New York Yankees: Didi Gregorius returning turns Yanks into a legit threat again

New York Yankees star shortstop, Didi Gregorius, has been cleared to return. His return means the Yanks have a good shot at making a World Series title run.

All is right in the world again as the New York Yankees have shortstop Didi Gregorius back. On Wednesday, Didi was cleared for all baseball activities after suffering a cartilage tear in his right wrist last Saturday and receiving a cortisone injection.

YES Network announcer Michael Kay broke the news and Yankees manager Aaron Boone confirmed it.

Boone told Kay, per the New York Post:

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"“He got good news, cleared to go. He might be down there as we speak doing his tee and toss. He should be able to get all his work in today and hopefully everything goes well. We are very optimistic with where’s he at.”"

The plan for Gregorius is to play a couple of games this weekend. After that, the hope is that he will play in the AL wild card game against the Oakland Athletics.

Boone said of Didi playing in the wild card game.

"“That’s certainly the hope, we have to get through these days where we amp up his baseball activities. But we feel like we are moving in a positive direction.”"

While initial reports had Didi possibly missing the playoffs, the fan favorite shortstop told Bryan Hoch of MLB.com that he believed that he would be back before the end of the season.

Having Didi back is great news when it comes to how far in the playoffs the Yankees will go.

Entering Wednesday, the Yankees had a 2.5 game lead over the Athletics for home-field advantage for the Wild Card Game.

While the Athletics are the team that people can argue the Yankees would want to face in the Wild Card Game, they might not make it past the wild card if they didn’t have Didi.

Now that Didi is back, the Yanks have a very good shot at making it to the Division Series and possibly the World Series.

If you want to know why Didi’s return is good news for the Yankees playoff hope, then just look at the season that he is having.

He ‘s hitting .286 with a career-high 27 home runs, 86 RBIs, and ten stolen bases. As far as defense goes, Gregorius is the top-rated shortstop in fielding percentage in the majors with just five errors on 470 total chances, according to Kristie Ackert of the New York Daily News.

That kind of production will help the Yankees advance in the playoffs and make it to the World Series.

Adeiny Hechavarria played shortstop while Didi was out and went 1-for -10 with one home run.

If Gregorius was still out and the Yankees had Hechavarria or someone else play shortstop in the playoffs and struggled, then they wouldn’t go far in the playoffs.

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Getting Didi back means the Yankees can go farther in the playoffs than they would if he was out. The Yankees hopes for a World Series title this year just got better with Didi coming back.

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