Aaron Judge Intends to Play in Wild Card Series, Saving Yankees Fans from Total Meltdown

The collective blood pressure of the Bronx just dropped from boiling to mildly panicked. Aaron Judge is officially planning to be in the lineup when the postseason begins.

ESPN’s Jorge Castillo got the word directly from the captain himself, with Jeff Passan amplifying the news Wednesday night. Judge intends to play in next week’s Wild Card series, ending whatever doomsday scenarios Yankees fans were cooking up in their group chats.

"Yankees star Aaron Judge told @jorgecastillo today that he intends to play in the wild card series next week."

If you are holding a New York Yankees futures ticket, you can finally put the paper bag away. A playoff roster without number 99 is just a very expensive collection of guys waiting for someone else to hit a home run.

New York has not exactly been cruising into October. They just dropped two of three games to the Arizona Diamondbacks out west and split a Tuesday doubleheader against the Tampa Bay Rays, managing just three total runs across those two games.

They finish out the regular season with two more against Tampa Bay before a final weekend tune-up against the Baltimore Orioles. The only thing that actually matters in those games is making sure Judge gets to next Tuesday in one piece.

Yahoo Sports recently pegged the Yankees as one of the most dangerous Wild Card teams in the field, but that label is entirely dependent on the big man swinging a bat. He is the entire engine of this operation.

The Wild Card round kicks off next week. Whether Judge is fully healthy or just taping himself together for a ring chase, his presence alone completely changes the math for whoever has the misfortune of drawing New York in a short series.