Hour 1: Judge Returns

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This is The Michael Kay Show Podcast.

**Michael Kay** (0:34)
I gotta get more Kay.

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**Michael Kay** (0:41)
And good afternoon, everybody. This is indeed The Michael Kay Show. We thank you for joining us on this Tuesday, September 8th, 2026, me and you for two. Those are the rules of engagement. It is the fastest moving two hours in Sports Talk Radio, and we thank you for being a part of it. As you know, the membership number is 1-800-919-3776.
That's how you become a co-host on the show. Hope you enjoy your Labor Day weekend, kind of the unofficial end of summer. And now we are in the homestretch for baseball. This is the first week that we will have football. The first game is Wednesday. Can you believe that? Seahawks and the Patriots, a rematch of the Super Bowl Thursday. It's the Rams and the 49ers from Australia. And then we've got the Giants and the Cowboys on Sunday night. We've got the Jets and the Titans Sunday afternoon. And then Monday night football, the Chiefs and the Broncos. So a loaded slate, to be honest. But the big story today, this Tuesday, September 8th, is that the Yankees play the Rockies tonight at Yankee Stadium. And in the lineup will be Aaron Judge. The last time Aaron Judge played for the Yankees was on May 31st. Fractured a rib has been rehabbing since then. On the West Coast trip, took BP, took BP against Velocity. Yesterday, he played not a game, but certainly took BP against Velocity at an empty Yankee Stadium on their off day. And last night, he was activated. Chase Hampton was designated for assignment. And now the question is, what does he bring to the Yankees? Well, I wrote down some numbers.
Since he played, the Yankees, amazingly enough, are six games over 500, 45 and 39 Now, while he was playing, they were 13 games over 500 So they're 19 games over 500 Now, the thing that kind of obscures the 45 and 39 is you have to remember that when they started without him, you know, before it really hit them and it hit teams about how to deal with the Yankees, the Yankees were 10 and 5 without him. So essentially, you take that 10 and 5 out, they've been one game over 500 during that time. If you don't think he's going to help, then you're not watching. If you don't think he's going to help, then you're not paying attention. He impacts every body around him. He has a radiating effect. Now, they're going to play him in a different way. I think they're going to slow roll it with him and maybe play five innings, take them out, maybe give them a day off, then play in the next day, seven innings. It's going to have a spring training feel to it. He did not want to go on a rehab assignment. Didn't want to go on a rehab assignment. He said, why should I waste the at bats? The Yankees have 19 games remaining. So they have 19 games, essentially three weeks of games, to get ready for the postseason, which they will definitely be in. Whether they catch Tampa Bay, that's another story. Whether they hold off Boston for the first wild card, again, that's another story. But they're nine games clear of being out of the wild card. This team is not blowing a nine game lead with 19 games left to go. They're simply not doing that. Their pitching is too good. But what have they missed with Judge? So we start from June 1st. That's the first day without him.
And we do it through Sunday's game in San Diego.
They are 26 in that time in runs per game. So they've been scoring 4.06 runs per game while he was here, 5.17. So a full run plus with Judge in the lineup.
In batting average, in the time without Judge. This is last year's American League batting champion they lost. They're 29th in batting average.