New York sports fans have endured plenty of heartbreak. Even so, it’s not often that two of the city’s most important players get sidelined on the same sobering afternoon.
That happened Tuesday. First, the Yankees announced that Aaron Judge — the team’s slugging star and former MVP who had just worked his way back from a lengthy injured list stint — won’t be available for the Wild Card Series against the Boston Red Sox next week. Shortly afterward, ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported that the New York Giants are bracing for a far grimmer possibility: that rookie quarterback Jaxson Dart’s knee injury could require season-ending surgery.
A Wild Card Without the Slugger
According to reporting from the Daily Wire (published via Sport & State, the media company founded by Clay Travis), Yankees manager Aaron Boone confirmed Tuesday that the team does not expect to have Judge in the lineup for the Wild Card round. Judge was placed on the injured list last Friday with a right calf strain after receiving a PPP injection on Monday, and the calf will keep him out of the entire three-game series against Boston.
“We’re still trying to ramp up, so there’s gonna be little things like this that come up,” Judge told reporters, according to a clip shared by Underdog MLB.
Asked whether he anticipated getting testing done, Judge replied: “Probably not.”
The timing couldn’t be worse. Judge had just returned from more than three months on the injured list — a stretch that tested the Yankees’ depth and kept their best bat out of the heart of the order through the bulk of the summer. Boston is a familiar, dangerous opponent, and while New York managed to take a series from the Red Sox last month without Judge, the margin for error in a short playoff series is razor thin.
Complicating matters is that Judge himself downplayed the severity of the injury when asked about it earlier in the week. His expectation of avoiding further testing, in hindsight, appears less reassuring than it did at the time. Whether he could return later in the playoffs if New York advances past the first round remains an open question — one the team has not answered with any certainty.
Dart’s Diagnosis Is Worse Than Feared
The Giants news, meanwhile, may be even more dispiriting. Schefter reported that further testing on Dart’s knee revealed the injury is more significant than initially believed, and that the team and the rookie are now confronting the possibility of season-ending surgery.
That diagnosis contradicts what fans heard just a night earlier. During the Monday Night Football broadcast of the Giants’ loss to the Los Angeles Rams, sideline reporter Laura Rutledge said general manager Joe Schoen told her that Dart “will be OK.” A day later, the reporting from Schefter suggested anything but.
Dart left Monday’s game after a play that visibly unsettled the Giants sideline. He was later seen standing on the sideline fully dressed and walking around under his own power — a sight that led many to conclude he would miss time but almost certainly return this season. Now there is genuine fear that the rookie will miss the remaining 15 games.
It’s a stunning turn for a Giants team that had opened the year with a dominant win over the division rival Dallas Cowboys. With Dart under center, the offense looked sharp and the mood around the franchise was optimistic for the first time in a while. With veteran Jameis Winston at the helm on Monday night, that same offense looked virtually unrecognizable.
From Optimism to a 1-2 Punch
What makes Tuesday feel especially cruel for New York fans is how recently things seemed to be turning around. After a long stretch of disappointment across the city’s sports landscape, the Knicks won the NBA Finals earlier this year — a championship that felt like it lifted a decades-old cloud. If the Knicks could climb the mountain, the thinking went, maybe everyone else could too.
There were early signs. The Giants were 1-0 for the first time since 2022, and the Yankees were heating up at precisely the right moment heading into the postseason.
Then, just after lunch on Tuesday, both storylines took a hard hit. Judge is out for at least the Wild Card round. Dart may not play again until next season. For a fan base that has already been through more than its share, the afternoon served as a blunt reminder that even when the pieces finally seem to be falling into place, they can scatter again in a matter of hours.
Source: www.dailywire.com — https://www.dailywire.com/news/a-brutal-day-to-forget-if-youre-a-new-york-sports-fan