Jorge Castillo Aug 28, 2026, 07:00 AM ET Close ESPN baseball reporter. Covered the Washington Wizards from 2014 to 2016 and the Washington Nationals from 2016 to 2018 for The Washington Post before covering the Los Angeles Dodgers and MLB for the Los Angeles Times from 2018 to 2024. The New York Yankees find themselves in the same spot in the standings they occupied at this point a year ago: in second place in the American League East behind a club surpassing preseason expectations.

Last season it was the Toronto Blue Jays, this year the Tampa Bay Rays, with the Boston Red Sox on their heels. The Yankees eventually matched the Blue Jays a year ago with 94 wins, but the head-to-head tiebreaker gave Toronto the division title. This year, the Rays have a 6-3 edge in the season series, with a pivotal four-game series in the Bronx remaining in late September.

Unlike the 2025 Yankees, however, the 2026 Yankees enter the final month of the regular season with major health concerns surrounding several of their most important players, headlined by Aaron Judge and Max Fried -- and that's despite the recent return of Cody Bellinger and Carlos Rodon from the injured list."The IL team is great," second baseman Jazz Chisholm Jr. recently quipped. The Yankees' potential to win their first World Series since 2009 rests on their recovery from injury. On paper, if all goes right and they chase down the Rays for the division crown, the Yankees will enter the postseason as favorites to win the pennant.

A few injury setbacks and a wild-card matchup against the blistering-hot Red Sox for the second consecutive postseason would add substantial turbulence. So for the next month, while needing a win every night, the Yankees will also hope to successfully work important contributors back into the fold. Here's a look at where each key player on the injured list stands ahead of a crucial four-game series against the Red Sox this weekend in New York. Aaron Judge Injury: Stress fracture in first right rib Last played: May 31Best-case return: Second week of September Impact: Crucial Most teams would crumble if a player of Judge's caliber -- a three-time MVP in his prime -- spent nearly three months (and counting) on the injured list.

That happened to the 2023 Yankees, when Judge missed nearly two months with a sprained big toe after crashing into the outfield wall at Dodger Stadium. The 2023 team missed the playoffs. The 2026 team, however, has been better equipped to handle his extended absence thanks to a dominant pitching staff.

Still, the bullpen is running on fumes, and scoring runs remains agonizingly difficult. A healthy Judge would supercharge an offense that ranks 28th in runs scored, 28th in OPS, 29th in w RC+ and 30th in batting average during his absence. The good news is Judge is on track to return in September after a deliberate recovery process from a rib injury he sustained diving for a ball in late April before playing through pain for more than a month.

Judge was recently cleared for baseball activities. He has played catch, shagged balls in the outfield and done agility drills. On Wednesday, after being limited to tee and soft toss work, he took swings against overhand pitches in the batting cage for the first time.

Next up: batting practice off a pitching machine, live batting practice at-bats and a rehab assignment -- though if Judge has his way, the plan won't include a rehab assignment. Judge was adamant Thursday about not needing one when he's cleared to play in games and pointed to not going on one before returning from his toe injury in 2023."Why waste at-bats? Why waste anything in a minor-league game?" Judge said. "I've been doing this for a while now, and I've got a sense of what I need to do on the field and manage it. So why waste at-bats in Double-A or Triple-A?"Yankees manager Aaron Boone said this week that Judge would slot back into right field -- with the occasional DH day -- despite the inherent risk of playing the field ...