In June, I wrote about the things the Yankees needed to do to raise their performance level and how they might fare in June and July. The predictions did not turn out so well, and it feels like the season went a little downhill after an already underwhelming start. The back half of the season is starting, so I’ve decided to evaluate how the rest of the season may look and what needs to be done for a possible postseason run. When I say evaluating, I mean hoping the Yankees’ season performance impoves.
First half
The boys are 49-42 and sitting in fourth place in the AL East, an average showing at best. The Yankees’ less-than-stellar performance has them sitting one game back from any type of playoff contention, a mediocre performance that has been frustrating to watch across the span of the first half.
The beginning of the season started out hopeful, with excitement spilling over from 2022. Despite being swept by the Astros, the Yankees had reached the ALCS and Aaron Judge had a historic 62 home run season. There was much potential to expect from this season, but we haven’t seen much of it.
The Yankees’ regular season performance has been on and off. They didn’t win more than two games in a row until May, after which they did manage a few win streaks, the longest being five games. That five-gamer was shattered by Domingo Germán getting booed off the mound after giving up ten runs against Seattle.
Then six days later, Germán completed the 24th ever perfect game in maybe the biggest turnaround of the century. The dramatics of it all illustrate this season’s highs and lows. The emotional rollercoaster has averaged out to a .538 win percentage for the Bronx Bombers.
The second half of the season provides an opportunity for the team to move into playoff position, but the prior performance may have many fans putting a weary foot forward.
Wild Card
The expanded 12-game playoff gives the Yankees a chance of making the postseason, or at least the wild card round. On MLB’s site, they are one game back from Toronto and Houston, who are sporting 50-41 records… for now. That’s not too bad, right?
Things don’t look too bad, especially with Cleveland sitting in the top three with a .500 winning percentage. It’s kind of crazy how that works out, but nothing we can do about it since it is not our division. We can only worry about the teams in front of us in the AL East and Wild Card race.
The best case scenario is we play unbelievable in the second half, lead the east, and earn a first round bye in the playoffs. While this is the best case scenario, it’s also the most unrealistic. The worst case scenario is we continue our path and don’t make the playoffs at all, followed by a sad few months of watching (or not watching) the other teams play.
Finally, the most realistic scenario for success is the team pulls it together to win some games down the stretch and place themselves in the fourth, fifth or sixth spot.
Injuries and Hitting
There are a few issues that may get in the way of the Yankees’ success and doom the team for the worst case scenario.
Injuries will definitely be a damaging force on the team, the biggest obviously being Aaron Judge’s ongoing toe injury that has sidelined him for weeks. The torn ligament in his right toe came from a catch he made while falling into a wall at Dodger Stadium.
There has been a lot of discourse surrounding the toe injury, since Judge has been out over a month now. Judge said he’s looking to recover, but the “when” and “if” are still unsure. On top of that, there may be a need for surgery, which Judge says he will wait to do in the offseason if needed.
Such a small injury has made such a large impact on the team. Without Judge, the hitting performance is sorely lacking. The Yankees are 21st out of 30 MLB teams in hitting. Judge’s absence has exposed an utter dependency on him for run production. Now that he’s out of the lineup, the others have some catching up to do.
The Second Half
The first half of the Yankees’ regular season performance has shown me they can lose to anyone, but there is always the potential to do great things. Let’s go back to the realistic expectation that I outlined earlier.
The Yankees are only one game back, and there’s a whole lot of baseball left to play.
It’s always going to be a tough schedule when you’re trying to fight your way back into contention. Maybe they can steal back a few wins after disappointing performances against the Red Sox, pushing Boston down the ladder to keep them at bay. They’re going to have to battle twice against the Astros, who are always tough on the Yankees and currently one game ahead of them. They’ll also have to face Tampa Bay, the AL leader, and Atlanta, the NL leader. Baltimore is a team that is also on a tear this season, and will be tough to beat. A few series against our toughest opponents may knock the Yankees down a notch, but then again they could also bump them up.
I’d be pretty content if we could win against the teams we know we should beat and competed stronger against better teams. I’d also be pretty content if the overall performance just looked better. If we don’t look like a great team in mid-July, what will the postseason performance look like? And I don’t want to be swept out of the playoffs again.
The Yankees’ performance a year ago was stunning after a disappointing offseason, so maybe this year will bring the exact opposite. A lackluster regular season performance with a stunning postseason?
Fingers crossed.