Not this. Not now.

New York Yankees v Seattle Mariners / Stephen Brashear/GettyImages

The New York Yankees had the perfect way to handle Juan Soto’s concerning crash into the outfield wall on Thursday. All they needed to do was remove him from the game and say he’d probably be back in action by Saturday.

Instead, Soto kept playing in a contest where the entire team was hungover and/or run down from celebrating their playoff berth the night prior. After they finished up the three-game set with the Seattle Mariners, they were starting a series against the Oakland A’s. No need for Soto to finish out a lost contest and then be in the starting lineup against one of the league’s worst teams.

But the Yankees insisted. Soto was in the starting lineup for Friday night’s contest vs the Athletics and fans breathed a sigh of relief knowing he was fine despite the alarming nature of the collision.

Then, 30 minutes later, he was scratched. The Yankees cited knee soreness and swelling as the reason. No additional tests are scheduled, per team insider Bryan Hoch.

It’s all absolutely wrong, no matter how you want to look at it. The swelling and soreness didn’t just randomly reappear two hours before gametime.

Yankees playing games with fans after concerning Juan Soto lineup scratch

The regular season ends next Sunday and the Yankees are still fighting for a division title and the top seed in the American League so they can avoid the Wild Card round. This just can’t happen right now. And it all felt very, very avoidable.

For starters, after clinching on Wednesday night, many wondered if a good portion of the regulars would get the day off. Instead, it was just Austin Wells. The Yankees had the opportunity to rest three other players with the presence of Trent Grisham, Jon Berti and Oswaldo Cabrera on the bench. They opted not to.

On one hand, it’s respectable they were gunning for the sweep. Nobody’s going to knock that approach and attitude. It just very much wasn’t the time to do that. And the sweep felt more and more unlikely when considering the circumstances: the celebration the night prior, an afternoon game the following day, and Logan Gilbert on the mound for the M’s who are fighting for their playoff lives.

And now we’re in the all-too-familiar position of the Yankees potentially mishandling an injury with their second-most important player heading into the postseason. Stay tuned for updates. We hope they’re positive, but we’ve been here before and it rarely ever feels good.