Judge Ends 99-Day Injury Layoff, Returns To Yankees Lineup
Aaron Judge returned to the New York Yankees' starting lineup Tuesday night after a 99-day absence due to a broken rib, batting third and playing right field against the Colorado Rockies. The three-time AL MVP had not appeared in a game since May 31, missing 84 games, and bypassed a minor league rehabilitation assignment before rejoining the club.
Judge, 34, was injured on April 26 in Houston while attempting a diving catch and trying to avoid second baseman Jazz Chisholm Jr. He batted .263 with seven home runs and 20 RBIs over 31 games before landing on the injured list, having managed just one homer in his final 18 games prior to the stint. For the season, he entered Tuesday hitting .248 with 17 homers, 38 RBIs and a .907 OPS. womens floorball odds
New York was 36-23 when Judge last played on May 31 and went 45-39 during his absence. The team's offense dipped notably without him: the Yankees hit .243 with 86 homers and a .770 OPS in 59 games through May 31, compared to .227 with 107 homers and a .681 OPS while he was sidelined - a batting average that ranked 29th among the 30 major league clubs, ahead of only Seattle's .225 mark over that span.
The Yankees entered Tuesday at 81-62, four games behind the division-leading Tampa Bay Rays in the AL East and two games ahead of Boston (80-65) for the top AL wild-card spot, holding a season-series tiebreaker over the Red Sox. Judge is coming off a career-best 2024 campaign in which he hit .331 with 53 home runs and 114 RBIs in 152 games, earning his third MVP award and first batting title; that season included a 10-game absence from July 26 to Aug. 4 for a flexor strain in his right elbow, treated with a platelet-rich plasma injection rather than surgery. He also skipped a rehab assignment in 2023 after fracturing his right big toe crashing into the outfield wall at Dodger Stadium, then returned to hit .245 with 18 homers and a .965 OPS over the final 57 games of that season. His performance down the stretch this year will factor heavily into New York's push for the postseason.
