Aaron Judge sidelined with stress fracture, Yankees face uncertain timeline

In the long arc of championship pursuits, few disruptions cut deeper than the sudden absence of the player around whom everything is built. Aaron Judge, the gravitational center of the New York Yankees, has been diagnosed with a stress fracture of the first rib — an injury that arrived quietly but carries loud consequences. He will miss at least four to six weeks, leaving a franchise and a city to reckon with the fragility that lives beneath even the most dominant seasons. Whether this becomes a footnote or a turning point depends on time, healing, and the resilience of those left to hold the