After the New York Yankees dropped a lopsided 12-1 decision to their arch-rival Boston Red Sox on Saturday, their third straight loss in the four-game series, manager Aaron Boone delivered a warning to his team, through the media in a postgame press conference. If the Yankees do not start playing better baseball, the ninth-year manager said, “then it’s going to fizzle out and we’re not going to get to where we want to be.”
The Yankees managed to win the series finale on Sunday, preventing a complete disaster against their closest Wild Card competitor, but to a large extent the Yankees’ season has fizzled out already. Since the start of June the Bronx Bombers have won 35 games and lost 38. That’s a mediocre 16th-best record in baseball over that period.
Yankees With Chance to Gain Ground
Meanwhile, at 43-28, the Red Sox boast the second-best record in baseball since June 1. They now lead the Yankees by a half-game in the race for the top Wild Card seeding â an important spot to secure, because the top seed plays the entire Wild Card best-of-three series at home. The Yankees enter Monday’s action with 38 wins and 28 losses at home, compared to a 32-32 record on the road.
The Red Sox are just 30-35 away from Fenway Park where they have dominated, with a 41-25 record.
The Yankees have a solid chance to pick up some road wins this week with a three-game, inter-league series against the NL East-worst (53-77) Washington Nationals, followed by four games in Chicago where they face the American League Central cellar-dwelling White Sox, whose 47-83 record is second-worst in MLB.
Yankees May Look to ‘Turn Page’
But if they fail to capitalize on those opportunities, Boone could soon find himself looking for another job â and so could the longest-serving general manager in the game, Brian Cashman, who has been in his seat since February 3, 1998.
At least, that is the word from top MLB insider Ken Rosenthal, of Fox Sports and The Athletic. Rosenthal made the prediction on Monday’s edition of the Foul Territory podcast, as he summed up the four-game, Yankees-Red Sox series.
âWhat happens if they miss the playoffs?” Rosenthal asked. “More likely, they could get knocked out early. Thatâs certainly a scenario we can envision happening. Does Aaron Boone come back? Does Brian Cashman come back, or do they finally turn the page? All of this seemingly is in play.â
Yankees Still Appear Poised to Make Playoffs
Is it really possible that the Yankees could miss the playoffs? If they did, it would be the second time in three years without postseason baseball in the Bronx. In 2023, Boone led the Yankees to an 82-80 record, the worst mark for the franchise since 1992, the last year in which the Yankees had a losing season.
Nonetheless, Fangraphs still sees the Yankees with a 96 percent chance to qualify for the playoffs.
Yankees Face Challenge From Kansas City
At the same time, they sit just 3 1/2 games up on the Kansas City Royals, not an entirely comfortable margin over the final 32 games of the season. If the Yankees continue to play at a .479 clip, as they have since June 1, they will end the season with just 85 wins.
The Royals will have 30 games remaining after Monday’s meeting with the White Sox. If they split those contests, as they have with their 36-36 record since June 1, they end up with 84 wins â still not enough to get past the Yankees.
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