Slugger and back-to-back American League MVP Aaron Judge will not be on the Yankees’ roster for their series contest against the Sox’s Wild Card rival, the YES Network reports. The judge was on the injured list on Sept. 16. strain with veal. In excitement, Yankees designated hitter Giancarlo Stanton will be in the lineup for the Red Sox series. Stanton has been sidelined since late April with a calf strain.
The Yankees’ opening round with Boston begins with Game 1 on Tuesday night in the Bronx.
The decision to leave Judge off the roster comes as something of a surprise, as Yankees manager Aaron Boone told reporters on Monday that Judge was “making progress” after taking several swings in the batting cage on Sunday. The judge said on Monday that he ran on an anti-gravity treadmill, which he felt was “great”. He said that on Monday he could do more and maybe run outside. Despite that optimistic tone, the Yankees will be without a judge throughout the series
Judge, 34, did not have a vintage in 2016, although he was very fertile and healthy;
Above is a good 140+ OPS, which means his OPS is a hefty 40% better than the average hitter this season on a ballpark-adjusted basis. At this time, Judge was out for three months with a broken rib.
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The Yankees are tied for ninth in MLB in runs scored and 11th in OPS during the regular season. This is a solid if not the best attack, but it is certainly diminished by not having a judge line. Even Judge suspected some of the Yankees’ role would be against a strong Red Sox turnaround. Without Judge, there just isn’t much depth in the lineup behind Ben Rice and, to a lesser extent, Cody Bellinger and Paul Goldschmidt.
The Yankees are 41-25 (.621) this season with Judge in the starting lineup and are still a respectable 52-43 (.547) when he’s not.
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But Stanton, who turns 37 on November 1st, played in 24 games during the regular season with three home runs in 90 at-bats. In 2025, Stanton hit 24 home runs in 77 games and batted .594. The career leader in MLB runs with 456 over 17 seasons.
Stanton became a pioneer in the field. In 48 career playoff games, all with the Yankees, he batted .254/.322/.605 with 18 home runs. Seven of those home runs came in the Yankees’ run to clinch the 2024 playoffs. In this series, Stanton’s right-handed power should be of particular use against Boston’s heavy left-handed rotation.