This slump is going to cost a lot of people their jobs if it continues for the rest of the year. The New York Yankees are currently in an awful run of form as they’ve fallen completely out of the AL Wild Card contention despite having the 2nd largest payroll in baseball.
We’re going to see MASSIVE CHANGES in the Big Apple if the Yankees miss the postseason this year.
Despite getting a much-needed break from the All-Star game stoppage, the New York Yankees have continued their old habits as they’ve now fallen out of the AL Wild Card seedings and sit 5th place in the AL East. And, with a payroll as large as theirs, I don’t see how major figureheads at the franchise keep their heads for too much longer.
This is turning into one of the biggest season disasters/disappointments the Yankees franchise has had in recent memory as despite making it to the AL Championship Series last year, seeing Aaron Judge break Roger Maris’ 61-home run single-season record, winning 99 games, and boasting of the 2nd largest payroll in the MLB at $277M, the Yankees right now have a record of 50-46, sit 8th in the AL standings, and are 2.5 games back of a Wild Card spot.
Oh, and they now also have fallen from a comfortable 3rd place standing in the AL East for the vast majority of this season to now being 1.5 GB the Boston Red Sox for 5th place in the division. And, just one last thing, the Yankees also are in the midst of a 2-8 run over their last 10 games…which is equal with how the Oakland Athletics have performed over their last 10 games.
If you can’t see why Yankees fans are ready to storm Yankee Stadium and string up manager Aaron Boone and general manager Brian Cashman by their shoelaces, then I hope this cleared it up for you. Now, the Yankees record of 50-46 is not the world’s worst record by any stretch if the imagination, but this is the New York Yankees we’re talking about.
This isn’t just some run of the mill organization whose only goal is to keep their payroll below $120M, develop young prospects into cult heroes, win a division title every few years or so, make a couple of runs to the ALDS, and hope that one day they get enough young, cheap talent to make a run to the World Series every other 20 years.
The New York Yankees are the proudest, winningest franchise in all of baseball with their 27 World Series victories, while they’re also the most successful team in North American sports in terms of titles won in a, respective, league. Only the Montreal Canadiens (24 titles), the Boston Celtics (18 titles), and the Los Angeles Lakers (18 titles) have a comparable amount of success.
That’s the level we’re talking about here.
So, it makes perfect sense why the Yankees fans are ready to revolt as the team simply is one of the most Dr. Jekyll-Mr. Hyde franchises in the MLB right now. Sure, the Yankees are one of the most exciting teams to watch when it comes to home run scoring as they have the 6th most home runs in the MLB (132) with sluggers like Aaron Jude, Gleyber Torres, Giancarlo Stanton, Anthony Rizzo, and Anthony Volpe all reaching double digits, but they’re equally one of the worst hitting sides in the league.
As of me writing this, the Yankees are currently 26th in runs scored (419), 28th in hits (726), 29th in doubles (129), 19th in RBIs (402), 21st in stolen bases (57), 7th in caught stealing (20…which shows just how inadequate they are at base running too), 29th in batting average (.230), and 26th in on-base percentage (.300).
Simply put, this is an awful hitting and base-running team that has gotten away with its own shortcomings by being a lights-out home run hitting side. It’s just home runs or bust with the Yankees, and now we’re seeing a slump of bust as they’ve lost their last three series against the Chicago Cubs (44-50), the Colorado Rockies (37-58), and the Los Angeles Angels (48-48).
That’s just simply not good enough for a team like the New York Yankees, no matter how many injuries they have or their excellence in hitting home runs, and it wouldn’t surprise me if either Cashman or Boone gets let go when the seasons done if the Yankees miss the playoffs or are eliminated early.
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