The New York Yankees, with Gerrit Cole on the mound, will face the Baltimore Orioles, with Corbin Burnes on the mound, on Thursday, September 26, 2024 (9/26/24) at Yankee Stadium in New York City.

With the American League playoff race underway, here’s how to watch the game.

How to watch: Fans can watch the game for FREE via a trial of DirecTV Stream or fuboTV for local channels.

What: Yankees game

Who: New York Yankees vs. Baltimore Orioles

When: September 26, 2024

Time: 7:00 PM ET

Where: Yankee Stadium

TV: YES Network (New York area), MASN (Baltimore area)

Channel finder: Verizon Fios, Comcast Xfinity,Spectrum/Charter,Optimal/Altice,Cox,DIRECTV,Dish,Hulu, fuboTV, Garland.

Live stream: DirectTV stream (free trial period), fuboTV (free trial)

NEW YORK (AP) — Yankees left-hander Nestor Cortes has a flexion strain in his throwing elbow and was placed on the 15-day injured list Wednesday after a blow to New York’s rotation heading into the playoffs.

Cortes and the Yankees are still hoping he could return at some point in the postseason, but that didn’t sound likely.

“I don’t know if I’m optimistic. I mean, we’re not ruling it out yet,” manager Aaron Boone said.

Cortes was scratched from his scheduled start against Baltimore on Wednesday night and replaced by Marcus Stroman, with the Yankees coming within one win of clinching the AL East title and a first-round playoff bye.

Stroman was moved to the bullpen for the final two weeks of the regular season.

“He’s ready to go. I think I’m excited to get the ball,” Boone said. “He has come through all of this wonderfully. He is ready for any role that comes his way. He’s had a really good year for us and that’s a big reason why we’re in this position. Hopefully he can trap us tonight.”

Cortes (9-10, 3.77 ERA) underwent an MRI on Monday and was placed on the IL retroactive to Sunday.

He will not throw for at least seven to ten days and will seek additional opinions from two renowned experts by reporting the MRI results to Dr. Neal ElAttrache and Dr. Keith Meister to send.

‘I have been suffering from tenderness for a few weeks now. But it wasn’t until Sunday that I threw my bullpen in Oakland, where it didn’t feel right,” Cortes said. “The ligaments look good. Obviously there are chronic things, where throughout the year, if you do an MRI on a pitcher, things pop up. But (the) UCL is not torn, or there is no damage to it. So that’s pretty good news.

“I don’t know what the timetable looks like,” he added. “I don’t know if it’s 10 days or 40 days, but I know people get better when they rest, and hopefully they’ll feel better with the treatments I’m getting.”

Cortes was a candidate to become New York’s third starter in the postseason behind Gerrit Cole (7-5, 3.67) and Carlos Rodón (16-9, 3.98).

“I definitely feel sorry for him now,” Boone said. “We just have to pick up the slack and support him right now and then see what we have in the next few days, just see how exactly he responds and things like that.”

Cortes was 4-0 with a 1.58 ERA in his last seven appearances (six starts), striking out 38 and walking 10 in 40 innings.

“That’s one of the things that stinks about this, is how well he’s throwing the baseball now,” Boone said.

Already assured of a wild-card spot, the Yankees needed one win in their final five games to capture the division crown. If successful, they will open a best-of-five Division Series at home on October 5.

Stroman, rookie Luis Gil and Clarke Schmidt are the remaining candidates to start a potential Game 3. Since there are days off between Games 1 and 2 in addition to Games 2 and 3, the Yankees likely only need three starters in that round.

“The mentality and the way I’m going to approach it is definitely trying to come back,” Cortes said. “Depending on how far we go and how well I do with the rehabilitation. Obviously my main focus is to be able to come back and help this team.”

New York recalled right-hander Cody Poteet from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, and he was available in the bullpen Wednesday night.