5 important Yankees for the home stretch of the regular season
Aaron Judge of the Yankees looks on against the St. Louis Cardinals at Yankee Stadium on Aug. 4. Credit: Jim McIsaac
The Yankees departed for the West Coast on Aug. 30 on a roll. After taking three of four games from the Red Sox, they were feeling good about their chances to catch the AL East-leading Rays.
A 16-1 victory over Boston in the finale of the four-game series gave the Yankees 10 wins in their last 14 games, solidifying their standing as the American League’s top wild-card team. It had them within shouting distance (4 1/2 games) of the Rays, against whom the Yankees are 3-6 and have a potentially season-deciding four-game series at the Stadium Sept. 22-24.
A night after that big win over the Red Sox, however, the Yankees dropped a 10-1 decision to the lowly Angels, and they went on to lose a pair of one-run decisions to the Padres on their 3-3 trip. They avoided an outright flop on the West Coast but now are four games behind the Rays and two games ahead of the Red Sox for the AL’s No. 1 wild-card spot.
They would have home-field advantage for what increasingly looks like a matchup against Boston in the Wild Card Round. Their lead really amounts to three games, as the Yankees took the season series over Boston 7-6. (Similarly, unless the Yankees sweep the Rays, they will lose the tiebreaker and in effect be an extra game behind Tampa Bay.)
Still, with the four-game set against Tampa Bay looming (Sept. 22 is a doubleheader), the division title isn’t mathematically out of reach. With 19 games to go, there is plenty on the table for the Yankees.
With that in mind, here are five of the most important Yankees as the regular season hits the home stretch:
Aaron Judge
This is an obvious one, of course. The three-time American League MVP, who hasn’t played since May 31 because of a rib stress fracture, was activated Monday night and is expected to play Tuesday when the Yankees face the Rockies. Coincidentally or perhaps appropriately, No. 99 was out for 99 days. How important is the return of Judge? Over the years, whenever he’s been asked about his impact, manager Aaron Boone typically has smiled and begun his answer with: “Well, he’s Aaron Judge.” That about covers it.
Luis Garcia Jr.
The combination of Judge’s rib taking time to heal and the continued setbacks with designated hitter Giancarlo Stanton and his calf injuries made acquiring a bat the top priority of general manager Brian Cashman before the Aug. 3 trade deadline. Garcia arrived in the Bronx from the Nationals with the reputation of elite bat-to-ball skills and has shown it, hitting .288 with five homers and an .811 OPS in 29 games with the Yankees. Those numbers could get even better with Judge returning, and a healthy Judge suddenly would give the Yankees three potent middle-of-the order bats in Ben Rice, Judge and Garcia.
Spencer Jones
Jones, among the more hyped Yankees prospects of the last 15 years, began this season in the minors with his ability to get even sporadic time in the big leagues very much in question. As the regular season draws to a close, Jones finds himself in the position of being able to put a hammerlock on the starting job in centerfield for, at the very least, the start of the 2027 season. Jones has been playing well in his third stint in the majors in 2026 and now is the starting centerfielder until further notice because of the hamstring injury that could cost Trent Grisham the rest of the regular season. The lefthanded-hitting Jones, who spent much of his minor-league career striking out 35% to 40% of the time, has improved in that area and has particularly excelled against lefthanded pitching.
Cam Schlittler
The righthander, who is 12-6 with a 2.04 ERA in 29 starts, enters the season’s final three weeks as the favorite to win the American League Cy Young Award. Career resumes aside, he should get the ball over Gerrit Cole for the first game of whatever playoff series the Yankees find themselves in. One thing to watch: Schlittler, who threw 73 innings in 14 starts last season after his promotion to the big leagues, is at 171 2/3 innings (which ranks him second in the AL). That total blows away his previous single-season career high of 120 2/3 innings he threw between Class A, Double-A and Triple-A in 2024.
Brent Headrick
Though Headrick entered spring training with little fanfare — both from the media and the fan base — the Yankees were quietly confident that they had something in the lefthanded reliever, who was mostly effective in limited action in 2025, posting a 3.13 ERA in 17 games. After a standout spring training, Headrick has arguably been the bullpen’s MVP, appearing unhittable at times in posting a 1.89 ERA. A cautionary note: Headrick has a team-high 72 appearances (Tim Hill and the injured Fernando Cruz are next with 61), so it would behoove the Yankees to limit his appearances down the stretch when they can.
Erik Boland started in Newsday's sports department in 2002. He covered high school and college sports, then shifted to the Jets beat. He has covered the Yankees since 2009.
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