Yankees Bat Aaron Judge Leadoff in Wild Return to Lineup

Aaron Judge is back, which is great news for the New York Yankees, but where he's batting in the starting lineup tonight is very peculiar. We're used to seeing Judge in the No. 2 spot, but Friday night against the Houston Astros, he'll be in the leadoff spot.

It gets even stranger from there, as catcher Gary Sanchez is in the second spot, followed by shortstop Didi Gregorius and Giancarlo Stanton hitting cleanup.

Stanton will be the designated hitter Friday night, which means that Edwin Encarnacion will start at first base in place of Luke Voit and bat fifth.

While Judge returning the lineup is a huge plus, there's an obvious omission with infielder DJ LeMahieu getting the night off. Gio Urshela will play third base and hit eighth.

Cameron Maybin also remains in the starting lineup and will play left field and bat ninth. Brett Garnder will move over to center field in place of Aaron Hicks and hit sixth.

This is an odd lineup for Judge's first game back, but it'll likely change when they put LeMahieu back in the starting lineup. Even so, hard to argue with anything we're seeing here.