This past weekend, the Yankees visited Dodger Stadium for a rare bout between the two heavyweights. The Yankees took two of three and in Saturday's win, reigning AL MVP Aaron Judge homered and also broke through the wall in making this catch:
The play was costly for both teams. Judge is now on the injured list thanks to his foot (specifically his big toe) crashing into the concrete portion of the wall at the bottom. The Dodgers are now laying out the money necessary to update the outfield wall.
According to club president Stan Kasten (via The Athletic), a strip of padding will be added to the aforementioned concrete part of the wall and some other updates will be made to prevent a repeat injury in the future.
"He didn't go through the door, which is what I thought when I was watching the game," Kasten said. "Then I got out there and realized the door doesn't open in that direction.
"He actually broke through where some of the panels were joined, the barrier between the two connecting panels. Which is unbelievable. But we're going to strengthen that and add a strip of padding on the bottom as well."
Dodger Stadium is the third-oldest ballpark in Major League Baseball behind Wrigley Field (Cubs) and Fenway Park (Red Sox). It debuted as the Dodgers home in 1962. There have been a litany of renovations and updates and this is just the latest one.
As for Judge, hopefully he only needs the minimum 10 days on the injured list. Despite having only played in 49 games so far this year, he leads the AL with 19 homers. He's hitting .291/.404/.674 (193 OPS+) in the follow-up to his 62-homer, 131-RBI 2022 season.
