The day after Aaron Judge provided what read like a scary update about his toe, both the slugger and Yankees officials expressed optimism about the MVP’s recovery.

“We’re doing great,” Judge told SNY emphatically on Wednesday of his progress returning from a sprained right big toe, an injury incurred crashing into the right-field wall at Dodger Stadium on June 3.

In a brief chat after the Yankees lost to Baltimore, 6-3, Judge emphasized that his comments to reporters Tuesday were not cause for alarm.

On Tuesday, he said, “I don’t think it will ever feel normal. I can move around pretty well, but any injury, [it can bother you for] a year or two or three years. You never know what it’s gonna feel like.”

The Yankees organization read the quote as Judge intended it -- that he was simply saying that many injuries have to be managed long after a player’s return from the injured list, not revealing a new lifelong affliction.

Team officials reiterated Wednesday a strong belief that Judge will play again this season. While the Yankees have never claimed to know a timeline for a return from what is a rare injury in baseball, they are cautiously optimistic about his recent progress, which includes playing catch and hitting, but not running. Judge has ruled out surgery before the offseason.

Manager Aaron Boone’s reluctance to guarantee it is not pessimism, but semantic: The manager has said on multiple occasions that he cannot guarantee anyone will play.

Take it this way: If you asked Boone to guarantee that the sun would rise tomorrow, he would say that there are no absolute guarantees in life. That has been the spirit of his Judge comments.

As for Judge’s own statements, he has been cautious about offering timeline injuries since 2018, when a fracture in his wrist took longer to heal than the Yankees’ public estimate.

The team, meanwhile, is more than surviving without him, having just won two of three -- with one game remaining -- against Baltimore, who lead them in the American League East and Wild Card standings.

“We’re treading water pretty well,” one player said.

Even after Wednesday’s loss, the Yankees were 6-4 in their last ten games, and have won a statement series against Texas and are one win away from another against Baltimore, both of whom have better records.

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