In May, the Yankees won 16 and lost 12. This was a slight decline on their April perrformance and with the Tampa Bay Rays really hitting their stride the Yankees went from 1.5 games ahead in the American League East to 1.5 games behind. The division was tied by May 9. They then drifted out to five and a half games behind by the 22nd.
They then won 6 of the next 7 games and closed that gap.
Continue readingNew York Yankees – March 4-1.
New York Yankees – April 16-10
At the end of March, they were in a tie for first place in the American League. By the end of April, they had opened a lead of 1.5 games.
Continue readingThe Yankees only just failed to win the American League East. And if they had done, they would have achieved a bye through the wild card playoffs and progressed straight through to the American League Division Series.
As it worked out, they did get to that Division series, but when they arrived they found themselves hopelessly over-matched by the Toronto Blue Jays – the very team that they had tied for the top position in the American League Eastern division. Let’s look at which players left them in that position, first considering the guys with the bats.
Continue readingMarch & 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…
Continue readingAnd so we came to the last day of the season…
Not only did the Yankees need to win to clinch the bye through the first round of the playoffs, but they needed the Toronto Blue Jays to lose in their final game – against the Tampa Bay Rays, who had struggled almost as much in 2025 as the Yankees’ opponents on the final day – the Baltimore Orioles.
For the Yankees, it would be Luis Gil on the mound. This was a role that indicated to him that if the Yankees didn’t bypass the first round of those playoffs, he might not even make the roster for the Wildcard series. This then was a crucial game for him as he sought to show that he was worth a relief role and a spot on the roster as a starter for the second series.
Meanwhile, Kyle Brandish would be playing his last game of the season for Baltimore and an opportunity to improve on his 1-1 record in 2025 as he closed out his fourth year in the Majors.
Continue readingAnd so, the Yankees had moved into the last series of the regular season as they faced the Baltimore Orioles. Baltimore were 75-84 and bottom of the division, compared to the Yankees who were 91-68. The Yankees therefore had more to worry about – specifically what was happening in Toronto.
There, Toronto would face the Tampa Bay Rays for three consecutive games and the Yankees knew that if the Blue Jays should win all of those games then because Toronto had won the lion’s share of the games between the Blue Jays and New York then it would just be as though Toronto had won the division.
They would take the “bye” through the first round of the playoffs.
Continue readingSo, the Yankees closed the gap on Toronto yesterday. Now they come to the second game of their three games series with the Chicago White Sox, hoping that it will not be as close as the first game, and also knowing that they could not afford to lose unless they should ruin their chances of taking of taking over at the head of the American League East.
Max Fried was to be the Yankees starter and Fraser Ellard would start on the mound for the Chicago team, in a game that would prove to be a bullpen game for them – intentionally or otherwise.
Continue readingAnd so back in NYC, the Yankees faced quite a comfortable run in. They would first face the Chicago White Sox – the worst team in the American League, second worst in all of major league baseball. After that they would face the Baltimore Orioles who have the poorest record in the Yankees’ own division – the American League East.
The difficulty is that, through these six games they will not only need to keep pace with the Toronto Blue Jays but surpass the Blue Jays record over the same period. They went into the first Chicago game two games behind Toronto and (because of Toronto having the advantage in the tie-breaker rules), they would need to finish one game ahead of the Blue Jays.
The tie-breaker stipulates that the team with most wins in the games between the two teams would finish top in event of a dead heat. And in this, Toronto have the clear edge – and the two teams will not play each other again in the regular season.
Continue readingAnd so on to the roadtrip. Left behind in New York City, I will give you shorter accounts of each day…
Continue readingThe day for memorials. A day to remember a great tragedy.
There was a rumour that President Donald Trump would throw out first pitch. He didn’t, but he did attend the game and drew uproarious cheers from the fans, even at one point drowning out the singing of “God Bless America”.
But I am here to talk about baseball, so let’s turn our attention to the game.
Continue reading
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