Want more from Front Office Sports
in your search results?
Yankees superstar Aaron Judge will be inactive for the team’s first-round playoff series against the Red Sox, leaving NBC Sports without a major viewership draw and perhaps extending tension between the three-time American League MVP and New York manager Aaron Boone.
Judge is not on the Yankees’ roster for their AL wild-card series starting Tuesday against Boston, with the outfielder continuing to grapple with a right calf strain. After going on the injured list earlier this month, Boone said, “We’re planning on [Judge] not being a part” of the first-round series.
The Yankees captain, however, challenged Boone’s remarks, as well as the characterization of the calf strain as “moderate,” and actively lobbied to be activated.
“I don’t know why he used those words,” Judge said of Boone last week. “Everybody’s ‘moderate’ is a little different.”
The 26-man roster limit and the best-of-three format in the wild-card round, however, push MLB playoff teams to skew toward healthy players and maximum in-game flexibility. Conversely, designated hitter Giancarlo Stanton is on the roster and will make his first appearance since April 24.
Judge has not played since Sept. 16, and earlier this season, had a 99-day absence with a fractured rib.
Television Considerations
The absence of Judge could be something of a viewership hit to NBC Sports, which begins its first MLB playoff coverage in 26 years on Tuesday and has exclusive rights to the wild-card round.
The Red Sox-Yankees series will have the featured primetime slot for each of the three potential days. By the time that Judge could be activated for later playoff rounds, coverage will shift to TNT Sports and Fox Sports.
NBC Sports had clearly been hoping for Judge to be activated.
“Aaron Judge standing in the batter’s box is Aaron Judge standing in the batter’s box,” said NBC Sports analyst and former Yankee Anthony Rizzo on Monday, before the roster release. “It doesn’t matter if he’s on one leg. It doesn’t matter if he has one arm. He is a threat and he will be respected by every pitcher facing him. Him being in there will be a game changer.”
