When Aaron Judge dove for a ball and landed on his right shoulder on Sept. 18, the possibility that the Yankees right fielder wouldn’t be available for the ALDS was real for a short period of time.
“It creeps into your mind when you first dive and kind of jar things up,’’ said Judge, who will hit second and play right field in Game 1 vs. the Twins at the Stadium. “But once I started playing again and was back in the lineup, swinging, throwing, everything feels fine. I knew I was going to be fine.’’
Considering Judge’s size, there was a lot of body crashing to the Stadium turf.
“There is always a scare. I got 270, 6-7 falling on the ground, it’s a big impact, but we are feeling good,’’ Judge said. “There was never a doubt once I started moving around again.’’
Aaron Boone started Judge in right field in four of the final five regular-season games and said he didn’t expect the shoulder to be a factor.
Boone and the Yankees will wait until Friday to announce their 25-man roster and lineup for Game 1. Rosters need to be turned into MLB by 10 a.m.
Boone said the roster was “pretty much finalized’’ Wednesday night.
“I know you guys would love to have it, but we don’t have to give that out until [Friday] morning,’’ Boone said. “So we will take advantage of that on some level.’’
Asked if he could provide an indication about carrying 12 or 13 pitchers Boone said, “It will be like Christmas morning [Friday]. You’ll wake up and you’ve got something waiting for you under the tree.’’
Perhaps a lineup for Game 1?
“That will be a bonus gift for you around the corner,’’ Boone said.
Brewers right fielder Trent Grisham was charged with a colossal eighth-inning error that scored three runs in the NL wild-card game Wednesday night and allowed the Nationals to win and end Milwaukee’s season.
However, Juan Soto’s single was altered by the cut of the grass at Nationals Park and moved sideways just enough to cause Grishham to miss it.
That isn’t uncommon in big-league outfields depending on how the grass is mowed.
“It happened to me in the last game in Texas,’’ Brett Gardner said. “It was a single and the ball took a hop because of the angle and direction of the way the grass was cut.’’
Gardner called up a clip of Jose Trevino’s hit on his phone and showed The Post the final hop, and it was clear the ball sliced to the left and almost went between the center fielder’s legs.
“It happens here, but it happens everywhere,’’ Gardner said. “Sometimes it is because of the way the ball comes off the bat and is spinning.’’
