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

As the American League playoff battle heats up, here’s how to watch the game.

How to watch: Fans can watch the game for FREE through 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: 7:00pm ET

Where: Yankee Stadium

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

Transmitter finder: Verizon Fio’s, Comcast Xfinity,Spectrum/Charter,Optimal/Height,helmsman,DIRECTTV,Court,Hulu, fuboTV, Garland.

Livestream: DirecTV stream (free trial), fuboTV (free trial)

NEW YORK (AP) — Yankees left-hander Nestor Cortes was placed on the 15-day injured list Wednesday with a sprain in his pitching elbow, a setback for New York’s rotation heading into the playoffs.

Cortes and the Yankees still hope he can return in the playoffs at some point, but that doesn’t seem 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 starting spot against Baltimore on Wednesday night and replaced by Marcus Stroman. The Yankees are one win away from the AL East title and a first-round bye in the playoffs.

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

“He’s ready. I think he’s excited to get the ball,” Boone said. “He’s been great through it all. He’s ready for whatever role comes his way. He’s had a really good year for us, and a big reason why we’re in this position. So hopefully he can go out there tonight and set us up.”

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 10 days and will seek additional advice from two renowned experts by sending the MRI results to Dr. Neal ElAttrache and Dr. Keith Meister.

“I’ve had some tenderness for a couple of weeks. But it wasn’t until Sunday when I threw my bullpen in Oakland that it didn’t feel right,” Cortes said. “The ligament looks good. Obviously, there are chronic issues, year-round, when you do an MRI on a pitcher, all sorts of things are going to show up. But (the) UCL is not torn, or there’s no damage to it. So that’s kind of good news.

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

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 for him right now,” Boone said. “We just have to pick up the slack and support him right now and see what we have over the next couple of days, just see how he responds and things like that.”

Cortes went 4-0 with a 1.58 ERA in his last seven games (six as a starter), striking out 38 batters and walking 10 in 40 innings.

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

The Yankees, already locked up in a wild-card berth, needed one win in their final five games to clinch the division title. If they do, they’ll open a best-of-five Division Series at home on Oct. 5.

Stroman, rookie Luis Gil and Clarke Schmidt are the remaining candidates to start a potential Game 3. Because there are off days between Games 1 and 2, in addition to Games 2 and 3, the Yankees would likely need only 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 get and how well I do with the rehab. Obviously my main focus is to be able to come back and help this team.”

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