How the Yankees pulled ahead in the wild card race as the Mets fall further back

Key takeaways

• The Yankees’ magic number to clinch a wild card berth stood at one, according to Just Baseball, or two, according to Yahoo Sports, as of Sept. 13, with the team 10.5 games ahead of the cutoff line.
• Aaron Judge returned in early September after missing 84 games with a rib stress fracture, and the offense has surged since, led by Cody Bellinger and Ben Rice.
• The Mets, eliminated from the NL East on Sept. 8, sat 12 games back in the NL wild card race on Sept. 14, with an elimination number of one.

The New York Yankees needed one more win, or one more loss by a rival, to clinch a postseason berth this week. Their magic number for a wild card spot stood at one as of Sept. 13, according to Just Baseball’s tracker, capping a stretch in which the team won 17 of its last 24 games.

The surge has coincided with Aaron Judge’s return from a rib injury that cost him three months, and it has widened the gap between the Yankees and a Mets team eliminated from the National League East on Sept. 8. MLB’s official standings through Sept. 14 showed New York’s American League club 10.5 games ahead of the wild card cutoff, while the Mets sat 12 games back of a National League wild card spot with an elimination number of one.

A Rib Injury That Cost Judge Three Months

Judge’s absence traced back to an April 26 diving catch attempt in Houston, according to Hoodline. He continued playing through shoulder and rib discomfort for more than a month before the injury worsened. An initial bone-bruise diagnosis was later revised to a stress fracture requiring roughly two months of recovery, and Judge landed on the injured list on May 31.

He missed 84 games over a 96-day span. Before the injury, Judge had batted.248 with 17 home runs and 38 RBIs in 59 games, according to Yahoo Sports. The Yankees activated him directly to the major league roster without a minor league rehabilitation stint, sending him from batting practice sessions at Yankee Stadium into the lineup for a game against the Colorado Rockies in the first week of September. To clear a roster spot for Judge, the team designated pitcher Chase Hampton for assignment. Two days earlier, the Yankees had recalled prospect Jasson Dominguez after an injury to Trent Grisham.

Judge’s Injury Timeline
Aaron Judge missed 84 games over a 96-day span with a right rib stress fracture that began with an April 26 diving catch in Houston, before returning directly to the Yankees’ lineup without a minor league rehab stint in early September, according to Hoodline and Yahoo Sports.

Offense Heats Up Behind Bellinger and Rice

The Yankees’ offense picked up after Judge’s return. Over a four-game winning streak in mid-September, New York scored 27 runs on 39 hits, according to Yardbarker. Across their last 24 games, the team batted .264 with 31 home runs and 126 runs scored.

Cody Bellinger hit.377, going 20-for-53, over his last 13 games, and added a three-run homer in the series opener. Ben Rice hit.338, 23-for-68, over his previous 17 games and also homered that day. Manager Aaron Boone said the team was “finding our stride a little bit offensively” with Judge back and the roster more whole, according to Yardbarker.

Pitching Holds Serve in a Split Subway Series

New York and the Mets played their final regular-season meeting of the year in a three-game series at Yankee Stadium from Sept. 11 to 13. The Yankees won the opener 6-4 behind Bellinger’s three-run homer, according to Yardbarker.

The Mets answered with a 12-2 rout in the second game, getting two home runs and five RBIs, including a grand slam, from Francisco Lindor, plus homers from Luis Torrens, Carson Benge, Juan Soto and Jared Young. Gerrit Cole allowed five runs over 4 1/3 innings for New York. The result meant the Yankees could not clinch a playoff berth that day even with a win, because they also needed Toronto to lose, according to Fingerlakes1.com.

In the rubber game, Cam Schlittler threw six scoreless innings on one hit with eight strikeouts, lowering his ERA to 1.95, before leaving with a hamstring issue after being struck by a comebacker. Ben Rice hit his 38th home run and Austin Wells snapped an 0-for-20 slump with a 392-foot shot as the Yankees won 2-0. The two teams finished the season series 3-3, with each winning all three games on its own field.

New York’s magic number to clinch a wild card berth fell to one or two this week, depending on the tracker, as the Yankees closed in on a postseason spot.

Where the Wild Card Race Stands

MLB’s standings through Sept. 14 showed the Yankees at 86-63, 10.5 games ahead of the cutoff for the American League’s three wild card spots. The Boston Red Sox held the second spot at 82-68, six games ahead of the cutoff. The Cleveland Guardians held the third and final spot at 76-74, with the Toronto Blue Jays one game back at 75-75 and the Texas Rangers two games back at 74-76.

In the AL East, the Tampa Bay Rays led the division at 90-59, four games ahead of the Yankees. Tracking sites including Just Baseball put New York’s magic number to clinch a wild card berth at one as of Sept. 13; a separate Yahoo Sports tracker updated through the same date listed the magic number at two. The Yankees had not officially clinched as of Sept. 14. Under MLB’s postseason format, the top wild card seed hosts all three games of its best-of-three Wild Card Series, according to MLB’s standings page.

The Mets Fall Further Behind

The Mets were eliminated from the NL East race on Sept. 8, when their record of 66-78 left them 19 games behind the division-leading Atlanta Braves with only 18 games remaining, according to Yahoo Sports. The team entered the season with Soto and Lindor already in place and added Freddy Peralta, Luis Robert Jr., Marcus Semien, Bo Bichette and Jorge Polanco over the offseason, moves made in hopes of reversing the previous year’s late-season collapse.

By Sept. 14, the Mets stood at 69-80, in fifth place in the NL East, 18.5 games behind Atlanta and in last place in the division, according to MLB’s team standings page. In the NL wild card race, the Mets trailed the final playoff spot by 12 games, with an elimination number of one. Ahead of them were the Chicago Cubs and Philadelphia Phillies, tied atop the wild card standings at 83-67, the San Diego Padres at 81-68, the Arizona Diamondbacks at 79-71, the Pittsburgh Pirates at 75-75, the Miami Marlins and St. Louis Cardinals, tied at 74-76, the Cincinnati Reds at 70-79, and the Washington Nationals at 70-81.

Photo: Rachel Nicastro · CC BY-SA 4.0 · via Wikimedia Commons