Ryan McMahon, Max Fried get an IL breather ahead of Yankees stretch run

Ryan McMahon is bummed to miss the upcoming pocket of games.Max Fried felt elbow soreness that he called “not ideal.” Join Post Sports+ for exciting subscriber-only features, including real-time texting with Greg Joyce about the inside buzz on the Yankees.Both can take solace that they believe they will be ready for the biggest games of the year.The Yankees absorbed one more blow Friday in McMahon, who had hoped to avoid the injured list and could not, and acknowledged another blow in Fried could have been far worse.The belief — for these two and the injured big bats (Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Stanton and Cody Bellinger) — is they will be fine for October.“Not great news.

Could have been worse,” said McMahon, who learned that the thumb he believed was jammed instead had suffered a grade 2 sprain that forced him to the injured list before Friday’s series opener in The Bronx against the Blue Jays.McMahon still took ground balls and swung Friday but said taking cuts was “getting tough” after hurting the left thumb on a slide in Baltimore on Wednesday.If he must undergo surgery — a notion he said was not likely — the procedure can wait for the offseason.

McMahon hoped that on the other side of an IL trip he believes will require the 10-day minimum, the swelling will be gone and he will be ready for the stretch run.Even if this means the Yankees will be playing some combination of Amed Rosario (who started at third Friday), Max Schuemann (who was called up with the corresponding move) and José Caballero at the position against a couple of rivals.“It sucks,” McMahon said about the timing.“I mean, we got Toronto coming in here.

We got Boston [next weekend].These are the fun games, man.”The most fun will come in the postseason, presuming the Yankees avoid a September nosedive.

The club’s best hopes in October will come from the front of their rotation, and Fried is confident the club will have three healthy aces.Placed on the IL on Monda...