An anemic offense has been the biggest factor behind the New York Yankees’ recent struggles. On Sunday night, they scored four runs, but all of them came in the ninth and tenth innings. Notably, they did not record a hit until the eighth inning. And if that wasn’t enough, the Yankees also endured a scare when Jazz Chisholm Jr. collided with Jasson Domínguez on Monday night. Now, just a day later, the Yankees’ manager has added another layer to an already growing pile of bad news.

“Boone said Judge is ‘still not able to do much. … He’s certainly not able to do any baseball activities yet.’ Judge has been performing lower-body activities in the weight room, according to Boone,” Bryan Hoch wrote, as per MLB.com.

Back on April 26 in Houston, Aaron Judge dove for a shallow fly ball hit by Dustin Harris. This play in the fifth inning appeared routine, but soon enough, a complication arose. Jazz Chisholm was trying to pursue the same ball from the infield, and now it was on the right fielder to avoid a collision. Turns out he wasn’t successful.

The impact from that collision was pretty solid, and it hurt the first rib on the right side. However, the 34-year-old played through what appeared to be minor discomfort at the time. Not only that, he remained in the lineup for the next six weeks. And, as he himself acknowledged later, another crash into the wall on May 3 against the Baltimore didn’t help either.

Also, if reports are to be believed, both GM Brian Cashman and manager Aaron Boone and the training staff were unaware that he was not fully fit. While that was brave of him to own responsibility as captain, it was only a matter of time before the breaking point came.

By the time the Yankees faced the A’s in Sacramento, which happened towards the end of May, Judge’s swing had changed considerably, and it even caught Boone’s eye. In fact, Judge’s performance fell off around May 13, and from that day onwards, he batted .180 (11-for-61), one homer and eight RBIs.

Then, in their series against the Cleveland Guardians in early June, he sat out of the lineup and underwent an MRI, CT scan, and X-rays on successive days this week in New York. At the time, the team had said that he would be re-imaged in the coming 4-6 weeks to assess the healing and the recovery. Reflecting on what went down, the slugger said:

“I was feeling the symptoms the past month, and we kind of did everything we could to make sure we could be out there. In Sacramento, it just got a little worse. I fought as long as I could. … The biggest thing was that I just couldn’t swing the way I wanted to. And Sacramento was the worst.”

Initially, he was diagnosed with a bone bruise on a right upper rib, but after a detailed consultation with Dr. Gregory Pearl of Dallas, who specializes in “thoracic outlet syndrome management in high-performance athletes,” as per his practice’s website, he was diagnosed with a stress fracture in his right first rib. And his right rib fracture happens to be “near the same spot” as the one he had sustained seven years ago in September under the same circumstances. At that time, he also had a partially collapsed lung.

Reportedly, Aaron Judge is expected to be back by August, but if the latest update from Boone is any hint, then we have obvious cause for worry.

If we look at the past three seasons, then it is the slugger’s second time when he has landed on the IL. While he was healthy all of 2024, he suffered a flexor strain in his right arm, which sidelined him for 10 days in July and August 2025. Then, in 2023, he missed 54 days after spraining his right big toe in a collision with the Dodger Stadium outfield wall.

Besides Judge, we also have Trent Grisham out with a right hamstring strain, with an expected return of July 3. Then there are Ryan McMahon and Max Fried, who are out owing to a peritonsillar abscess and left elbow bone bruise, respectively. Giancarlo Stanton and Clarke Schmidt also find their names on the IL. With such key pieces out of the lineup, the Yankees’ struggles make sense.

The June swoon continues for the Bronx Bombers

They are currently sitting in second place in the American League East with a 48-37 win-loss record and .565 PCT. They are 2.5 games behind the leader, the Tampa Bay Rays. While that is not a bad spot to be in, their recent stretch has made the gaps explicit.

June saw the Yankees tank the series against the Cleveland Guardians and the Cincinnati Reds, and the worst came when they got swept by their archrivals, the Boston Red Sox. During Thursday’s season opener, the Yankees had an early 2-0 lead, but they failed to maintain it because of the shaky defense surrounding Cam Schlittler. The Red Sox eventually managed a lead in the fifth inning and delivered a 6-3 victory.

The team has also been missing meaningful contributions from role players like Austin Wells, who has been unable to deliver a decent performance since his return.

Even their ongoing series against the Detroit Tigers is not going as expected, as they have already lost the first two games. With the 9-3 win at Yankee Stadium, the Tigers have sent New York to its season-worst sixth straight loss. As if that was not humiliation enough, the Tigers also hit 5 home runs against the Yankees for the first time since August 30, 2018.

Tarik Skubal delivered an absolute masterclass as he threw 61 of 87 pitches for strikes and retired 12 straight after Rice’s homer in the first. Meanwhile, the Yankees have managed only 16 hits in their last five games. Now that July is almost here, we can only hope that the Yankees deliver a better performance against the Minnesota Twins.