August 14, 2020

Extra Rest

I find the Aaron Judge injury situation interesting from the long-game point of view. The goal is to win the World Series, and normally that means a long fight to reach the playoffs. Judge’s injury is not that bad, maybe he needs a couple of days off:

“He wants to be out there and feels like it’s a day-to-day thing, which it very well may be,” Boone told reporters Friday. “It goes without saying how important a player Aaron is to us. I think it’s really important that he not go out there and hurt this thing significantly trying to play through something.”

UPI.com

The Yankees have a good team, as their .667 winning percentage indicates. They are likely to make the play-offs with or without Judge. The high seeds are likely less important this season due to the lack of fans likely taking away some part of the home field advantage. In fact, road team winning percentage this season is .490. Over the previous ten seasons it stood at .465.

So the Yankees need to have their best team in place and healthy for the post-season. Giving Judge ten days off instead of two might cost them a top four seed, but without fans influencing umpires, the talent should win out in the end. It’s a good strategy.

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