive on Aaron Judge,\u201d Game 1 starter Drew Rasmussen said with a chuckle. \u201cI think we make the assumption he\u2019s in there until he\u2019s not.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n But Cash offered praise for how the Yankees have played without Judge. They survived his extended absence this summer, going 45-39, but then played their best without him against the Red Sox in the wild-card series, with guys chipping in up and down the lineup.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s incredibly impressive,\u201d Cash said, \u201cthe offensive success that they have had missing the best hitter in our sport.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. \u2014 Another eve of a playoff round, another day spent with all eyes on Aaron…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":363641,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[10094,20,5515,9,11,10,321,319,25678],"class_list":["post-363640","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-aaron-judge","tag-mlb","tag-mlb-playoffs","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-headlines","tag-new-york-news","tag-new-york-yankees","tag-sports","tag-tampa-bay-rays"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/363640","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=363640"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/363640\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/363641"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=363640"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=363640"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=363640"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"New](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/takes-live-bp-new-york-142938874.jpg\")
New York Yankees\u2019 Aaron Judge takes live batting practice during a team workout day before their Wild Card Series against the Boston Red Sox at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx, N.Y., Monday, Sept. 28, 2026. Robert Sabo for NY Post<\/p>\n![\"New](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/takes-batting-practice-new-york-142938698.jpg\")
New York Yankees\u2019 Aaron Judge takes batting practice during a workout day before their Wild Card Series with the Boston Red Sox at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx, N.Y., Monday, Sept. 28, 2026. Robert Sabo for NY Post<\/p>\n