A New York Yankees Diary – Day Twenty-Eighth – September 28th, 2025

And 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.

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A New York Yankees Diary – Day Twenty-Three – September 23rd, 2025

And 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.

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A New York Yankees Diary – Day Twelve to Twenty-Two – September 12th-22nd, 2025

And so on to the roadtrip. Left behind in New York City, I will give you shorter accounts of each day…

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A New York Yankees Diary – Day Six – September 6th, 2025

So, one down in the series and time for the Yankees to try and turn things around.

On the mound is the rookie of the year from 2024, Luis Gil who has recovered from injury. In his first games since returning, he started slowly but he has now built up his stamina and is settling well.

The Toronto Blue Jays started with George Springer leading off and popping up to Anthony Volpe for the first out, and then Addison Barger lined out to Cody Bellinger who is in rightfield this afternoon. So, a good start for Gil but then the Yankees’ nemesis from last night, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. hit a double on a sharp line drive towards Jasson Dominguez as a way of welcoming Jasson back to the line-up.

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The New York Yankees in August – Part Two – The Pitchers (2025)

The Yankees got better as August progressed. Part of this was due to members of the starting rotation getting into their groove after a rough stretch. The most notable of them was Max Fried who struggled throughout almost all of August, but then hit his stride in his last August appearance.

Alongside the other starters, the relief corps were much better than they had been in July.

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The New York Yankees in July – Part Two – The Pitchers (2025)

The pitching in July has not been a pretty picture.

Several relievers came in at the deadline (more on them presently), but the Yankees could also have used a new starter or two, but no-one arrived. They really aren’t in great shape.

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The New York Yankees in May – Part Two – The Pitchers (2025)

The Yankees have had a tremendous month in May. They have won 17 games and lost only 9.

At the same time, the performances of some of the players who were strong in April have not continued in the same direction. However, some who struggled in April have turned it around.

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The New York Yankees in March / April – Part Two – The Pitchers (2025)

The Yankees rolled to a 3-0 start in March, but there were notes of caution with new signing and staff ace, Max Fried getting off to a difficult first start – despite a no-decision, he began with a 3.86 and a 1.93 WHIP. The Yankees need Fried to perform well with Gerrit Cole gone for the season.

Also going through a struggle was new and expensive signing, Devin Williams who the Yankees signed despite seemingly have a great closer already in Luke Weaver. Williams and the 9th inning weren’t getting along. In his one March appearance, he ran up a 9.00 ERA and a 3.00 WHIP.

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The Best New York Yankees of 2024

Each season, we award to players’ rankings according to outstanding performances during the season. Using this system, here’s how the Batters and Pitchers of the New York Yankees placed:

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The New York Yankees in October – Part Two – The Pitchers (2024)

So, we have seen that the batters with the exception of Giancarlo Stanton and Juan Soto performed largely indifferently in October. This, of course, meant that if the Yankees were to carry on to win the championship then the pitchers would need to produce at a level above and beyond their usual. Let’s just say that, particularly in the case of the starters, this never even looked close to happening.

The bullpen did well, but by the time they came to the mound some games were already lost.

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