The New York Yankees host the Boston Red Sox in Game 1 of their AL Wild Card series on Tuesday night. It's a rematch of New York's 2025 AL Wild Card round victory against their hated rivals but this time, the Yankees won't have their captain, Aaron Judge. After winning his second straight AL MVP in 2025 and third honor overall, Judge has had an injury-marred 2026 campaign.
The 34-year-old was limited to 66 regular season games this year, which were the fewest of his career outside of his 27-game cup of coffee during his 2016 MLB debut campaign and the 2020 pandemic-shortened season. Judge missed all of June, July and August, plus the first week of September, due to a fractured top right rib. The eight-time All-Star returned to action on Sept. 8 but appeared in just seven contests before suffering a calf strain on Sept. 16.
New York manager Aaron Boone said following the calf injury that the team wasn't expecting to have Judge available for the first round of the playoffs, but the former AL Rookie of the Year contradicted his leader's words last week and said he planned to play in the Wild Card series. Boone said on Monday that Judge was "making progress" and the Yankees would "continue to see where he is at." First pitch for Game 1 on Tuesday night is scheduled for 8 p.m. New York will put AL Cy Young contender (and Massachusetts native) Cam Schlittler on the mound for the series-opener, while Boston will counter with left-handed rookie hurler Payton Tolle.
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