Aaron Judge's Calf Injury: Wild Card Sweep Without Him and His ALDS Status

Aaron Judge missed the Yankees’ entire AL Wild Card Series with a right calf strain, and as of about 1:30 p.m. ET on Friday, October 2, 2026, New York had not announced whether he will be on its roster for the Division Series against the Tampa Bay Rays. The Yankees swept Boston 2-0 without him, winning 9-0 on Tuesday, September 29 and 9-2 on Wednesday, September 30, both at Yankee Stadium. The Division Series opens Saturday, October 3 at Tropicana Field. This is a status report on Judge’s injury and roster situation, not a series preview, and it makes no prediction about whether he will play.

Is Aaron Judge on the Yankees’ Division Series roster?

That has not been announced: as of about 1:30 p.m. ET on Friday, October 2, 2026, the Yankees had not published their Division Series roster, so Judge’s status for the round is open. Judge was left off the Wild Card roster the team announced on the morning of Tuesday, September 29. On Wednesday, Manager Aaron Boone said Judge had made real strides and significant improvements in the two weeks since the injury and that the team hoped to be in a position to make another decision within a couple of days, MLB.com reported. MLB.com’s Yankees injury tracker, last updated September 29, said Judge could be activated if the Yankees advanced. Judge told reporters after Game 2 that “Saturday’s a long ways away,” that he is doing everything he can to be ready and that he wants to be in the lineup, the Associated Press reported.

What happened in the Wild Card Series without Judge?

The Yankees swept the Red Sox 2-0, winning Game 1 by 9-0 on Tuesday, September 29 and Game 2 by 9-2 on Wednesday, September 30, with Judge sidelined for both. Cam Schlittler started Game 1 and, per MLB.com, threw 6 1/3 scoreless innings; Max Fried started Game 2 and allowed one run over six innings. A third game was not needed, so Gerrit Cole, who had been lined up for it, did not pitch. Judge was not on the field for pregame introductions before Game 1; Boone said he was getting treatment after an on-field workout. He ran in right field before that game, his first running on the field since the injury, and before Game 2 he went to the Yankees’ Double-A ballpark in Somerset, New Jersey, for live at-bats, returning to the Bronx in time to watch it, according to MLB.com and the Associated Press.

What is Judge’s injury, and where does his recovery stand?

Judge has a moderate strain of the soleus muscle, in the lower right calf, suffered on September 16, 2026 at Target Field against the Twins; as of September 30 he had resumed hitting but had not run the bases, according to MLB.com. It came in his seventh game back from a fractured right rib that cost him 84 games. MLB.com reported that the rib injury is believed to have happened April 26 in Houston, that he played through it before going on the injured list in early June, and that he returned September 8 without a Minor League rehabilitation assignment.

For the calf, Judge went on the 10-day injured list on Saturday, September 19, retroactive to September 17, and received a platelet-poor plasma injection on Monday, September 21, MLB.com reported. Boone called it a “moderate grade” strain on September 22. Judge said the next day that everyone’s idea of moderate is a little different and that he did not know why Boone used those words; Boone replied that the two are in this together, ESPN reported. MLB.com says a strain of this kind normally takes at least three weeks to fully heal, and that a Grade 2 calf strain generally takes three to six weeks.

What stands between Judge and a Division Series return?

Reports point to three complications: baserunning, the artificial turf at Tropicana Field, and Judge’s wish to play the outfield rather than serve as designated hitter. None of these is a team ruling; they are the factors MLB.com and other outlets have described.

Running has proved a bigger obstacle than hitting, MLB.com reported. Judge had been running on an anti-gravity treadmill and moved to running on the field before Wild Card Game 1, but he had not run the bases since the injury, and he did not on Wednesday at Somerset. Boone said on September 29 that to be a full player, Judge has to get back to running.

MLB.com wrote that the turf at Tropicana Field is not ideal for soft-tissue injuries and could put additional strain on the calf, and Boone acknowledged it could be a factor in the team’s decision.

Judge has maintained that his plan is to play right field when he returns, not just to serve as designated hitter or pinch-hitter, MLB.com reported. That spot is crowded: MLB.com lists Paul Goldschmidt, Luis García Jr. and Giancarlo Stanton there, and its position-by-position preview says Ben Rice has mostly been the Yankees’ designated hitter.

How do postseason rosters work between rounds?

Each club submits a 26-player roster before every series and may change it before the next one, so leaving Judge off the Wild Card roster does not rule him out for the Division Series. MLB.com’s postseason roster-rules explainer says the roster must be submitted before the start of each series and can be changed before the start of each subsequent series. Once a series is under way, the only change it describes is a commissioner-approved replacement for an injured player, who is then ineligible for the rest of that round and the next; a pitcher must be replaced by a pitcher and a position player by a position player. The explainer does not describe a way to add a player who was left off once the series has begun.

Who else was on the Wild Card roster?

Giancarlo Stanton was activated from the 60-day injured list and named to the Wild Card roster as a pinch-hitting option, not as a designated hitter, and Trent Grisham was active after missing time with a Grade 2 hamstring strain. Stanton had not played in a Major League game since late April because of calf injuries and, as Boone put it, had a couple of setbacks along the way, MLB.com reported. Grisham had been out since September 4. Left-hander Ryan Weathers, who is rehabilitating a left forearm flexor strain, was left off after throwing live batting practice; Boone said Weathers could be a difference-maker but is viewed more as an option for the next round, MLB.com reported. The Yankees carried 10 pitchers and 16 position players.

The Division Series roster has not been announced, so none of these players’ status for the round is stated here.

What’s next

The best-of-five Division Series opens Saturday, October 3, 2026 at 6:30 p.m. ET at Tropicana Field, on TBS, truTV and HBO Max, according to MLB.com. It then moves to Yankee Stadium, with an extra off day between Games 1 and 2, the Associated Press reported. The Yankees announced Friday morning that Gerrit Cole will start Game 1 against Rays right-hander Drew Rasmussen. The Rays won the AL East and had a first-round bye.

This page will be updated when the Yankees announce their Division Series roster. For the rest of the bracket, including who else is playing and when each round is scheduled, our 2026 MLB playoffs bracket and schedule guide has the full rundown.