TAMPA — Cody Bellinger knows the deal by now.
The Yankees veteran’s back issues have become almost an annual rite of passage around this time on the calendar, which gives him assurance that he will be back on the field soon.
For now, Bellinger is sidelined after his back tightened up on him Friday, keeping him out of games this weekend.
The Yankees have an off-day Monday, but Bellinger is expected to hit live batting practice Tuesday and then return to game action Thursday (not Wednesday since the team has a lengthy trip to play in Fort Myers).
“It’s honestly very mild,” Bellinger said Sunday morning at Steinbrenner Field. “Just ramping up activity and it just tightened up on me a little bit. Really nothing serious. Where we’re at on the schedule and not even being March yet [when it happened], take a few days, get right and then I think by the time I get back into games, I’ll still be able to have plenty of at-bats to get ready for the season.”
Cody Bellinger during the Yankees’ spring training game against the Braves on Feb. 26, 2026. Charles Wenzelberg / New York Post
Bellinger had played in three exhibitions before the back issues came on.
It’s the same thing he dealt with last April during the regular season, when he missed two games before getting back on the field.
The 30-year-old outfielder, who re-signed with the Yankees on a five-year, $162.5 million contract, said he knows what kind of treatment he needs to get his back right.
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“Very knowledgeable of that process,” he said with a wry grin. “But even today, feeling really good.”
Ryan McMahon is in line to start at shortstop Tuesday and Thursday as the Yankees want to see if the third baseman can be a backup option there, which would give them greater flexibility in how they build their roster to break camp.
If McMahon looks the part, they may not necessarily need to carry a backup shortstop behind José Caballero while Anthony Volpe is on the IL (they are still trying to figure out if Oswaldo Cabrera will be fully ready after coming back from a broken ankle last May).