It's not for you and me. Unless you grew up in the tri-state area, you probably won't know if the Yankees' six-week stretch of "meh" really matters. You almost certainly know someone from the tri-state area who is bothered by things like "Bernie Baseball should be in the Hall!" and "You've never truly urinated until you've done it on the concourse at the stadium." The person in your life spent the first three months of the season being the most obnoxious Yankees fan you've ever heard of. It is hard to watch them write off the Yankees' chances in October when they are still on track to win 101 games in the division. They don't have the energy to talk about sauerkraut. It's where the world is ending or no one should ever watch any other team, so you probably dismiss it as normal pinstripe behavior. It goes that way in Universe Boogie Down.
The Yanks have been taking medicine for six weeks. They are 16 and 24 since July 1st. Their run differential in that time is still +47. They have gone 4-7 in one-run games, which is not much of a surprise. Sometimes they go your way and sometimes they don't, and for the past few years they haven't gone the way of the yankees. Going from a chase of 116 to just being there and tripping over their dicks is difficult for the faithful.
There will be some who will tell you that those one-run losses are an indictment of the Yankees'vaunted relief corps, the first team to load up with them in the 4th or 5th and they will be unstoppable. The pen is a problem. There is a light at the end of the tunnel because of Michael King and Chad Green. Aroldis Chapman can't find the plate and Clay Holmes has taken over as the closer. Scott Effross has only had one bad outing since arriving, while Lou Trivino has been good but has only covered five outings. He doesn't have as many options as he used to. With the deadline gone and King and Green down for the count, it's no wonder Yankees fans keep the Tums nearby.
Those are the people who started. They haven't been very good. One in five fly balls leave the premises in the summer heat, despite the fact that Gerrit Cole has an ERA over 4.00. He will come back. On the other hand, Jameson Taillon has a BABIP against of just.202, and he has anERA over 5.000. If there is some apprehension about how much he can give in the playoffs, that is understandable. Montas was coming back from an injury when he started. He only has a single full season of being a plus-starter.
Their October plans are a bit foggy. It is not possible for the Mets to hand the ball at the start of most games to a Greek God who is going to throw up zeroes for a while and only have to figure out a few outs. They don't have enough guys in the pen to do the Astros thing, which is take three or four solidinnings from a starter and carry the rest of the way with a host of lockdownRelievers That's a concern.
The Yankees offense has not been up to par. DJ LeMahieu has a.384 wOBA and is one of three players who is still kicking a hole in the world. Beyond that? That's right, woof. Josh Donaldson looks like an old asshole. Gleyber's wrc+ is 85. All he wants to do is walk, so he should go up there without a bat. Keiner-Falefa and the catchers were not supposed to hit.
The Yankees will point to Matt Carpenter's injury as one of the main issues. Carpenter was a lot of smoke and mirrors in the beginning. He was performing better than expected with his average and slugging. Did the Yankees think that a third of his fly-balls would end up as homers? The Yankees offense isn't going to go 1-9 unless someone goes off the rails. Which could happen.
The Yankees fear that any team loaded with right-handed pitchers will mow through this lineup when the chips are down, just skipping over every JudgeAB and Carpenter deflating like a whoopie cushion won't make him a real threat to that. The Astros could make it in the first round. The rotation past Gausman has questions and the Jays are a mess. Somewhere in the middle is the Orioles.
The Yankees will need an endurance pill to get through the next two and a half months, and they might need Montas or Taillon to be a third starter who can get through a lineup two and a half to three times in the playoffs. IfHolmes and Chapman continue to be kabuki theater, Paralta, Effross, LOisiga, and Trivino will have to pitch multiple times.
Yankees fans can be worried if they don't win the World Series or they're a bunch of asshats. This doesn't look like a team that can negotiate the Astros and then the Mets or Dodgers, but then October is not usually crazy. There are a lot of questions that need to be asked.
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