Everyone knew the New York Yankees were going to lose some games this year. Even the best go through bad stretches, it’s baseball. It happens.
What no one could have expected, however, was the Yankees being swept by the Red Sox at Fenway Park over the weekend, thus losing five of the first six games of a 13-game season series. This was also the exact opposite of the previous weekend, when Boston outscored the Yankees 27-23.
This most recent three-game set, on the other hand, was shockingly low-scoring. Only 12 total runs were scored, with Boston outscoring the Yankees 8-4.
You are reading this correctly. The Boston Red Sox, now fourth in the AL East at 37-36 and 6.5 games behind the first-place Yankees, swept New York. Per usual, Boston manager Alex Cora had his men playing harder against the rival Bronx Bombers.
There were no devastating injuries on the Yankees’ end. Aaron Judge’s game-tying home run on Friday was his lone hit of the series. He was 1 for 12 with a stomach-turning nine strikeouts. It was a collective power outage up and down the lineup, and three devastating outs on the bases. Jasson Dominguez killed a rally when he forgot how many outs there were after a strikeout and started trotting off of second base. Ben Rice was also picked off at second early in Sunday’s game.
Even usual stolen base lock Anthony Volpe was caught stealing third in extra innings on Friday. That proved the start of not only Friday’s endgame and Carlos Narvaez’s eventual walk-off single, but the entire series. Any momentum the Yankees had after sweeping the Royals in Kansas City was gone in the blink of Garrett Crochet’s fastball.
There’s no secret explanation to the Yankees getting outplayed by the Red Sox. New York had a bad weekend and has to play better. End of discussion. Do not pass Go, do not collect $200.
But the reason, if you ask this writer, is even simpler: the Yankees tagged Crochet for five runs at Yankee Stadium on June 8, and clearly entered Fenway expecting another slugfest. They chalked the last series loss up to pitching poorly and didn’t give Boston’s arms a glimmer of respect. Play stupid games, win stupid prizes indeed.
Lucky for the Bombers, the best time to right the ship is on the horizon. In fact, it’s right now. The rest of June shapes up to be a fairly soft schedule on New York’s side. Four games with the visiting Los Angeles Angels await, and the Yankees already swept them in Anaheim last month.
Then, the struggling Orioles visit. They took two out of three over the Yankees at Camden Yards to close out April but, again. The two losses aren’t indicative of how good or bad the Yankees are: They didn’t respect Tomoyuki Sugano’s splitter in the opener. Carlos Carrasco blew a 2-0 lead in the rubber game before getting DFA’d. Meanwhile, Baltimore is still dead last in the AL East.
The Yankees will then head to Cincinnati for a quick three-game trip, a very winnable series despite the Reds’ clear talent. Regardless, New York’s superior pitching combined with their big bats in the friendly Great American Ball Park makes them the favorites.
A travel day and weekend series at home versus the Athletics later, and the Yankees could widen the gap in the AL East again. The pesky Tampa Bay Rays rocketing to second place and 3.5 games behind doesn’t mean anything. The Rays are running hotter than St. Petersburg in July. New York, by contrast, can barely get a good flame going on the grill during their annual summer slump.
When push comes to shove, the rest of this month truly is the same as the American League in 2025. Just like on Opening Day, it’s still the Yankees’ to lose.
By the numbers, the team should close June strong. Giancarlo Stanton is due back in the Angels series and he’ll add some power protection for Judge, Cody Bellinger, and others.
The rest is up to the Yankees. They need to make their pitches and take their swings. Nothing more, nothing less. It’s all a matter of playing better. That starts now.
