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The Yankees Hold the Top Wild Card Spot Without Aaron Judge. Boston Arrives This Weekend.
Records current as of Aug. 26, 2026
New York is 74-57, three games behind Tampa Bay in the AL East, and holding the top American League wild card position.
They’ve done it while missing their best player for more than two months.
And this weekend they host Boston for the final time this season, with the Red Sox a game and a half behind them for that same spot.
The injuries are the story
Aaron Judge remains out with a rib fracture. Cody Bellinger is sidelined four to six weeks with a hamstring strain.
That’s the middle of the order, absent, during the stretch run. That the Yankees are 17 games over .500 and leading the wild card race anyway is the most impressive thing about their season — and also the reason the margin feels thinner than the record suggests.
On the mound, the news is better. Max Fried continues working his way back into the rotation alongside Gerrit Cole, which gives Aaron Boone something close to a playoff rotation for the first time in a while.
The weekend that decides the seeding
Boston comes to the Bronx this weekend for the last meeting of the season, and the season series has been almost eerily balanced.
The Red Sox lead it 5-4. Each team has scored exactly 30 runs across the nine games.
Nine games, one-run difference in the standings column, dead even on the scoreboard. That’s the rivalry doing what it does.
The stakes are specific: New York holds the top wild card spot, Boston sits a game and a half back. If the postseason started today, the American League would feature two intradivision wild card series — and one of them would be the Yankees hosting the Red Sox at Yankee Stadium.
Home field in that series is what this weekend is actually about.
Tampa Bay is probably out of reach
The Rays are 78-54 and have quietly been one of the best teams in baseball all year.
Their depth is what separates them. Drew Rasmussen has delivered steady innings, Nick Martinez has stepped up, and Freddy Peralta is rounding into form. The bullpen, anchored by Bryan Baker, is among the league’s most reliable. Junior Caminero and Yandy Díaz drive the offense, and the addition of catcher/first baseman Liam Hicks balanced the lineup.
Three games back with roughly thirty to play is not impossible. But catching a team with that little weakness, while missing Judge and Bellinger, is a lot to ask.
The wild card is the realistic path, and the seed within it is what New York can still control.
Across town
The Mets are 60-72 and out of the race, which makes this a one-team September in New York for the first time in a few years.
What has to happen
- Win the Boston series. Home field in a coin-flip wild card round is worth more than a division chase that’s probably out of reach.
- Get Judge back healthy. A rib fracture is not a small thing, and there’s no version of a deep October run without him.
- Fried and Cole, fully stretched. A best-of-three series is won by two starters. New York has two if both are right.
- Hold off Cleveland. The Guardians at 67-66 are the closest thing to a threat from outside the division.
The Yankees have survived two months without their best player. The reward for that is a chance to play the Red Sox in October, at home, if they hold on for five more weeks.
NYC Sports Wire covers Yankees and Mets news, schedules and game coverage all season. See the Yankees schedule for first pitch times and broadcast info, or the AL standings for the current wild card race.