giancarlo stanton yankees
Vincent Carchietta-USA TODAY Sports

The Yankees were looking to sweep the Mariners on their way out of Seattle on Wednesday night. They were close, but it didn’t happen, instead dropping the finale by a score of 1-0 in extra innings.

New York is getting a day off prior to facing the Dodgers in Los Angeles on Friday. Before the first pitch is thrown, they’ll also be much closer to full strength from a roster perspective. That’s because Giancarlo Stanton, Josh Donaldson, and Tommy Kahnle will all be activated from the Injured List.

This is welcome news for a club that’s been struggling with the injury bug since the very beginning of Spring Training. It even bit again this week, as Harrison Bader went back on the IL with a hamstring issue.

Donaldson hasn’t suited up for the Yankees in the big leagues since April 5th. His attempts at a comeback were thwarted on a couple of different occasions. And, while it’s rumored that he’s on the “Jacoby Ellsbury rehab timeline“, the third baseman will be back on the active roster.

Stanton also hasn’t played in a while — his last game with New York was on April 15th. He only played in one rehab game with Double-A Somerset. The right-handed slugger went 0-for-3 with a walk.

After spending 2022 with the Dodgers, Kahnle re-joined the Yankees this winter on a two-year deal. However, he hasn’t yet thrown a pitch in 2023 for the Bombers because of right biceps tendonitis. The reliever tossed five minor-league innings across three levels in his own rehab assignment. He allowed one run on two hits, three walks, and six strikeouts.

Hopefully, these returns will be followed by Bader shortly after. And then soon enough, maybe Carlos Rodon will also get to make his team debut at some point.

Despite being far from full strength, the Yankees are 34-24 and only six games back of the Tampa Bay Rays in the AL East. Since it felt like it took Tampa about five weeks to lose its first game of the year, this is quite impressive. It also sets up an interesting summer and fall as the Yankees are — hopefully — only going to get healthier.

You can reach Matt Musico at [email protected]. You can follow him on Twitter: @mmusico8.

Matt Musico is an editor for ESNY. He’s been writing about baseball and the Mets for the past decade. His work has been featured on numberFire, MetsMerized Online, Bleacher Report, and Yahoo! Sports.