Things are better than they were for the Yankees at this time last week. And with the Oakland Athletics in town, it’s an opportunity to get themselves on a roll.
But, still — as we head into Tuesday’s action, the Bombers are just 19-17 on the season, 10 games out of first place, and in the American League East basement. If there are two things that don’t go together in this world, it’s “Yankees” and “last place”.
New York beat Oakland 7-2 on Monday night, and they’ll get a boost on Tuesday with Aaron Judge returning to the lineup. If they win their matchup against Drew Rucinski, it’ll set them up to do something on Wednesday they haven’t yet done this year: win three games in a row.
Seriously. They’re one of four MLB teams who have yet to enjoy a three-game winning streak:
Teams without a 3-game winning streak this season:
Athletics
Cardinals
Royals
Yankees— Jim Passon (@PassonJim) May 9, 2023
The other members are in a much different spot regarding wins and losses than the Yankees, too. Just in case you’re keeping score at home, here are the records of the other three teams New York is joined by:
- Athletics: 8-28
- Cardinals: 12-24
- Royals: 10-26
All four clubs are in last place within their respective divisions. But the Yankees being the only one above .500 is more impressive than anything else. Although Jim Passon is great, I literally couldn’t believe this when I first saw it. So much so that I had to look for myself.
Lo and behold, it was true (because of course it was, Jim wouldn’t lie to us). The Yankees have had seven different instances of winning consecutive games. This includes winning their first four series of the season, and not losing their first until the Blue Jays took two of three during their trip to the Bronx from April 21-23.
So, they’ve yet to get over the hump and get themselves that patented winning streak:
The focus will first be on Tuesday night’s game at Yankee Stadium. But if they come out victorious again, the pressure will be on to keep it going on Wednesday (insert sarcastic tone here).
You can reach Matt Musico at matt.musico@xlmedia.com. You can follow him on Twitter: @mmusico8.
