The scene in the Bronx at the moment looks like the film set of Mad Max: Fury Road, which has forced Major League Baseball to call off Wednesday night's game between the New York Yankees and Chicago White Sox (shortly after it postponed the Phillies-Tigers game at Citizens Bank Park).
Many were surprised Tuesday night's game didn't get the ax when the EPA deemed the air quality in New York "unhealthy." Well, if Tuesday was unhealthy, then Wednesday is near deathly with the city blanketed in smoke from the Canadian wildfires over 500 miles away.
Apparently, everyone's convinced this will blow over by Thursday, because MLB and the Yankees announced New York will host a doubleheader tomorrow at 4 p.m. and 7 p.m. to make up for today's loss.
Not sure if that's going to be possible since things got significantly worse in the city in less than 24 hours, so hopefully there's a contingency plan if two games of this series are about to be lost.
Yankees-White Sox postponed, Aaron Judge roster move announced
Shortly after that announcement, the Yankees revealed who would be taking Aaron Judge's spot on the active roster after he hit the IL with a toe injury. And it's the option everybody least expected. (Oh yeah, and farewell to Ryan Weber, who hit the 60-day IL with an elbow injury.)
Franchy Cordero? Nope! Estevan Florial? Nope! Billy McKinney, welcome to the Bronx! It's unclear what went into this decision beyond McKinney's hot stretch at Triple-A Scranton because he's largely been an underwhelming big leaguer across his parts of five MLB seasons. Wouldn't we rather give Cordero or Florial one last shot before calling it quits?
McKinney made his MLB debut with the Yankees in 2018 before being traded to the Blue Jays. Since then, he's made stops with the Brewers, Mets, Dodgers and A's. He's hitting .206 with a .664 OPS and 79 OPS+ in 263 career games.
But he's a versatile defender, a lefty bat, and is currently hitting .274 with an .899 OPS, 20 runs scored, 9 home runs and 25 RBI across 40 Triple-A games. Ride the hot hand ... we guess?