By mid-July, every contender has pretty much summoned the prospects they feel can best help a playoff drive.

Then the trade deadline arrives and with it the last chance to externally improve a roster — unless some unheralded waiver claim leaps out of nowhere.

So the last meaningful way for a roster to improve is the return of injured players. There are no guarantees, of course. The Yankees waited a quarter of a season for Aaron Judge to come off the injured list — yet even when he did, the Yankees offense still had no fight.

Maybe the returns of Jonathan Loaisiga and Nestor Cortes will help this version of the Yankees meet, of all things, the Fred Wilpon low-bar mandate of meaningful September games. But since neither can hit, it projects as rather unimpactful.