March & April – 18-13

May – 17-9

June – 13-14

July – 12-13

August – 16-12

September? Who knew…

But this was a crucial time for the Yankees to produce a month like May or August and certainly not like June or July.

It was during those months that they had let the Toronto Blue Jays narrow the gap and eventually pass them.

Now they needed to more than match the Canadian team blow-for-blow and in so doing take the division and also earn a bye in the first round of the playoffs.

Let’s look at who did well in September – firstly among the batters…

Name/Pos	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	K	SB	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS
Aaron Judge of/dh	25	81	27	30	2	0	10	17	27	17	3	.370	.527	.765	1.292
Ben Rice 1b/c	22	79	14	25	7	1	4	14	4	8	0	.316	.349	.582	.931
Jasson Dominguez lf/pr	13	17	5	5	1	0	0	2	2	3	2	.294	.400	.353	.753
Jose Caballero if/of	18	43	7	12	5	0	1	4	7	11	8	.279	.380	.465	.845
Austin Wells c	20	58	7	16	6	0	2	10	5	22	0	.276	.323	.483	.806
Jazz Chisholm 2b/3b	25	88	9	23	2	0	5	13	4	28	6	.261	.301	.455	.756
Paul Goldschmidt 1b	21	53	6	13	1	0	0	2	4	11	0	.245	.322	.264	.586
Cody Bellinger lf	25	94	14	22	2	0	3	15	15	19	2	.234	.339	.351	.690
Giancarlo Stanton dh/of	22	76	8	17	2	0	7	20	8	36	0	.224	.294	.526	.820
Anthony Volpe ss	18	59	6	13	4	0	0	2	2	21	2	.220	.246	.288	.534
Amed Rosario if	6	15	1	3	1	0	1	4	0	7	0	.200	.200	.467	.667
Ryan McMahon 3b	22	61	8	12	2	0	2	7	7	25	1	.197	.286	.328	.614
Trent Grisham of	23	82	16	15	0	0	6	17	15	33	0	.183	.313	.402	.715
Austin Slater of	11	18	2	3	0	0	0	1	0	12	0	.167	.167	.167	.334
Name/Pos	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	K	SB	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS

Catchers

Ben Rice and Austin Wells both made a significant improvement in their batting performance in September.

Rice hit .316 with 4 home runs and 14 RBIs. His performance made an immense contribution to the Yankees’ attempt to close that gap in September. The outcome was that he added his weight to an 18-7 win/loss in September – not enough to pass Toronto but almost. Wells also had one of his best periods of the season. going .276 with 8 exra base hits.

The two of them will probably be back in the the Bronx as a result of this significant production. Wells looks set to continue has first choice behind the plate with Rice spending a coniderable amount of his time at the first base corner. I continue to have my doubts about Wells and I would rather see them bring in somebody else and Wells then become second choice but let’s see what happens in the off-season.

Infielders

Paul Goldschmidt looks likely to be coming towards the end of his tenure in the pinstripes and maybe it was this that inhibited his offensive performance in the 9th month. He hit only .245 with one extra base hit, and it was very good that the Yankees did have Rice to call upon,

Second baseman, Jazz Chisholm Jr was second in playing time behind Cody Bellinger and appeared in the same amount of games as Aaron Judge. He hit .261, with 5 home runs (4th in the team in homers in September) and is certainly doing well. His defensive work still leaves a little to be desired, and I find it hard to warm to his personality, but he has done enough to be first choice in 2026 or to at least be a valuable trade commodity.

At shortstop and third base, we have the continuing struggles of Anthony Volpe and Ryan McMahon respectively. Nothing good to report here. Volpe makes most fielding errors but has the edge on McMahon when you consider their batting contributions towards the end of the year. Volpe (.220 and 4 doubles) has no trade value at all. McMahon hit .197 in September but is a fairly solid defensive option.

Jose Caballero is, for me, a much more likeable personality than Chisholm. He is much faster as well, but perhaps takes too many risks on the basepaths. He gives the Yankees more options as he is able to play in numerous infield and outfield postions – and also his statistics stand up to close scrutiny. In September, he hit 6 extra base hits (5 doubles) and walks far more frequently than Chisholm. If I was in control I would go into next season with him as first choice at either shortstop or second base, and then see how the other pieces fall.

Amed Rosario hasn’t been able to maintain his early form for the Yankees. This month, he hit .200 (albeit with a double and a home run). He is a useful fringe player to have around, a little too impatient at the plate and not likely to earn many walks, but I would re-sign him for 2026.

Outfielders

Aaron Judge’s fielding arm is not quite where it should be, but everything else is coming along just fine. In September, he hit .370 with 10 home runs (team-leading on the month) and 2 doubles. Because opposing pitchers are afriad of him, he also led the team in walks with 27, and his strikeouts numbers were well blow most of the other regular members of the line-up. He led the team in on-base percentage, slugging and therefore obviously OPS.

Cody Bellinger struggled in terms of his batting performance. He has a contract opt-out option at the end of the season and he seemed distracted. On the other hand, both he and Trent Grisham were at tour-de-force level in the outfield. But with Bellinger hitting just .234 (5 extra base hits) and Grisham .183 (6 extra base hits) in this calendar month the Yankees need a substantial improvement from them if they are to make their way through the play-offs.

Jasson Dominguez has very much become 4th outfielder and very often just a pinch-runner for the labouring Giancarlo Stanton as the regular season reached its natural conclusion. He did take 5 hits in his 17 at-bats and picked up a couple of stolen bases, but it wouldn’t be too much of a surprise to see the Yankees trade him, especially if Bellinger is still going to be around.

Austin Slater became something of a fun fan favourite over this last month. He was called on to pitch, picked up a vital RBI and just took his bit-part in his stride.

Designated hitter

Giancarlo Stanton continues to produce some memorable hits. He can’t run to save his life, so the Yankees tended to lift him if he got stuck at first base (usually Dominguez took his place in the line-up). He hit only .224, but with a vital 7 home runs which got the Yankees out of numerous tight spots.