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Jorge Castillo
NEW YORK — After the Yankees’ season-ending loss to the Blue Jays on Wednesday night, right fielder Aaron Judge did not dismiss the possibility of undergoing offseason surgery to repair his injured right elbow.
“We’ll definitely do some work on it,” Judge said. “We’ll do some work on it and get it right.”
Does that mean surgery?
“I’m not a doctor,” Judge said. “I don’t know.”
Judge, 33, suffered a flexor strain in the elbow in late July to interrupt another MVP-caliber season. Unable to throw without acute pain, he was placed on the injured list. He returned exclusively as a designated hitter on Aug. 5 while rehabbing the injury. A month later, though still limited, he returned to right field with the Yankees in a heated playoff race.
He split time between right field and designated hitter until Sept. 23 when he started the Yankees’ final six regular-season games and seven postseason games in the outfield. Judge’s arm strength improved — he fired a 90.2-mph throw, slightly higher than his average in 2025, in Game 1 of the ALDS against the Blue Jays — but remained compromised.
The arm issue did not impact Judge in the batter’s box. After winning the batting title with a .331 average along with 53 home runs during the regular season, Judge registered the best individual postseason of his career.
Highlighted by his game-tying three-run home run off the left field pole at Yankee Stadium in Game 3 — on a 100-mph fastball in off the plate from Blue Jays right-hander Louis Varland — Judge went 13-for-26 (.500) with a 1.273 OPS, four walks and seven RBIs across 31 plate appearances in the Yankees’ seven playoff games.
But the performance could not prevent the Yankees from getting bounced in the ALDS after a 5-2 loss in Game 4, extending the franchise’s championship skid to 16 seasons.