Yankees: Stop freaking out about Aaron Judge’s omission from lineup right before the off day

The New York Yankees snapped their two-game losing streak, which included their worst loss of the season thus far, in thrilling fashion on Saturday.

Despite deploying a lackluster lineup, the Yankees managed to spoil Nationals starter Max Scherzer’s picturesque outing in the form of a walk-off infield single from Gleyber Torres with the bases loaded in the bottom of the 11th inning.

Speaking of the lineup, which has been a polarizing topic of conversation through the first month of the campaign, it would appear the Yankees will once again err on the side of caution in Sunday afternoon’s rubber match against Washington.

While Sunday’s card looks a lot more inspiring than yesterday’s, fans were NOT pleased to see outfielder Aaron Judge given an off day. After all, why would you sit one of your best players with an off day already looming tomorrow?

Believe it or not, however, the move actually makes perfect sense. Before you chew us out and call for Boone to be canned, allow us to explain our vantage point.

The Yankees letting Aaron Judge bank an extra day of rest makes perfect sense.

For starters, the Yankees are gearing up for a lengthy road trip that will start with a three-game set in Tampa Bay on Tuesday. In other words, they’ll be playing on the Tropicana turf, which has been unforgiving to Judge throughout his career.

The Yankees have been proactive with resting Judge in Tampa Bay in the past, so fans really should have seen this decision coming from a mile away. Given how lost the 29-year-old has looked at the plate recently, there’s no reason to trot him out there.

For context, Judge was entangled in an 0-for-16 slump with 11 (!) strikeouts before he snapped out of it, albeit momentarily, with a single down the right field line in the ninth inning on Saturday that helped set the stage for Torres’ game-tying hit.

In fact, over his last six games, Judge is 2 for his last 24. In five of those contests, the star outfielder went down on strikes at least twice — a stretch that included the rare platinum sombrero vs Houston on Wednesday.

You might be thinking “why not let him pick up on that momentum?” While we hear that argument, let’s not pretend like Judge looked pretty in that at-bat. This is simply the right way to manage a player who’s seemingly been dealing with general soreness all season.

When you consider the incoming series on Tropicana’s annoying turf and that Judge hasn’t been able to get out of his own way at the plate over the last six games, this was a no-brainer decision from manager Aaron Boone and fans complaining should really pipe down.

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The New York Yankees did eventually come back against the Washington Nationals, but starting pitcher