The New York Yankees are just going to have to keep on plugging along with Aaron Judge.

Judge could potentially return to the team’s lineup in mid-September, Jon Heyman of The New York Post reported on Friday. Heyman did add though that the timeline on Judge is a “guesstimate” for now.

The three-time AL MVP Judge has not played at all for the Yankees since the end of May. He is nursing a fractured rib and was originally given a 4-to-6-week re-evaluation date.

But Judge is now nearly 11 weeks removed from his last game appearance and could still miss at least another four weeks or so before returning. The Yankees have also been hurt by injuries to other offensive stars like Giancarlo Stanton (calf) and Cody Bellinger (hamstring).

As a result, New York has underachieved a bit this season at 68-53 and sits 6.5 games back of the Tampa Bay Rays for the division lead (though they have a stranglehold on the No. 1 wild-card spot in the AL). The Yankees are also just 14-11 ever since the All-Star break.

Judge previously revealed that he had been playing through his rib injury for a good amount of time before the pain became too much. While the 34-year-old slugger recently made a bold guarantee amid his injury recovery, time is quickly running out for Judge to make his return during the 2026 regular season.