Category: Sports News

Ahead of Tuesday's series opener with the Astros, Yankees manager Aaron Boone gave a few injury updates on a duo of players...

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Judge continues batting progression

Aaron Judge was on the field at Yankee Stadium ahead of Tuesday's game and according to Boone, Judge is expected to do batting practice in addition to running. 

So far, Judge has just been doing tee-and-toss, but the former MVP is expected to advance to overhand batting practice when he enters the cage before Tuesday's game. 

Judge has also thrown at over 100 feet as the slugger continues his progression toward returning to the club and the outfield.

Fried's potential return revealed?

The Yankees will play seven games this week, including a doubleheader with the Red Sox on Saturday, and that could also mark the return of Max Fried.

Fried threw four innings, about 60 pitches, of live batting practice Monday and Boone did not rule out the possibility that the southpaw could be in play for one of Saturday's doubleheader games.

"We’ll see where we are as the next couple of days unfold," Boone said. 

Fried landed on the IL on Aug. 17 -- retroactive to Aug. 14 -- and is eligible to come off on Saturday. 

The Yankees admitted to taking a cautious approach to placing Fried on the IL, and they were optimistic the veteran left-hander would be healthy enough to return after an MRI confirmed "low-level" inflammation in his elbow. 

Schmidt to return out of bullpen

Clarke Schmidt has a side session on Tuesday and Boone was happy to report that the right-hander looked good and that he's looking forward to ramping him up.
"I thought Clarke looked great, I really did," the skipper said. "It was encouraging to see that. I thought the stuff looked really good, but really crisp and sharp. Looking forward to getting him going."

That ramp-up will include rehab games, which Boone said the organization has yet to figure out a roadmap for, but the Yankees skipper revealed Schmidt will be a bullpen piece when he eventually returns to the team.

"He can really help us," Boone said. "Obviously, he’s been a really good starter in this league. He's not gonna get back to that point this year, but when he’s on his game, he has a lot of weapons that can really land him a role down there [in the bullpen]. Whether it's an inning, a couple innings, whatever it may be. 

"He can definitely help us if he’s on his game.”

The Blue Jays had a deep post-season run, coming so close to winning a championship. But they stumbled out of the gate in their attempt to run it back, losing 12 of 15 in April, a hole that they struggled to emerge from. They have suffered some injuries, but most of their decline has come from a lackluster offense. They are second-from-last in baseball in home runs, third-from last in on-base percentage, and dead last in runs scored. Only eight qualified hitters have fewer home runs than Vladimir Guerrero. Kazuma Okamoto is third among all rookies in home runs with 26.

Kansas City Royals (58-74) vs. Toronto Blue Jays (64-68) at Rogers Centre, Toronto, ON

Royals: 4.24 runs scored/game (22nd in MLB), 4.93 runs allowed/game (26th)

Blue Jays: 3.95 runs scored/game (30th), 4.36 runs allowed/game (13th)

Who’s hot:

• Alejandro Kirk got off to an awful start, but is hitting .366/.440/.548 with five home runs in his last 26 games.
• Vinnie Pasquantino is hitting .385/.448/.769 in his seven games since returning from the Injured List.

Who’s not:

• Nathan Lukes is hitting just .184/.234/.287 in his last 26 games.
• Carter Jensen is batting .122/.280/.220 in his last 12 games.

Notable matchups:

• Salvador Perez is a career .371/.389/.771 hitter against Max Scherzer with four home runs in 36 plate appearances.
• Andrés Giménez is just 1-for-7 (.143) in his career against Seth Lugo.

Shane Bieber was supposed to pitch on Wednesday, but he was placed on the Injured List and the Jays currently do not list a starter for Wednesday or Thursday. They could start Simeon Woods Richardson, who has been pitching in relief since the Jays acquired him. He has a 1.04 ERA in 17.1 innings with them, but with 10 walks. Royals hitters are batting .366/.422/.439 against Spencer Arrighetti in his two career starts.

The Jays have a 3.78 bullpen ERA, and they have two pitchers – Louis Varland and Tyler Rogers – who are among the eight lowest reliever ERAs in baseball. Spencer Miles has a 1.76 ERA in 36 relief appearances. The Jays picked up Paul Sewald, who was let go by the Diamondbacks last week.

The Jays won’t be back in the World Series, but they are far from a bad team. The Royals have been hot, but the reigning AL champs could be a good test whether this run is fluky or the sign of a team that has figured things out in the second half.

Texas Rangers lineup for August 25, 2026 against the Chicago White Sox: starting pitchers are Jacob deGrom for the Rangers and Anthony Kay for the White Sox.

Texas looks to keep things rolling in Chicago. Skip Schumaker is going with the righty-swinging crew.

The lineup:

Foscue — 2B

Seager — SS

Langford — LF

Nimmo — RF

Duran — CF

Burger — 1B

O’Hoppe — C

Freeman — 3B

Jansen — C

6:40 p.m. Central start time. Rangers are -117 favorites.

Welcome to SB Nation Reacts, a survey of fans across the MLB. Throughout the year, we ask questions of the most plugged-in Yankees fans and fans across the country.

The race is tight.

The New York Yankees are only 3.5 games behind the Tampa Bay Rays for the lead in the American League East. However, they’re also working to stave off the Boston Red Sox, who broke down the door and entered the conversation over the past couple months. Every swing decision, every pitch, and every fielding choice matters more with every game played, and for some players this season, those have come easier than to others.

The Yankees need all hands on deck and a return to form from one or multiple players to make their case for an AL East title and World Series championship all the more believable, and there are cases for each one. Jazz Chisholm Jr., while he does sit in third place on the Yankees in fWAR, didn’t get there because of his ability to get on base this season. Rather, he’s there because of what he can do both in the field and when he does get on base. He’s 11th in MLB in strikeout rate, his OBP is below .300, and his wRC+ is 93 across the 121 games he has played this season. However, he’s fourth in MLB in stolen bases, and despite his offensive issues, he’s still been very effective on the basepaths. The same goes for Jose Caballero, whose entire profile is similar to that of Jazz’s this season — although Caballero didn’t come out before the season and say he wanted to go for a 50/50 campaign.

Austin Wells is another roster mainstay who has failed to live up to snuff this season. His last 20 games have been better than what his numbers might suggest (.255/.340/.404 slashline instead of .179/.274/.297), but he has been the worst hitter on the team for the majority, if not the entire season. He has been decent behind the plate, and the two seasons before this saw Wells showcase his offensive potential. However, he hasn’t been the same this year. But compared to new addition Heliot Ramos, who came over from the San Francisco Giants, Wells looks like a superstar.

In 16 games in pinstripes, Ramos is slashing .113/.230/.189, which is good for a 19 wRC+. His -0.7 fWAR is the worst on the Yankees and in such a short period of time. But a redeeming factor could be an acclimation period. Moving from one side of the country to the other isn’t easy for anyone, let alone a professional baseball player. And in 74 games with the Giants, Ramos was a slightly above-average hitter (105 OPS+) who had the kind of opposite-field power that could really be handy at Yankee Stadium. So, while it may be taking longer for him to get his bearings in a Yankee uniform than some fans may like, the sample size is still small, and he has a chance to prove himself down the stretch.

If you had to pick one player who could return to form and help lead the charge, which one do you think is most likely? Let us know in the Feed poll below, and we’ll analyze the results later in the week.

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Captain’s back.

As expected, the Mariners have reinstated shortstop J.P. Crawford from the IL, where he landed on July 30 with right wrist inflammation. And emphasis on the “shortstop” part of that sentence, as Colt Emerson, who was playing short in J.P.’s absence earlier in the year and then even when he returned, is done for the year with a similar wrist issue that he’s scheduled to have surgery on today. (If you’re curious about why one player might opt for season-ending surgery and another might come back after an IL stint for the same injury, read yesterday’s report on Colt Emerson, where I dove into the specifics of this injury and how it affects players differently (standard Not A Doctor caveat applies).)

Crawford completed a rehab stint with the Rainiers, playing three games with Tacoma over this past week. After going hitless in his first game, he went on to have a three-hit game with a homer the next day, and collected another hit in his final appearance. His last hurdle was returning to T-Mobile Park to go through a standard daily pregame workout with the team, which he cleared yesterday, leading to his activation today. Crawford was out for early batting practice again today, lasering hits all over the field, including a solid power round where he cleared the right field fence multiple times and even banged one off the ribbon board there.

“Great getting J.P. back,” said manager Dan Wilson pregame. “Obviously, we talk a lot about what he brings to the clubhouse in terms of his leadership and just what he means to this organization…It feels a little bit more like the family’s getting back together.”

With J.P. back, the Mariners lineup recovers some of the on-base ability lost when Brendan Donovan went on the concussion IL, and a veteran presence known to work a lengthy at-bat at the top or bottom of the lineup, offering manager Dan Wilson some flexibility in writing his lineup. That flexibility extends to the left side of the infield, where Crawford can play either short or third while Donovan is out, although from pregame activities yesterday he was taking reps exclusively at short.

Wilson says Crawford will bounce between short and third, likely settling in at short when Brendan Donovan returns. As a corresponding move, the Mariners opted to send infielder Leo Rivas back to Tacoma, leaving rookie Brock Rodden with the big-league club for a little more seasoning before he’s likely optioned back to Tacoma as well to make room for Donovan, who is on the concussion IL but eligible to come off of it on Saturday, assuming he doesn’t suffer any lingering effects from being hit in the head with a batting practice pitch on Saturday. Donovan was out on the field playing catch pregame but needed to take a few minutes to recover afterwards with his hands on his knees, still obviously feeling the nausea from his concussion. Wilson called sending Rivas to Tacoma a “tough decision”, but highlighted that the team feels Rodden has done a “really nice job” at short as well as putting up some good at-bats.

“Felt like Brock brought a little bit of a spark, and that’s a big reason why he’s here,” said Wilson.