The Yankees aren’t perfect. Even on days when they actually won at home against lefties (a concern this year), their relief pitchers literally pushed the team to the brink of unacceptable defeat, nearly blowing five-run leads on two occasions.
So what do you think that imperfection has done to the Yankees? It’s the same as every other team that might win in 2024. There are no great teams. The Dodgers, the Phillies, the Orioles, all the expected superpowers have had their upsets like the White Sox have had, or in the case of the Phillies, have had.
No team is on pace to reach 100 wins. The best trajectory is 95 wins. You know which teams those are? The Yankees and Orioles. Yes, despite these shortcomings, the Yankees are tied with Baltimore for first place in the AL East and the best record in the major leagues.
So it’s crucial that they address their shortcomings, which means continuing to work with Marcus Stroman, who pitched five-plus innings and gave up one run in an 8-7 win over the Rangers, finding a bullpen scheme that doesn’t issue as many walks and getting key players like Clarke Schmidt and Jose Trevino healthy.
But it’s looking more and more like the Yankees are solving a problem they’ve had all season: their offense was a two-man operation. Don’t get me wrong, those two are still phenomenal (Juan Soto) and whatever comes after phenomenal to describe Aaron Judge, who hasn’t gotten many outs since May. The pair combined for three home runs on Sunday. Soto’s two reached 30 (home runs for the season and against all major league teams) and Judge reached 299 in his 952nd game (the fastest to reach 300 was Ralph Kiner, who played in 1,087 games).
Suddenly, the team has more range. The Yankees have had at least eight hits in 15 straight games, their longest streak since 1997, and their team batting average has risen by six points. The contributions are manifold, but none are more important than the fact that the emergence of Austin Wells and the return of Giancarlo Stanton have given the Yankees momentum behind Soto and especially Judge.
Wells against righties and Stanton against lefties have become a cleanup duo that has reversed one of the Yankees’ ugliest trends this season. Through July 19, or 99 games, no Yankee player had done much to defend No. 99. The Yankees’ cleanup hitters were last in the majors in batting average (.199), on-base percentage (.260) and OPS (.578).
Wells began playing regularly at the position on July 20, and in the 20 games since Stanton returned from the disabled list on July 29, the Yankees’ cleanup hitter has ranked among the major league leaders in batting average (.350), on-base percentage (.400) and OPS (.966).
Wells and Stanton combined for 10 RBI as cleanup hitters in three games against the Rangers, four fewer than the Yankees’ cleanup hitters had in the month of June.
Stanton had four great innings behind Judge on Sunday, including a sacrifice fly, a walk, a three-run homer and a 101.4 mph liner. And that homer not only gave the Yankees a 5-0 lead going into the fifth inning, but it also proved to be the deciding factor, coming after an intentional walk to Judge.
In his first 111 games, Judge was intentionally walked seven times. In his last eight, he was walked six times. The strategy worked for him the first five times.
“If we don’t want that opportunity and take advantage of it, the same thing is going to continue to happen,” Stanton said.
Stanton has long been a fearsome hitter who can be intentionally walked — 86 times in his career, including an MLB-high 24 in 2014 — but injuries have made him more aggressive, and Judge is still Judge. He was already 2-for-2 at bat when the Rangers intentionally passed him with DJ LeMahieu on third and an out at second in the fifth inning, with the Yankees leading 2-0. Lefty starter Andrew Heaney was replaced by Jose Leclerc, last year’s championship closer who held right-handed hitters to a .186 batting average. The righty held Stanton 0-for-2, and then after two pitches, Stanton hit the ball harder than anyone else, something he does better than maybe anyone except Judge. In a game that saw 16 balls over 100 mph, none could match Stanton’s 114.9 mph ball.
“It’s always a little hilarious,” Judge said after a home run was hit after an intentional walk.
In reality, even with Wells and Stanton at bat, Judge still led the league with 98 walks and 13 intentional outs, while also hitting MLB-best 42 homers and 106 RBIs. And his 3-for-3 performance has him passing Cleveland’s Steven Kwan (.325) and moving him to second in batting averages with a .328 average behind Triple Crown-chasing Kansas City pitcher Bobby Witt (.347).
The Yankees must thwart this strategy periodically to overcome their own shortcomings. They finished their longest home game of the season on Sunday, 5-4, against a team that had lost three straight. They now play three games against the historically terrible White Sox and 12 of 15 games against losing teams.
For the imperfect Yankees, this is a chance for a major comeback — a chance to improve on their major league best record (in this case, fourth place).
