Yankees likely will be without injured Aaron Judge in first round of the playoffs, team says

As the Yankees get prepared for the playoffs, the news is not good on the Aaron Judge front.

The team announced Tuesday that the reigning two-time AL MVP received a platelet poor plasma injection in his ailing right calf on Monday and will likely miss the first round of the playoffs.

"We're planning on him not being a part of that but we're also at time of the year, you hear all the time with injuries, you give ranges two to four weeks, four to six weeks," manager Aaron Boone said. "The range is for a reason and we're at a point of the year where obviously we push it a little bit if that was in play, but that's a week away. I'm not expecting it, but I'm not ruling it out either."

Judge is eligible to be activated from the injured list on Sunday, but Boone made it clear he will not be ready to play any time soon.

"The next couple of days will be not much -- no running, jumping, things like that," Boone said.

Barring something unforeseen, the Yankees will play the Boston Red Sox in a best-of-three Wild Card series, starting on Sept. 29, with all of the games at Yankee Stadium.

It has been a brutal season for Judge. The 34-year-old slugger missed 75 games with a rib fracture and after returning played in just seven before suffering the calf strain on Sept. 16 in Minnesota. He was later diagnosed with a strained soleus muscle, which is in the lower part of his calf.

"I've dealt with strains before and kind of played through them, but this was kind of in a different spot where it made it a little bit more difficult," Judge said.

Overall, Judge is batting .241 with 18 home runs and 41 RBIs in 66 games this season. Over the previous two seasons combined, the veteran outfielder and three-time MVP hit .326 with 111 homers and 258 RBIs in 310 out of a possible 324 regular season games.

Needless to say, that's a lot of production the Yankees will be missing when they hit the playoffs, a time when every run is crucial.

The Yankees, who entered Monday's doubleheader against the first-place Tampa Bay Rays with an 89-63 record, are 48-41 without Judge in the lineup this season.

"We've played much of the year without him and for the most part, we've done a pretty good job," Boone said. "So guys are used to it. Obviously you always want your best player in the mix, but we understand we've got a job to do and an expectation to win. I think that expectation doesn't change with or without him. We're expecting to go into the series and know we can beat anyone when we play our game."  

Yankees playoff scenarios

As it stands heading into Tuesday's action, the Yankees can still win the AL East, but they'd really need a miracle.

They must win their remaining seven games and get a lot of help in order to pass the Rays in the division. New York is currently the top Wild Card team in the AL and leads Boston by 5 1/2 games, meaning it needs one more win or a Red Sox loss to clinch the top spot.

The Yankees won the season series against the Red Sox, 7-6, and hold the tiebreaker.

The winner of the Yankees-Red Sox series will take on the Rays in a best-of-five Division Series beginning on Oct. 3.