Around the Empire: Yankees News - 7/8/20

Newsday | Tim Healy The New York Yankees will play against the New York Mets on Sept. 11, 2021, to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the terrorist attacks that shook the world in 2001. The game will be at Citi Field, according to Tim Healy of Newsday. Per WFAN, it will be the second time that both teams will play in the city on Sept. 11, the first being in 2014, when the Mets hosted the Washington Nationals and the Yankees played against the Tampa Bay Rays. The two teams also agreed to play a couple of exhibition games next week, one at Citi Field on July 18 and another one at Yankee Stadium on July 19.

MLB.com | Bryan Hoch All signs are pointing towards Aaron Judge playing on Opening Day against the Washington Nationals on July 23. He faced Gerrit Cole in a sim game last week at Yankee Stadium and participated in Monday’s intrasquad action, taking at-bats vs. righties Clarke Schmidt and Chad Green. “It feels good to be back on the field,” Judge said. He also said that he’s “game-ready.” The biggest thing now, per Judge himself, “is just getting the reps because I’ve missed so many at-bats. I didn’t get all the reps in the outfield, reps on the bases. For me right now, it’s just getting my timing back in the game and getting my game reps to go out there for 60 games.”

San Francisco Chronicle | Susan Slusser Jose Canseco, who played 37 games for the New York Yankees back in 2000, torched MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred for playing the season in the middle of a surge in COVID-19 cases in several areas of the country. He told the San Francisco Chronicle that “they want to open the season, and now a lot of players are testing positive.” He added that Commissioner Rob Manfred “is a fool. He doesn’t know what he’s doing. He’s mandating a 60-game season and now some teams are being delayed. The whole thing doesn’t make any sense to me. They’ve already messed up so bad, it’s ridiculous.”