I can’t believe how well he’s playing… He is batting much better than I ever expected he could… He looks so much better on the mound than his stats suggested he would…
And obviously, something had to give. And in June didn’t it just. The all-powerful Yankees who were strolling to the post-season and would be winners of the American League East. just ground to a halt and their true colours were shown.
June 2025 was not a good month for the Yankees
Continue readingThe Yankees have had a great month in May. They went 17-9 and some of their offensive players were amongst the strong reasons that it went this well. Aaron Judge, Paul Goldschmidt, and Cody Bellinger were at the forefront.
Jason Dominguez and Anthony Volpe also put in above average performances.
Continue readingThe New York Yankees led (in every sense) by their captain, Aaron Judge were quick off the mark in 2025. By the end of March, they were 3-0 and a game in front of the rest of their division. By the end of April, they were 18-13 and had increased their lead to one-and-a-half games.
Obviously, there had been many changes since their disappointing perfomance in the 2024 World Series.
Some of these had been by choice – some because they had been outbid on free agents they would have liked to re-sign.
Continue readingSo, the Yankees in October were a mixed bunch. Sure, they made it to the World Series, but many of the players they needed to “turn up” in the vital games went AWOL.
Crucially, these included Aaron Judge, Jazz Chisholm Jr., and once more, both catchers. That combination was never going to end happily.
Continue readingBy the beginning of September, the New York Yankees were well on their way to the post-regular season playoffs. They were 79 wins, 57 losses with 26 games to play. The main question seemed to be surrounding the issue of whether they would win the divison or go through by wildcard qualification.
Amongst the regular players, Gleyber Torres was leading the way, by the end of the month, but their were real issues about how much he could be a team player as well as a strong individual performer. Trent Grisham was much improved in the little time he was given at the plate, and of course, Aaron Judge and Juan Soto continued to be masterful.
Continue readingSo, game 161 and as so often happens at this stage of the season, the team who has least to achieve takes their foot off the accelerator and begins to lose.
Going into this game the Yankees had lost three of four, this afternoon to add to their stresses, the Pittsburgh Pirates had elected that potential National League rookie of the year, Paul Skenes should be on the mound. To this point in the season, Skenes is 3 wins – 1 loss with an earned run average of just under two, and September was his best month of the season so far.
The Yankees’ starter is no slouch either as they went with another potential rookie of the year – American League candidate Luis Gil. Gil is 15-6 with an ERA of 3.27.
With the season coming to an end, and little to play for, the main question is how long the Pirates would allow Skenes to remain in the game – how deep in the innings count, they would allow him to go.
My prediction, before the game, if I am honest, would have been that the Yankees would take this one, clinch top seed and Skenes would go five innings and no more. How wrong can you be!
Continue readingBack to attending the games in person…
And so back in the Bronx, and just or more significantly, the Yankees were to face the Baltimore Orioles.
Prior to this game, the Yankees were 6 games clear in the American League East. There were six games to play which meant that if Baltimore won all their remaining games and the Yankees lost theirs… Well, you can do the math. If Baltimore swept the Yankees here, the two teams would be a few steps closer to an unlikely one game playoff to see who would rule the division. Both teams are going to be in the post-season, now it is a battle for home advantage in the playoffs, and to see who would play who – plus the little things like a division title and how many games the Yankees would have in the wins column at the end of the season. They couldn’t make 100, but 98 was not a bad target.
The starting pitchers on the mound would be Dean Kremer for the Orioles and Clarke Schmidt for the New York team. Kremer had appeared in 24 games and taken 7 wins. Schmidt, who had struggled with injuries this season, had ony 13 starts (he had missed the whole of June, July and August) , and taken 5 wins although he had a higher win percentage than Kremer. From compraing just the pitchers’ records this one could go either way.
Continue readingSo, having finished a successful series in Seattle, the Yankees moved on their road trip to Oakland to face the Athletics.
Continue readingWith nobody willing to sponsor me to travel on the roadtrip, I get to follow the Yankees’ away games from sunny New York. I exchange Yankee Stadium for Ground Central Coffee Company on 45th street where I report on the series against the Seattle Mariners and the Oakland Athletics.
And so to Seattle in my mind…
Continue readingA sunny Sunday Autumn afternoon in New York. My favourite version of the song “Autumn in New York” is by Carolyn Leonhart, who is one of Donald Fagen‘s “Danettes“. Great song, great singer, and this promises to be a great game. Final game of four against the great rivals, Boston Red Sox with the New York Yankees needing to win to take the series and Boston able to achieve a tie if they can take a win. so, why it’s not quite all to play for, it is enough to keep it interesting. Let’s have a shilling on the side.
Pitching for the Yankees is Carlos Rodon. For Boston it is Kutter Crawford.
Continue reading
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