It is Tuesday, September 17, 2024 in the current New York Yankees season.
The team is in great position at 87-63, three games ahead of the rival Baltimore Orioles in the AL East. Better yet, the Yankees are the best team in the American League and just took three of four from the hated Boston Red Sox.
Add that the Yankees begin a short west coast trip in Oakland this evening—and after having Monday off—and one would think these Yankees are playing with house money. The Seattle Mariners are fighting for their playoff lives, and the A’s are well out of the playoffs.
But make no mistake, the New York Yankees need this week, especially the A’s series. They already split four games with Oakland back home, and both losses were uncharacteristically bad. In one, Oakland won 2-0 thanks to a ninth-inning two-bagger from second-year infielder Zack Gelof. The other, a 3-1 loss, was the Yankees’ own fault; they just didn’t play well.
Digging even deeper, last season marked the first time since 2016 that the Yankees won a series in Oakland. They either tied or lost the ones in between. Not a great look for the mighty Bronx Bombers versus an Oakland team that always rebuilding and calling it Moneyball.
So what does that all have to do with facing both Oakland and Seattle this week? Simple: It’s all about seeding.
The Yankees are the best team in the AL, but with a slim lead. Jose Ramirez and the Cleveland Guardians, meanwhile, are only a half-game behind and starting to pull away in the AL Central. This may seem small, but home field advantage throughout the playoffs matters. Remember, the Yankees didn’t have it in 2019 and 2022, and lost to the top-seeded Houston Astros both times.
Forget the Yankees’ lengthy track record of beating Cleveland in the playoffs because it’s never the better team. Always the hotter team.
And with a lineup featuring Juan Soto and Aaron Judge at the top, plus Giancarlo Stanton in the middle? The Yankees have what it takes to finish the season strong, clinch both the AL East and the top seed, and enjoy a first-round playoff bye before starting the ALDS refreshed.
But again, that’s all up to the Yankees. They control their own destiny. Point fingers at Aaron Boone’s bullpen management or lack thereof all you want. It’s not the manager’s fault if his players simply don’t hit in a given game.
We’ve seen it from the Yankees all year. The lineup and pitching staff run hot and cold, but still look like a World Series-caliber team. It’s a perfect metaphor for a season in which no one squad is a surefire favorite.
Except these are the New York effing Yankees. Soto. Judge. Stanton. Gerrit Cole’s stoic, stone-faced glare from the mound leads the rest of the pitching staff. Not winning these very winnable games in the thick of a pennant race is practically a total failure.
It’s Seattle and Oakland. One non-playoff team, and another that blew a division lead to the point of the manager being fired in late August.
The New York Yankees know what has to be done. Let’s see if they do it.
