American League Prestige
The final obstacle standing between the Yankees and the postseason is their own league. Let’s face the fact that there are 15 teams vying for only five available top spots.
Once the Boston Red Sox acquired Chris Sale, the American League East was all but decided. With all of that talent, it is hard to see any other intra-divisional team popping champagne in late September.
Outside of the AL East, Cleveland and Detroit do not figure to go anywhere in the AL Central, with both clubs certainly coming in at 85-plus win projections.
Out West, there are three teams set to battle it out for limited spots. Texas is poised to contend for a division title once again, Houston geared themselves for a postseason run with multiple notable offseason acquisitions, and Seattle came up a mere three games short of the second wild card in 2016.
With five teams destined to win close to 90 games, the Yankees will need to go above and beyond to smell October baseball.
Numerous question marks will continually point the team in the opposite direction.
