Aaron Judge to hit IL due to calf strain, can't return until Yankees' final game of regular season

New York Yankees star Aaron Judge will be placed on the 10-day injured list due to a right calf strain, the club announced Friday .

Assuming the roster move is backdated to Thursday, the day after Judge's last on-field appearance, the three-time AL MVP won't be eligible to return until Sept. 27, the day of the Yankees' final game of the regular season. Of course, it's unclear if he will be ready to play by then.

Per Gary Phillips of the New York Daily News, the Yankees plan to call up outfielder Max Schuemann from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre as the corresponding move for Judge.

Judge came off the IL only 10 days earlier after missing three months due to a stress fracture in his ribs. He has played in seven games since then, going 4-for-23 with 1 homer and 13 strikeouts.

This injury popped up on Wednesday, when Judge left a game due to what he described as stiffness in his lower right leg. Per MLB.com , Judge didn't point to any one play causing the issue. Rather, he described it as the kind of issue that arises after a long layoff like his IL stint:

"I feel like you deal with this every spring training. You know, usually at the start of the season once you start ramping up again, things pop up, and that's where we've been," Judge said. "Thankfully, this whole time coming back, nothing's really nagged us. So hopefully it's just one little thing and then we're back out there soon."

Unfortunately, the injury appears to not be one little thing.

Judge has won AL MVP in three of the past four seasons, but this year has not gone according to plan. He got off to a slow start by his standards, slashing only .248/.375/.533 until the Yankees placed him on the IL in early June. Those struggles were partially due to the rib injury, which he reportedly tried to play through for six weeks.

Judge didn't return to the lineup until Sept. 8, and now he's going back on the shelf. Going forward, he represents an enormous unknown for the Yankees, who sit second in the AL East at 88-64. They are currently on pace for a second straight wild-card series clash with the Boston Red Sox.

At best, Judge could return right before the playoffs. At worst, he might have already played his final game of 2026.

Not counting his cup of coffee in 2016 or the COVID-shortened 2020 season, Judge has never played in fewer than the 66 games he's seen in 2026 or posted an OPS+ lower than this year's 140 (which is still very good). That adds up to a career-worst season for Judge at 34 years old.