Yankees News: John Sterling health, spring training sewage incident, Ben Rice

The New York Yankees officially kicked off spring training play on Friday and there were some headline-grabbing occurrences. Aaron Judge homered twice on Saturday; top prospect pitchers Elmer Rodriguez and Carlos Lagrange looked excellent; and Austin Wells lost two challenges to the ABS system.

But there was far more that occurred over the weekend, and the most notable tidbit involved legendary broadcaster John Sterling, who told Ricky Ricardo on WFAN that he suffered a heart attack in January.

Thankfully, Sterling is doing well and was healthy enough to make a radio appearance and talk in depth about Team USA's gold medal victory at the Winter Olympics. However, the 87-year-old said that his legs were affected in the aftermath of the heart attack and that he's "waiting for the force to leave" them.

Sterling retired in April of 2024, then returned to the booth for the Yankees' playoff run later that season, and appeared as a guest a few times during YES Network broadcasts. He's a beloved figure in the Yankees community and fans are undoubtedly wishing him well after such a worrisome health issue shortly after he stepped away from his storied career.

Yankees News: George M. Steinbrenner Field hit with massive sewage leak

Things weren't so great for the Bombers down in Tampa, either. On Saturday, it was revealed George M. Steinbrenner Field was dealing with a massive sewage leak that affected the Yankees' clubhouse. There were also puddles of dirty water around the ballpark and fans could smell the stench during Saturday's game against the Tigers.

Though Tampa's Department of Public Works hopping into action and worked to improve the situation for Sunday, Aaron Boone told reporters that the facility will be dealing with some long-term issues, which isn't surprising given how widespread the leak was.

Not the optics you want, but sh-t happens. Rid the stench of the sewage and the last few seasons so we can start with a clean slate in 2026.

And finally, Yankees fans have been mildly concerned about Ben Rice, who hadn't appeared in any of the three weekend games. Rice was dealing with a stiff neck as of last week after an awkward night's sleep (we've all been there), but apparently the team was being cautious.

Boone addressed the issue on Sunday and said Rice will play in Monday's game. It's a sigh of relief for fans, who are well aware the young slugger needs a productive spring in order to build off of his promising 2025 campaign.

Rice will be an important piece to the "run it back" Yankees as one of the players the team expects to see an improvement out of. Rice and Cam Schlittler lead the charge in that department, with others such as Jasson Dominguez and Luis Gil hoping to make greater impacts after fizzling out a bit.

The Bombers will be taking on the Pirates at 1:05 p.m. ET in Bradenton if you're looking to tune in to watch Rice make his spring debut.