New York Yankees Can Control AL East by September
An IBWAA member lays out how the Yankees can grab the reigns of the division with a strong run to end August
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Pregame Pepper
Did you know…
. . . Aaron Judge has a 217 OPS+ this season. Juan Soto has a 180 OPS+. The mark would be a career high for Judge, who had a 210 OPS+ when he hit 62 home runs in 2022. The 180 mark would be Soto’s top mark, outside the 2020 shortened season when he posted a 217 mark over 47 games.
. . . With his second 200+ OPS+ season, Judge would become the ninth player to record two seasons of 500+ plate appearances and a 200+ OPS+. Babe Ruth posted 11 such seasons. Barry Bonds and Ted Williams are tied for second with six such seasons. Rogers Hornsby has four and Mickey Mantle, Lou Gehrig, and Ty Cobb each had three. Finally, Jimmie Foxx reached 200 OPS+ twice.
. . . The single-season mark was set by Josh Gibson in 1943 with a 281 mark. Barry Bonds holds the high number since integration, with a 268 in 2002 when he hit .370/.582/.799 with 46 home runs.
Leading Off
Yankees Can Take Hold of AL East By September
By Bobby Santoro
To say that the 2024 season has been a roller coaster for the New York Yankees would be an understatement. A season that started as well as anyone could have imagined took a quick nosedive after the team traveled to Boston in June. The skid saw injuries to Giancarlo Stanton and Anthony Rizzo, and the team began to look like the 2023 Yankees team that just barely finished above .500 and missed the playoffs.
The starting pitching, one of the best in baseball to start the year, came back down to earth and began to show its struggles. Other than Aaron Judge and Juan Soto, the offense became utterly pedestrian. Coming out of the All-Star Break, fans were hoping for changes to be made, and while the deadline wasn’t highly active, the right moves were made to get the season back on track.
While Jazz Chisholm has cooled off since his Pinstripes debut, there is no denying his personality lit a fire in this team. DJ LeMahieu and Alex Verdugo have started hitting again. Austin Wells has shown why he deserves to be the starting catcher while tossing his name in the Rookie of the Year conversation.
While the Yankees lost their series against the Angels, weather could have significantly affected the outcomes of each game. The past few days, the Northeast has been hammered with rain, causing the Yankees to play multiple doubleheaders and severely affecting how teams and managers handled each game.
Instead of having someone like Austin Wells catch the first two games on consecutive nights, they were forced to start backup Carlos Narvaez in one of the doubleheader games. While Narvaez is a capable backup, the way that Wells has been swinging the bat lately, taking his bat out of the lineup has a huge impact.
The team had the same issues as the Texas Rangers came into town this weekend as Friday night's game was called due to rain once again and setting up a single admission doubleheader on a beautiful Saturday in the Boogie Down Bronx.
Tale Of Two Games
The day's first game saw Carlos Rodon take the ball against former Yankee Nate Eovaldi. A win would improve New York to a tie for first place with the Orioles. After jumping out to an early 1-0 lead, Austin Wells belted a two-run double, putting the Bombers up 3-0.
Wells struck again an inning later with a two-run single as the Yankees blew out the Rangers in game one 8-0, and Rodon continued to shine in his second season in the Bronx. The win marks Rodon’s 13th of the year, and since July 14th, the southpaw is 4-0 with a 2.54 ERA and is tied for the Major League lead in wins.
All signs pointed to a doubleheader sweep as Gerrit Cole took the ball for game two 30 minutes after the first game had wrapped up. The Yankee Ace was brilliant, allowing just one earned run and striking out ten batters over 5.1 innings of work.
Cole was surprisingly lifted after throwing just 90 pitches in the top of the 6th inning. Cole had set down seven Rangers in a row, including getting Wyatt Langford to pop out for the first out of the inning. Boone yanked his ace to bring in Luke Weaver in hopes of getting multiple innings out of him.
The plan immediately backfired as Weaver allowed three straight singles before walking Carson Kelly to give Texas the lead. A Josh Smith sac fly made it 3-1, and Corey Seager put the game away after launching his 25th homer of the year, making it 6-1. Michael Tonkin gave up three runs to further question Boone’s decision to lift his ace.
Stanton and Chisholm each homered in the 8th, cutting the deficit to 9-4, but it was too much to overcome, and Texas took game two.
A Chance To Take Control Of The Division
After Baltimore blew Sunday’s game against Tampa and the Yankees barely held on for a victory after blowing a 6-1 lead, the two teams are knotted atop the AL East with identical 70-49 records. The Yankees have much to be optimistic about in the upcoming weeks.
The Bombers will take a quick road trip starting Monday night for the first of three games with the historically bad White Sox before heading to Detroit for a weekend series with the Tigers. The team will return home and end the month with Cleveland, Colorado, and Washington, giving them a soft schedule for the next few weeks.
There will not be a better chance to pass Baltimore and take control of the American League East Division, and, to put it simply, the Yankees need to take care of business. While going 10-5 during those 15 games may sound great, the goal should be 13-2 or 12-3 if this team is serious about making a run at a championship in 2024.
Last year, the Yankees lost the fire they had built up since their 2017 run. As the great Apollo Creed once preached, they lost their “eye of the tiger.” That hunger and fire seemed to fade away, but there is something about this team when they get hot that gives Yankee fans hope.
The 2024 Yankees have shown they can have fun and show a little swagger in their game. A division title not only gives them what will likely be a first-round bye, but it will give them the confidence they need to go on a magical run and bring a World Series back to the Bronx.
Bobby Santoro is a journalist and announcer for baseball and other major sports. He has covered all levels, from high school to the pros. You can find him on Twitter @bsantoro112 as well as on Instagram @bobbysantoro_.
Extra Innings
With Giancarlo Stanton healthy, the powerful trio of Aaron Judge, Stanton, and Juan Soto working together Sunday led to a win, something that they have done well this year:
