Aaron Judge could return Friday when Yankees begin series vs. first-place Orioles

It isn’t official – and likely won’t be until Friday – but every indication is Aaron Judge will be activated in time for this weekend’s series against the Orioles at Camden Yards.

His teammates certainly are under that impression.

“First off, his numbers and what he does, how he impacts the game speaks for itself,” Anthony Rizzo told Newsday after the Yankees 3-1 victory over the Mets at the Stadium. “Him being back in the full grind of it, it’s going to be awesome for us. He’s going to come back and I’m hoping that he feels as good as he can feel going forward. Hopefully he comes back and does his thing right away.”

Aaron Boone, before Wednesday’s game and then again after, was circumspect regarding Judge’s imminent return.

“I wouldn’t rule anything out, but I think we’re taking it day by day and huddling up at the end of the day, seeing what the next steps are,” Boone said before the game.  “Right now, it’s seeing how he came out of today and how that went, where we’re at and if we need to keep doing more.”

Judge, who hasn’t played since June 3 when he suffered a sprained right big toe while crashing through the bullpen fence in rightfield in a game at Dodger Stadium, played simulated games Tuesday and Wednesday at the club’s minor-league complex in Tampa.

Boone did acknowledge after Wednesday’s game that Judge left Tampa after his afternoon sim game and flew back to New York.

The Yankees, who start a three-game series against the AL East-leading Orioles Friday night, are slated to fly to Baltimore at 7 p.m. Thursday. Presumably, Judge will be on that flight, though he could travel separately there on Friday morning as more than a few players are planning to do.

“I don’t know yet,” Boone said following Wednesday’s game of Judge being back in the lineup Friday. “We’ll kind of see where we’re at tomorrow (Thursday).”

Carlos Rodon, who picked up his first win as a Yankee Wednesday after allowing one run and four hits over 5 2/3 innings, practically glowed, as did his teammates, when asked about Judge coming back.

“He’s arguably the best player in the game,” Rodon said. “It’s going to be nice to have that bat and have that defense…we’ll see if he’s out in the outfield but it will definitely be nice to have that bat. That’s our captain, that’s our leader, so it’s going to be great to have him back.”

The Yankees went into their off-day in last place, eight games behind the Orioles, and 2 ½ games behind the Blue Jays for the third and final AL wild-card spot.

It goes without saying the Yankees are desperate for the return of Judge, without whom they, even with Wednesdays’ victory, struggled to a 19-23 record in his absence. The Yankees' offense was mostly punchless without him, slashing .220/.295/.376 since June 4 going into Wednesday’s game.   

“Can’t really explain what he means to the lineup all-around,” Isiah Kiner-Falefa told Newsday after Wednesday’s game. “Losing him, I think everybody saw what happened. That says it all, honestly. I think just him being there is going to take a lot of pressure off a lot of people and is going to allow us to feel a little more confident going into games every day.”  

Judge, the reigning AL MVP, was well on his way to another standout season at the time of the injury, hitting .291 with 19 homers, 40 RBIs and 1.078 OPS in 49 games. Even with the missed time, he still leads the club in home runs, with Gleyber Torres next at 16, that total accomplished in 100 games.

“We’re excited,” Kiner-Falefa said. “We’ve been waiting for a long time so I think just having him around in the room is going to be a good feeling.”