twilightdawning

A writer's thoughts – mainly about music, sport and theatre. Shakespeare, Bob Dylan, live shows, New York Yankees

A New York Yankees Diary – Day Nine – September 10th, 2026

Posted on September 11, 2026 by twilightdawning

Last game against the Colorado Rockies for the 2026 season. Let’s face it, the Rockies are going nowhere until next year, at the very least, and with the Yankees having the playoffs in their future, this is an important game to win in the hope we can close the gap on the Tampa Bay Rays, but New York winning the American League East division is a slim chance whatever the outcome.

The Yankees have won 83 games to this juncture, so there is no 100 game win season this year. They have done well, but there have been too few runs, and too many injuries. You look at their team with the absence of Aaron Judge being once again a factor and you wonder where the runs will come from – Judge is benched as the Yankees try to gently work him up to full fitness – but, hey, the Yankees can always surprise you.

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The New York Yankees in August – Part One – The Batters (2026)

Posted on September 2, 2026 by twilightdawning

The New York Yankees in August were indifferent – neither good, nor bad, just lukewarm. They started the month at 62-48 and two games behind the Tampa Bay Rays, in 2nd place in the American League East. They finished August at 78-60 and still two games behind. Their monthly record 16-12. Lukewarm.

Aaron Judge still out injured. Clay Bellinger also on the injjured list for the majority of the month.

aaro

The New York Yankees in July – Part One – The Batters (2026)

Posted on August 3, 2026 by twilightdawning

The Yankees with a July record of 14-11 remained in second place in the American League East. They started the month two and a half games behind Tampa Bay. They ended the month two and a half games behind Tampa Bay. However, the Boston Red Sox were now casting a worrying shadow behind them – as Boston produced a 21-4 record in this seventh month of the year.

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The New York Yankees in May – Part One – The Batters (2026)

Posted on June 3, 2026 by twilightdawning

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.

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The New York Yankees in March / April – Part One – The Batters (2026)

Posted on May 5, 2026 by twilightdawning

New 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.

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

Posted on October 3, 2025 by twilightdawning

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-Seven – September 27th, 2025

Posted on October 1, 2025 by twilightdawning

So, the Yankees steered their way into the last weekend of the regular season, knowing that if the balance of power stayed the same, the Toronto Blue Jays would take a tie in the division lead and therefore would be able to have a “bye” through the first round of the playoffs.

The tiebreak rules favour Toronto as they have won the majority of the games between the two teams this season.

On the other hand, The Yankees were facing the Baltimore Orioles – the weakest team in the American League East – so going into thi Saturday afternoon game anything could happen.

Cam Schlittler would start the game on the mound for the New York Yankees whilst for Baltimore, Tomoyuki Sugano would be the starting pitcher.

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A New York Yankees Diary – Day Twenty-Six – September 26th, 2025

Posted on September 30, 2025 by twilightdawning

And 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.

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The New York Yankees in August – Part One – The Batters (2025)

Posted on September 2, 2025 by twilightdawning

For the last two months, the Yankees have been below .500 in win percentage each month. In August they have begun to turn that around. They lost the first five games in August and then went two-two in the next four. From there, they really picked up, and on the whole month, they went 16-12 which means they were 14-5 after August 10th.

Most of the improvement can’t be attributed to the new signings that they brought in or around the trading so we must think in terms of the return of Giancarlo Stanton, a career best season for Trent Grisham and continued good form from Cody Bellinger.

Sadly, Aaron Judge was still not playing his best game.

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The New York Yankees in July – Part One – The Batters (2025)

Posted on August 4, 2025 by twilightdawning

March 3-0

April 15-13

May 17-9

June 13-14

July 12-13

How did it come to this? After a good start in March and April followed by an exemplary month in May, the Yankees have now had two months where their record is below 50%.

The tailspin meant that there were always going to be a good number of changes as the trading deadline approached.

Most of those who came in were on the pitching side of the roster, but first we’ll survey the batters and those who have left and those who have arrived during the last few days.

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