The New York Yankees have dealt with their fair share of injuries to star players this season, but they are finally close to getting one of them back.
Before Sunday's series finale against the Toronto Blue Jays, manager Aaron Boone revealed that star outfielder Cody Bellinger is expected to begin a rehab assignment this week.
Bellinger will play for Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre on Tuesday and Thursday, with the Yankees planning to activate him next weekend, per Erik Boland of Newsday.
The former MVP has been out since July 26 with a Grade 2 hamstring strain he sustained the day before in a game against the Philadelphia Phillies.
The 31-year-old was in the midst of an All-Star season in his second year in New York. Before the injury, Bellinger was hitting .259/.350/.420 with 11 home runs, 53 RBI, a 119 wRC+ and 3.1 fWAR.
In Bellinger's absence, trade deadline acquisition Heliot Ramos has filled in primarily in left field. However, the former San Francisco Giant has struggled mightily in his first taste of action with the Yankees.
Through 10 games with his new team, Ramos has gone just 1-for-32 at the plate with 11 strikeouts. His struggles haven't helped a Yankees offense that has fallen off dramatically over the past couple of months.
Since the Aug. 3 trade deadline, the Yankees have scored just 28 runs, the second-fewest in baseball during that span. Overall, they are batting just .220/.293/.345 as a team during this stretch while going 5-6.
While New York still holds the top AL wild-card spot, the Boston Red Sox are right on their heels. Boston sits just two games behind the Yankees entering play Sunday.
With the Tampa Bay Rays holding a 6.5-game division lead, securing the top wild-card spot has become the Yankees' No. 1 priority down the stretch.
At this point, a Yankees-Red Sox matchup in the opening wild-card round looks like a real possibility. The Texas Rangers currently hold the third wild-card spot but sit 5.5 games behind Boston.
If that matchup happens, finishing as the top wild-card team would give either New York or Boston home-field advantage for the entire best-of-three series.
With fewer than 40 games remaining, every game becomes that much more important and significant.
