Aaron Judge has done what baseball players call “posting” for each of the first 66 games of the New York Yankees season.
Rain or shine, night or day, ailments or not, Judge has been in the lineup.
But in Game 67, the Yankees decided to give Judge a rest.
New York put out its lineup for Thursday night in Kansas City, and the No. 99 was conspicuous by his absence.
Judge, as the Yankees’ captain, never wants to come out of the lineup. He also hasn’t given any reason to, having batted .394 with 25 home runs through 66 games, the best average with 25-plus HRs to start a season in MLB history.
With no Judge in right field, Cody Bellinger gets the start out there.
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The Yankees go Trent Grisham, Ben Rice and Paul Goldschmidt as 1-2-3 without Judge, followed by Bellinger, Jasson Dominguez and Anthony Volpe. J.C. Escarra catches, with Pablo Reyes and Oswald Peraza bringing up the rear.
There’s no reason to believe anything is wrong with Judge. It makes sense for him to get a routine day off.
The Yankees have a three-game set coming up at Fenway Park against the Boston Red Sox, too. This will allow Judge to be fully rested for a rivalry trifecta.
Still, it’ll be a bit weird to watch the Yankees go through the lineup without Judge in there. He’ll just loom as the most dangerous pinch-hitting option on the planet instead.
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