Aaron Judge Out 3 Weeks with Fracture in Right Wrist

For one night Yankee fans saw their hopes and dreams of a World Series Championship flash before their very eyes. Aaron Judge, by all accounts the leader of this ball club, will miss the next three weeks with a fractured wrist, an injury he sustained on a 93 mph fastball that struck his arm in the first inning of last night's Royals-Yankees game.

Judge stayed in the contest until he was removed for a pinch hitter in the fourth inning.

The only sliver of good news for the Yankees is that Judge will not require surgery. However he can't swing a baseball bat for a month.

The Yankees (65-36) are in a dog fight for the American League Wild Card with the Seattle Mariners (61-41) and Oakland A's (61-43) right on their heals. With Judge out until at least late August, that means New York will need everyone else to step up big time.

Judge leads the Yankees in home runs (26), RBI (61) and total bases (204). The next closest to that production is Giancarlo Stanton. With 23 homers and 61 RBI himself, the pressure will fall on Stanton to be THE guy in the heart of the Yankee order. Being the center of attention is nothing new for Stanton; he had to be the man in Miami for seven years. However, when he was traded to New York, he was expected to be one of the guys. Now, he has to be the guy in some key situations.

The injury doesn't come at a good time. Gary Sanchez is also on the disabled list until September with a groin strain. Without Judge and Sanchez in the lineup, the Yankees are missing roughly a quarter of their offensive production from this season. That's big.

Oh, by the way, the Yankees open up a big four-game series in Boston next week. If there was ever a time for the others in the Yankee dugout to step up, now would be a good time.

Hopefully for the Yankees sake they can get both Judge and Sanchez back before September, where they have a road trip to Seattle and Oakland on the docket. Should be interesting to say the least.