Getty Image / Luke Hales
For the first two months of the season, the New York Yankees look destined to bring home their 28th World Series title, and their first since 2009. New addition Juan Soto was tearing the cover off the ball, the pitching was excellent, and the team was on a pace that put them well over 100 wins.
After a win against the rival Red Sox on June 14, they sat at 50-22, on pace for a near-Yankee record 113 wins. Since, it’s been a terrible collapse that has the team’s huge fan base questioning if keeping around the manager-GM combo of Aaron Boone and Brian Cashman was the right choice.
Since that win against the Red Sox, the Yankees have been downright awful. They’re losing a lot, but it’s not just that they’re losing. It’s how they’re losing.
They’ve lost nine of their last eleven games, and six of those losses have been by three runs or more. Recently, they were embarrassed by the crosstown Mets, losing a two-game series 9-7 and 12-2. Frankly, the first game only ended up as close as it was because of an Aaron Judge 8th-inning grand slam. Judge, along with Juan Soto, has stayed absolutely red-hot, despite the losing.
Thursday night, they headed to Toronto take on the struggling Blue Jays, and were dominated to the tune of a 9-2 loss. It was 8-0 after 2nd inning, yet another uncompetitive outing from a Yankees starting pitcher, this time being Carlos Rodon. The offense isn’t exactly tearing the cover off the ball in this stretch, but the starting pitching has been abysmal, with an ERA of well over 6 since the skid began.
Frankly, this has exposed some weaknesses in the roster. With Giancarlo Stanton predictably on the IL, the Yankees are not hitting at all outside of Judge and Soto. And, the starting pitching that overachieved through the first 70 games has come back to the mean in a big way. It probably is not a good enough team to win the World Series as currently constructed, and Yankee fans are not happy.