The Yankees have won five of their last six! Back to ten games above .500, New York is looking to get going again, as the playoffs are not guaranteed. Still trailing Toronto and Boston in the division, but the Yankees are slotted for a Wild Card spot. New York needs to get hungry, as the Guardians, Royals, and Rangers are not yet out of it; they trail behind Boston, Seattle, and New York in the Wild Card race.
There has been a negative narrative surrounding this team over the past month, including from yours truly. I’ll say this: I am not sold on the Yankees as World Series contenders this year. There seem to be too many holes in the rotation, bullpen, and lineup for them to be taken seriously as contenders at this point. That being said, this is baseball, and you need to get hot at the right time.
General Manager Brian Cashman was speaking with the media during the St. Louis series and was quoted as saying, “hasn't lost belief in Yanks' chances to win AL East”. This seems like a stretch for the Yankees at this point, but you never know. If Toronto and Boston go cold and the Yanks catch some fire, maybe a division title is not out of the picture.
Series 1: Minnesota Twins (Home) → Won 2-1
Series 2: St. Louis Cardinals (Away) → Won 3-0 {Sweep!}
Yes, I know the Cardinals and Twins both have losing records, and these series wins are not something to run home and tell Mom about. I’ll take two series wins in a row, including a sweep, any day of the week. The Yankees needed this badly with less than 40 games left in the season.
Arms to Highlight Across the Past Week:
Will Warren —> 11.1 IP | 10 K | 2.38 ERA | 1 W | 1 QS | 0.88 WHIP
Luke Weaver —> 4.1 IP | 5 K | 0.00 ERA | 2 HLD | 1 W | 0.46 WHIP
David Bednar —> 2.1 IP | 4 K | 0.00 ERA | 0.00 WHIP
Notable Team Cumulative Pitching Statistics Thru 8/18:
+ 4th in H (948)
+ 3rd in SO (1,104)
- 19th in QS (40)
- 16th in ERA (4.02)
The bats have come alive this week. Ben Rice is back to hitting to a .803 OPS on the season. The team has scored 40 runs across the last six games. Dean provided me with a nice graphic of Ben Rice’s season from his new website, peep the link below. Rice has been crushing baseballs this season. He is ranked in the 96th % when it comes to Hard Hit % and Average Exit Velocity. If this Yankees lineup ever all gets hot at the same time during the playoffs, it is tough not to dream of a World Series appearance, maybe even a title.
My fingers are crossed that Stanton’s (soreness) is a minimal issue as he has been hitting .538 the past week, .476 the past two weeks, and .338 across the past month. Needless to say, he is on a bender.
Bats to Highlight Across The Past Week:
Jazz Chisholm Jr. —> 2 HR | 5 RBI | .211 BA | 7 R | 7 BB | 7 SB | 1.039 OPS
Ben Rice —> 2 HR | 8 RBI | .348 BA | 4 R | 5 BB | 1.160 OPS
Giancarlo Stanton —> 2 HR | 2 R | .538 BA | 1 BB | 1.648 OPS
Notable Team Cumulative Hitting Statistics Thru 8/18:
- 13th in AVG (.250)
+ 1st in BB (481)
+ 3rd in R (636)
- 23rd in SO (1,081)
The Yankees have a massive week in front of them. They take on two divisional rivals, first a 2-game series against the Tampa Bay Rays at Tampa. Next…the dreaded Boston Red Sox for a 4-game series in New York. The Yankees could not only knock Tampa out of any contention, but jump the Sox in the Wild Card standings and gain traction on Toronto if they could put it all together this week.
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