MEXICO CITY — DJ LeMahieu’s race against the clock came up short.

The Yankees’ veteran third baseman will start the season on the injured list, general manager Brian Cashman said on Monday in Tampa, due to the significant bone bruise on his right foot caused by fouling a ball off it on March 16.

LeMahieu had been trying to ramp up his workload over the past few days in an attempt to be ready for Thursday’s Opening Day in Houston, but the pain and swelling has not fully subsided and the Yankees did not want him trying to play through it.

“I just think the last two days, as he’s ramped up a little bit, it’s just been slow and not close to where he needs to be,” manager Aaron Boone said Monday before the Yankees wrapped up their exhibition series against Diablos Rojos del Mexico at Estadio Alfredo Harp Helú. “The timeline became inevitable, so we’ll see.”

Without LeMahieu, Oswaldo Cabrera is expected to fill in at third base, barring a late external move ahead of the opener.

The Yankees can backdate LeMahieu’s IL stint three days, meaning he could potentially return in time for the home opener on April 5. But that will depend on how much progress he makes over the next week.

The 35-year-old LeMahieu is also expected to get another MRI on Friday — which was part of the original plan, Cashman said — after all his initial tests came back negative.

“Hopefully it continues to confirm what we know,” Boone said. “But hopefully some of the swelling is down by then. Hopefully it doesn’t leak too long [into the season], but we’ll see.”

LeMahieu will stay back in Tampa while the Yankees begin the regular season, doing as much activity as he can without making things worse.

“I think they want him to do things — what he can tolerate,” Boone said. “I don’t think they want him going through things in pain. So it’ll just be what he can tolerate as he continues to [build].”

LeMahieu had tried to play through a right foot injury late in 2022, which sapped his production and created issues that carried into the first half of last season.

The Yankees were encouraged by what they had seen from a healthy LeMahieu early in camp, with Boone pointing to his explosiveness, but that has now been tempered by his return to the IL.

“It’s just a little bit slow go on the recovery side,” Cashman said. “He banged that up pretty good.”

For as long as LeMahieu is sidelined, the Yankees will also need to fill his spot as the leadoff hitter. The veteran had been Boone’s preference to hit first with his ability to get on base and control at-bats, but those duties will now likely fall to Gleyber Torres (against left-handers) and Alex Verdugo.

Cabrera, meanwhile, will almost certainly be tasked with manning third base. The domino effect means that the Yankees will have to find someone who can back up at shortstop (and perhaps first base), since Cabrera had originally been slated to fill a utility role and play all over the diamond. That may come through a trade or signing over the next few days, since the Yankees are more comfortable with bench-piece Jahmai Jones at second base or left field.

But Cabrera’s last few weeks of spring training have the Yankees feeling better about his potential to make an offensive impact while he fills in for LeMahieu after scuffling through a brutal 2023 and the first few weeks of camp.

“Excited about what we’re seeing the last two weeks,” Boone said. “He’s really come on. Having quality at-bats, stacking quality at-bats. Yeah, getting some results, but more just the at-bat quality has been a lot better. He’ll continue to be a hybrid [switch hitter] — we’ll pick the guys to match up from the right side. But he’s going to be an important figure for us this year.”

— Additional reporting by Joel Sherman in Tampa