Aaron Judge's Yankees return just gave Guardians a huge advantage in Wild Card chase

Later today the Cleveland Guardians will take on the Baltimore Orioles in a pivotal game that has huge stakes on the American League Wild Card race. 

Although the Orioles aren’t nipping at the Guardians’ heels in the Wild Card race in the same way the Blue Jays are, Monday’s game showed they have the talent needed to make a run over the final two weeks of the season (even if their roster took a hit when they lost Luis Robert Jr. to injury). 

While the Guardians have a chance to knock the Orioles out of the postseason race by winning the final two games of this week’s series, there’s always the chance Baltimore manages to win enough for them to be in the postseason hunt when they face off against the Yankees in their final series of the year. 

That said, their chances of winning that series took a huge hit yesterday when the Yankees activated Aaron Judge from the injured list after he missed a little more than three months with a right rib stress fracture. 

Guardians fans could benefit from Aaron Judge's return in the final weekend of the 2026 season

The Yankees were able to stay afloat while Judge was on the injured list (45-39 record without him) and enter play today with a nine-game lead over the Guardians for the American League’s final Wild Card spot. 

That said, they’re only one game ahead of the Red Sox for that top spot, and are only four games behind the Rays for the top spot in the American League East (who they play in their penultimate series of the year). 

The Yankees still have plenty to play for, which could also loom large in that final series. While New York will have probably clinched a postseason spot by that point, they still should have plenty of play for in their series against the Orioles. 

But the best thing the Guardians can do to help with that equation is beat the Orioles in the final two games of their series this week. 

They got saved on Monday thanks to the Blue Jays’ walk-off loss to the Athletics, but the Rangers and Orioles got closer to the Guardians thanks to their wins while the White Sox increased their lead in the AL Central by virtue of being idle. 

Unfortunately for the Guardians, that Orioles’ series is really the only way that Judge’s return could have a positive impact on Clevleand’s postseason run. 

While the Guardians made life a bit tougher for themselves by losing their opener to the Orioles on Monday, they still have two more opportunities to put Baltimore away. And, if that still isn’t enough to put the Orioles away, they’ll have a three-time MVP on their side in the final weekend of the year. 

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