The New York Yankees in March / April – Part One – The Batters (2025)

The 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.

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The New York Yankees in October – Part One – The Batters (2024)

So, 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.

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The New York Yankees in September – Part One – The Batters (2024)

By 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.

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A New York Yankees Diary – Day Nineteen – September 29th, 2024

So, game 162.

And this would prove to be my last game of the season. The news agency had offered me a contract for the post-season, but the need to move house and start a new position in England, was going to mean that there was no way of taking that up.

As in 2023, the last days of the season were visited by blanket rain, which meant delays and just getting generally soaked to the skin. First pitch didn’t come around until 4:36 by my watch.

On the mound? Clarke Schmidt for the New York Yankees who entered the game with a 2.55 ERA and a 5-5 win – loss record which partially concealed that he hadn’t achieved a win since May 16 and had missed a considerable portion of the season through injury. For the Pittsburgh Pirates, it was Bailey Falter who had an 8-9 record. This was his rookie season and other than not playing in the majors for most of July, he had produced a reasonable season pitching to a 4.17 ERA.

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A New York Yankees Diary – Day Seventeen – September 27th, 2024

The Yankees now have a decisive lead over Baltimore, and Baltimore have a wild card qualification. The outcome of the series between the two teams could not really have worked out better for both participants. The Orioles really couldn’t expect to catch the New York team on the season, but just simply to leave town having taken the 3-game set, 2-1 gives them something of a psychological edge should the two meet again in the playoffs.

Really, only one matter remained for the New York Yankees. That was to clinch the top seed spot. This too seems likely to be the outcome, but the Yankees were balancing the need to do that with the need to rest players and keep them fresh. It is a difficult equation because the Yankees were likely to have the rest they needed if they did not play in the wild card series and rested everyone through that “bye” period,

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A New York Yankees Diary – Day Ten to Thirteen – September 20th to 23rd, 2024

So, having finished a successful series in Seattle, the Yankees moved on their road trip to Oakland to face the Athletics.

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A New York Yankees Diary – Day Six to Nine – September 16th to 19th, 2024

With 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…

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The New York Yankees in August – Part One – The Batters (2024)

The New York Yankees are not the team they were in the first months of the season, but they have improved from the form that they were showing in June and July.

In August, they went 14-12. They managed to return to 1st position in the American League – and opened up a 1 1/2 game lead over the Baltimore Orioles. It could be better, but not what’s not to like right?

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The New York Yankees in July – Part One – The Batters (2024)

So, the Yankees June slump has come and gone. And the July trading deadline has come and gone too.

Sadly, things don’t break down into nice monthly intervals in the real world or in the sports world.

So, between the beginning of the month and the 9th of this seventh month, the Yankees won 1 and lost 6. Between then and the 26th, the Bronx Bombers went 5-7. Finally, it did appear that they had turned the corner in the last 5 days of July with a 5-0 sprint to end the month.

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The New York Yankees in June – Part One – The Batters (2024)

In May, the Yankees were probably tied with the Philadelphia Phillies as the best team in baseball. They were certainly the best team in the American League.

In June, it all began to collapse around them, On the month, they were only 14-13 (compared to 21-7 in May). More remarkably and significantly, in the second half of June they were 4-9.

Aaron Judge and Luis Soto remained strong, but what had gone wrong?

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