1. The Yankees blew a 6-0 lead. They blew a 9-4 lead. They blew a 12-10 lead with one out and no one on in the ninth inning and the bottom of the Marlins’ order due up. The Yankees lost a game in which they scored at least 12 runs and had at least 15 hits for the first time in 85 years (stat from Katie Sharp), falling to the Marlins 13-12.

In the Aaron Boone era, the Yankees have made sure to let any good feeling fans have about the team be short-lived. In 2018, the Yankees did their job to begin the ALDS by splitting the first two games at Fenway Park and then returned home to a raucous Stadium crowd only to suffer the most lopsided home postseason defeat in the franchise’s history. In 2019, they won Game 1 of the ALCS on the road against the Astros only to blow Game 2 and lose Games 3 and 4. They momentarily saved their season by coming back in the top of the ninth in Game 6 only to be walked off in the bottom of the ninth. In 2020, they won the first game of the ALDS and then lost three of the next four, including a Game 5 defeat in which they couldn’t hold on or add to an early lead. In 2022, they survived elimination in Games 3, 4 and 5 in the ALDS only to be humiliated in the ALCS. They re-signed Aaron Judge after 2022 and promised to add more, and that more only ended up regrettably being Carlos Rodon. In 2024, they reached the World Series and looked to be on their way to forcing a Game 6 before producing the single-worst inning in the history of the World Series. They traded for Juan Soto and then lost him to free agency after one season.

2. The 2025 Yankees have given fans little to feel good about over the last two months. The team had an eight-game lead over the Blue Jays at the end of May and now trail the Blue Jays by 4 1/2 games with the head-to-head tiebreaker included. The team had a 12-game lead over the Red Sox in the loss column and now they have a one-game lead in the loss column and are tied in wins. But a depressing June and July was supposed to be forgotten with a big August and September. The Yankees finally released DJ LeMahieu last month and did the same to Marcus Stroman on Friday. They had added an actual third baseman to play third base, revamped their bullpen and created a functional bench for the first time in years. Before the first pitch on Friday against the Marlins, I felt the best I had about the Yankees since they took a 3-2 lead over the Dodgers in the 10th inning of Game 1 of the World Series. Again, every good feeling in the Boone era is short-lived.

The bullpen was responsible for a lot of the losses over the last two months, but that was supposed to be resolved on deadline day with the addition of Jake Bird, David Bednar and Camilo Doval. You couldn’t find a Yankees fan on Thursday at 6 p.m. who wasn’t ecstatic about the Yankees adding three high-leverage relievers to replace the crap they had been trotting out for most of the summer. But like every bit of happiness the Yankees have produced since the start of 2018, it was immediately destroyed.

3. Before the deadline day duds ruined Friday’s game, Boone put the wheels in motion. Rodon was awful, needing 107 pitches to pitch 4 2/3 innings. But for as bad as Rodon was, Boone’s decision to let him keep pitching in the fifth inning when he clearly had nothing was worse. The Yankees led 6-0 when Rodon took the mound in the bottom of the fifth and he promptly allowed four runs with a little help from the mess that is Jonathan Loaisiga. Loaisiga hit a batter to load the bases and then allowed a two-run single to ding Rodon’s ERA.

Brent Headrick managed to throw a scoreless sixth to hold the Yankees’ 6-4 lead and the Yankees added three runs in the seventh to take a 9-4 lead. A five-run lead with nine outs to go with the newly-stacked bullpen? That’s about as close to a guaranteed win as you get in this sport. The deadline day acquisitions made sure to remind everyone there’s no such thing as a guarantee in this sport.

4. Bird was the first deadline day reliever to come into the game. The sweeper version of Tommy Kahnle and his changeup, Bird decided he was only going to throw sweepers and when it was evident he had no command of the pitch and had to come in the zone with a fastball, the Marlins rocked him.

Bird went sweeper, sweeper, sweeper, sinker to Agustin Ramirez and Ramirez drilled the fastball off the right-field wall. Bird did then got the recently-called-up rookie to go down swinging after four straight sweepers. Otto Lopez singled when Bird threw him three straight sweepers and Liam Hicks walked when Bird threw sweepers and a curveball out of the zone.

At that point, Bird had thrown 15 sweepers in 19 pitches and it had led to the bases being loaded. Up came Kyle Stowers — the only star in the Marlins’ lineup — and Bird remained in the game. It was obvious Bird didn’t have it, but that wasn’t going to stop Boone from trying to let him find it against the majors’ sixth-highest OPS (.949) in Stowers. Bird went away from the sweeper, thinking Stowers would be sitting on it and missed the zone with a first-pitch curve. Thinking that Stowers would now certainly be sitting on the sweeper after not throwing it on the first pitch, Bird went with a sinker and Stowers hit a grand slam off of it. Bird didn’t find “it” on the mound like Boone thought he would. The grand slam pulled the Marlins to within one run at 9-8 and then Boone decided to pull Bird after he had jumpstarted the Marlins’ comeback.

5. The next of the deadline day duds to enter the game was Bednar. The former Pirates closer quickly found out he wasn’t in Pittsburgh anymore. For the first time in his career he was pitching in a game that mattered in August and he handled it about as well as someone who had spent five years with the Pirates would. Michael Kay warned fans the Marlins broadcast team had told him about Bednar’s struggles in the Marlins’ park and three pitches into his Yankees debut, Bednar allowed a game-tying home run to Javier Sanoja. Yes, the powerful Sanoja who hit 20 home runs with a .719 OPS in 415 games in the minors and who entered Friday with one home run and a .634 OPS in 93 games in the majors homered off Bednar after homering off Rodon earlier. Tie game.

Bednar wasn’t done. He then gave up a double to Jakob Marsee in his major-league debut for the first hit of Marsee’s career. Xavier Edwards then reached on an infield single that “the fucking elite” Anthony Volpe couldn’t handle because he can’t handle anything with the smallest amount of difficulty involved and once Volpe couldn’t end the inning, you just knew the Marlins would take the lead before the inning was over. They did so on the very next pitch as Ramirez — traded last year for Jazz Chisholm — ripped an 111-mph line-drive single to left. Bednar allowed one earned run in his last 23 1/3 innings with the Pirates and then allowed two in his first five batters with the Yankees (stat from Katie Sharp). 10-9 Marlins.

Volpe made up for his inability to play shortstop in the majors by hitting a game-tying home run to lead off the eighth. Volpe flipped his bat and then made some odd gesture either to his bench or the crowd as to quiet them down before going on the slowest recorded home run jog of his career. How about we get to league average as a hitter before we act like that? Tie game again.

The game was still tied at 10 in the ninth when the Yankees built a two-out rally against the tough Anthony Bender. Ben Rice hit a pinch-hit single to right, Jose Caballero stole second after pinch running for Rice and Ryan McMahon battled back from 1-2 against Bender to single in Rice and give the Yankees an 11-10 lead. Volpe followed with a double to drive in McMahon and the Yankees had a 12-10 lead. Kay screamed on YES, “FOUR-HIT NIGHT FOR ANTHONY VOLPE,” as if Volpe had just eclipsed Joe DiMaggio’s 56-game hit streak because the odds of Volpe having a four-hit game were just about as impossible as someone breaking the Yankee Clipper’s record.

Because no big moment during the Boone era goes without retaliation, anyone who thought the two ninth-inning runs would be enough to put away the Marlins must be new around here. Bird sucked and Bednar sucked just as bad, so Boone figured the final deadline acquisition in the bullpen in Camilo Doval couldn’t possibly be as bad.

6. Bird had been given a five-run lead as a soft landing spot to get his feet wet as a Yankee and couldn’t handle it. Bednar was given a one-run lead to protect against the bottom of the Marlins’ lineup and couldn’t do so. Doval was being asked to protect a two-run lead with the 7-8-9 hitters due up. Get three outs before the bottom of the Marlins’ lineup could score two runs and the Yankees would have themselves a fourth straight win and would be one game closer to the Blue Jays.

It seems unfathomable anyone hits Doval with his 100-mph cutter, but when he inexplicably doesn’t use that pitch it’s easy to see how he gets hit. Doval got the first out of the ninth on four pitches and then the immortal Sanoja singled on a line-drive right right after Doval went sinker, slider, slider against him without showing the Marlins’ 8-hitter the cutter. Doval then threw seven pitches to Marsee (again making his major-league debut) and only one was a cutter — clocked at 99.5 mph — and Marsee walked. The Marlins had the tying run on base and the winning run at the plate with the lineup turning over. Maybe now Doval would go to his best pitch? No, he wouldn’t.

Doval went slider then sinker to Xavier Edwards and Edwards singled to right. The base hit was going to score one run, but it ended up scoring two as Caballero let the ball roll under his glove. Caballero is a middle infielder by trade, but he has played 33 games in his career in the outfield, so it wasn’t his first time out there. But there’s nothing that Boone loves more than playing players out of position if he can. Cody Bellinger had to move to first after Paul Goldschmidt and Rice were removed from the game, so Caballero had to play right field because he was the only option left for Boone. Wait … what’s that? The Yankees recently traded for Austin Slater who has played 1,049 2/3 innings in right field in his career and he was available off the bench. Oh …

“I feel sad,” Caballero said, “because it’s definitely a game that we could have won.”

Yes, I would say a 6-0 lead over the Marlins constitutes as a game that could have been won. I would say a 9-4 lead over the Marlins constitutes as a game that could have been won. I would say a 12-10 lead with one out and no one on in the ninth and the 8-9 hitters due up constitutes as a game that could have been won.

7. No one could have envisioned all four deadline day acquisitions would play a major role in the Yankees suffering a loss not experienced by the franchise in more than eight decades in their very first game with the team. But my biggest worry when the Yankees made all the moves they made at the deadline was that they gave Boone so many pieces to play with that he wouldn’t know how to use them. It took one game for that fear to be realized. Boone needs eight everyday players at all eight positions, five clear starting pitchers, a pure seventh-inning pitcher, eighth-inning pitcher and closer. He needs a 12-piece puzzle with giant pieces and pictures of safari animals on them. He was supplied with a 1,000-piece puzzle of the Manhattan skyline at night.

The Yankees treated the winter and first two-thirds of the seasons as if they didn’t matter. They didn’t have a real third baseman play third base until July 26. They didn’t improve their bullpen until July 31. Brian Cashman spent $300 million on a roster that needed to add seven players to before the deadline. More than a quarter of the Yankees’ roster is different than it was a week ago because the original roster was so poorly constructed.

8. It’s not Boone’s fault Rodon sucked again, Bird couldn’t throw his sweeper for a strike, Bednar pooped his pants in the biggest game of his career, Doval was a disaster and Caballero played the ball in right like the drunkest guy on a beer league team stuck in right field where he couldn’t possibly impact the game. But it’s Boone fault that Rodon was allowed to pitch as long as he did. It’s Boone’s fault he didn’t get Bird out of the game when he clearly didn’t have it. It’s Boone’s fault Caballero was playing right field with Slater on the bench.

With Edwards on third representing the winning run, Ramirez came to the plate with one out. It would be nearly impossible to throw out the speedy Edwards if Ramirez put the ball in play on the ground and because Doval had no swing-and-miss stuff in his debut, the sensible decision would be to intentionally walk Ramirez. That would create the possibility of a double play, so that a ground ball wouldn’t necessarily end the game with Edwards on third.

I’m not sure if the thought to walk Ramirez ever entered Boone’s mind. I’m not sure he’s capable of reading the situation and thinking of such an option because he didn’t. Instead, he had Doval pitch to Ramirez, Ramirez put the ball in play on the ground and the Marlins won 13-12.

“It’s now how you draw it up,” Boone said.

Actually, if you know anything about the Boone era, it’s exactly how things get drawn up. The endless list of lowlights and miserable franchise records set during his tenure as Yankees manger is depressing.

9. “We fought,” Volpe said. “Overall, I’m proud of the fight everyone showed.”

What the fuck are you talking about? The Marlins should be proud of their fight, not the Yankees. The Yankees had a 96 percent chance to win when they led 6-0. It was 97 percent when they led 9-4. It was 95 percent when Doval got the first out of the ninth. Bird, Bednar and Doval combined to allow nine runs on nine hits in just 2 1/3 innings. I bet Ian Hamilton and Yerry De los Santos are together still floating up against a ceiling from laughter like Uncle Albert and Bert in Mary Poppins.

10. The Blue Jays lost again, so the Yankees missed an opportunity to trim the loss column deficit in the division to two. The Red Sox and Mariners both won, so the Yankees’ lead on the first wild-card spot was cut into.

WC1: Yankees (4.5 games back of Blue Jays because of tie-breaker)
WC2: Red Sox (0.5 games back of Yankees)
WC2: Mariners (1.5 games back of Yankees)
First team out: Rangers (4.5 games back of Yankees because of tie-breaker)

Friday’s loss was the kind of loss that keeps you up and makes you question why you like the Yankees. It’s also the kind of loss that makes you get up and write nearly 3,000 words about it. I don’t want to write about a game like that again. Not this season. Not ever.

1. The Yankees won a game and won it against a division opponent, beating the Rays 7-5 to improve to 12-19 in the AL East.

The Yankees won a game they had to have: a game started by Max Fried. The Yankees had been 2-4 in Fried’s last six starts and when the rest of your rotation is the untrustworthy Carlos Rodon, the inconsistent Will Warren, the inexperienced Cam Schlittler and the inept Marcus Stroman, you have to win the games Fried starts.

2. It didn’t necessarily look like the Yankees were going to win the Fried start on Tuesday. With a runner on first and no outs in the first inning, Anthony Volpe fielded a ground ball up the middle and shoveled a throw out of the reach of Jazz Chisholm at second. The Yankees may have been able to turn two on the play and erase the runner on base, but at worst they were going to get the first out of the inning. Instead, they got nothing and the Rays ended up scoring twice with two outs in the inning when the inning should have been over. Unfortunately, the errant throw wouldn’t be Volpe’s only of the game.

3. The Rays added a third run in the third inning to take a 3-0 lead and the Yankees’ odds of coming back felt insurmountable with an offense that had scored in just two of 20 innings since Aaron Judge went on the injured list. (And in one of those two innings, both runs scored on bases-loaded walks.) But Cody Bellinger (inexplicably batting fourth despite being the best active hitter in the lineup) tied the game with a three-run home run in the bottom of the third.

The Yankees scored three more runs in the fourth to take a 6-3 lead. They gave one back in the seventh, but added a seventh run in the eighth and then eked out a win in the ninth as Devin Williams was shaky and his defense was even shakier as Volpe threw away the would-be final out of the game to extend the inning and give the Rays another crack at tying or taking the lead in the ninth.

4. Volpe moved back on the ball in the ninth inning — as he now always does — and let the ball play him. Once he fielded it, he took two hops to gather himself and then put his left leg (his plant leg) exceptionally far from his body before delivering a throw in the the dirt to first. I have no idea how the player who failed to make that play and the player who now has that poor of footwork and fielding technique was able to win the Gold Glove two years ago.

“I’ve never really experienced something like this,” said Volpe. “I know what I’m capable of.”

5. Volpe did provide an RBI bloop single, managed to steal third on an errant throw and hit the longest home run of his career for one of his best offensive games of the season, but he’s still 11 percent worse than league average for the season. The battle for the worst defensive shortstop in the league continues to be between Volpe and Elly De La Cruz. The difference is you can live with the errors Cruz has made at the position because he’s hitting .282/.362/.484 with an .846 OPS, a 128 OPS+ and 29 steals.

6. There’s no current resolution for Volpe, nor do the Yankees want to have one. They want Volpe to work out and be the player they promised because they passed on the deepest shortstop free-agent class in history to cater to him. They have played him every single day since the start of 2023 and have defended him to the media in a way no player has ever been defended by the organization before. The idea Volpe is going to lose playing time to Amed Rosario is not worth thinking about because it’s never going to happen. The only way out of this mess is for George Lombard Jr. to develop into the player the Yankees thought they had in Volpe.

7. Trent Grisham went 0-for-3 with a walk and two strikeouts. Ben Rice went 0-for-2 with two walks. Paul Goldschmidt went 1-for-4 with two strikeouts. Bellinger had the big, game-tying blast. Jazz Chisholm went 0-for-4 with three strikeouts. Jasson Dominguez went 2-for-4 with a stolen base. Ryan McMahon went 0-for-4 with two strikeouts. Volpe went 2-for-4 with a home run and Austin Wells went 0-for-3 with a walk. Jonathan Loaisiga threw 1 1/3 scoreless innings following Fried and Williams closed out the ninth around a triple, walk and the Volpe error.

8. The Blue Jays lost for the fourth straight game, so the Yankees — despite going 2-2 in their last four — have now picked up two games on them in the division. The Red Sox also won, but the Mariners and Rangers lost to go along with the Rays loss.

WC1: Yankees (5 games back of Blue Jays because of tie-breaker)
WC2: Red Sox (1 game back of Yankees)
WC2: Mariners (1.5 games back of Yankees)
First team out: Rangers (3.5 games back of Yankees because of tie-breaker)
Second team out: Rays (4.5 games back of Yankees)

9. It’s going to be extremely hard to win Thursday afternoon’s series finale against the Rays with Stroman starting, so the Yankees need to win Wednesday night’s game with Warren starting. Unfortunately, Warren has faced the Rays twice this season and pitched poorly in both outings. On April 17, he was pulled in the second inning in Tampa after allowing four hits and two walks and needing 53 pitches to get five outs. On may 4, he allowed seven hits and three walks over 4 2/3 innings, needing 102 pitches to get 14 outs.

10. Which version of Warren will show up on Wednesday? Will it be the one who couldn’t beat the Rays in either start this season? The one who ruins the game in the first inning? The one who has trouble getting through five innings? Or the one who can shut out a team and rack up double-digit strikeouts? I have no idea and neither do the Yankees.

1. The Yankees played a team that doesn’t completely suck on Monday, so if you didn’t watch, you know how it went: they lost 4-2. The Yankees scored two first-inning runs on two bases-loaded walks against the Rays and then didn’t score again in the game. They had six hits, all singles. Following Ryan McMahon’s bases-loaded walk to tie the game in the first, the Yankees went 3-for-28 with eight strikeouts. They had one hit from the last out of the first inning until one out in the eighth inning.

“We just weren’t able to mount enough and couldn’t hold them down just enough,” Aaron Boone said, essentially defining the meaning of the word “loss”.

2. On a day the Rays traded their starting catcher (All-Animosity Team member Danny Jansen) to show they aren’t sold on their current roster, they still managed to beat the Yankees in the Bronx. The Red Sox and Rangers also lost, but the Mariners won to go along with the Rays’ win, so the updated wild-card picture looks like this:

WC1: Yankees
WC2: Mariners (0.5 games back of Yankees)
WC3: Red Sox (1 game back of Yankees)
First team out: Rangers (1.5 games back of Yankees)
Second team out: Rays (3.5 games back of Yankees)

The Blue Jays also lost for the second straight game, which seemed like an impossible feat of late. But really who cares about the Blue Jays right now, since the Yankees are just 2 1/2 games up on a playoff spot (because of they hold the head-to-head tiebreaker over the Rangers) and they are 6 1/2 games out in the division (because the Blue Jays hold the head-to-head tiebreaker over them).

3. There isn’t much to feel good about right now with the Yankees. They have fewer wins than both the Rockies and White Sox over the last nearly six weeks, Aaron Judge is out with a flexor strain, the bullpen sucks, the rotation provides no length, the lineup is a collection of inconsistent performers and the manager is somehow in his eighth season making the same kind of in-game decisions he made in his first weekend in his first season. And oh yeah, they’re 11-19 against the division.

It’s depressing watching the 2025 Yankees die a slow, painful death. Because if you think it’s OK they are currently holding the first wild-card spot, you’re a fool. This is a team that had an eight-game lead over the Blue Jays in the last week of May. A team that led the Red Sox by 12 games in the loss column. They didn’t fight to get to where they are like the Red Sox and Rangers. Actually, I guess they did since they didn’t fight and that’s why they are where they are.

4. Cam Schlittler wasn’t good on Monday (11 baserunners in 4 1/3 innings), but I have nothing bad to say about him because nothing bad can be said about him. He has three major-league starts to his name after having just six Triple-A starts and 14 Double-A starts to his name. He has had to start against the Mariners, Blue Jays and Rays, or in other words, the best team in the American League, a team currently holding a playoff spot and a team battling for a playoff spot. He wasn’t exactly given a soft landing spot to get his feet wets in the bigs, and he’s being asked to win important games with no limited run support and a bad defense.

5. After playing a mistake-free defensive game on Sunday in the win over the Phillies, the Yankees made up for it on Monday with a couple of miscues. Jazz Chisholm couldn’t get a ball out of his glove on a play that was inexplicably ruled a base hit and Anthony Volpe couldn’t make a play on a ball to his left that was also inexplicably ruled a hit. I don’t think we’ll hear Boone talk about the official scorer in the Bronx after he did both of his middle infielders a favor on two plays that were clearly errors.

6. The boos came out for Volpe after his misplay. Sure, it was a tough play, but it was also a play a major-league shortstop should make, especially one who has been deemed “fucking elite” by his manager. I don’t know that Volpe is equipped to handle boos from the Yankee Stadium crowd. The Golden Boy has only ever been told how great he is by everyone in the organization. He was a first-round pick who moved quickly through the minor leagues and was given the everyday shortstop job after just 22 games of a .718 OPS at Triple-A because of a good spring training. Since then, the threat of being sent down has never been an option as he has never even been benched. Not for a series, not for a game, not for an inning. He just continues to play every single day in every single game despite being one of worst everyday offensive players in the majors over the last three years, all while his defense and baserunning have regressed to poor levels. If the boos continue for Volpe (and every indication is that they will if he continues to put up 0-for-4s and misplay ground balls) that may be what leads to him losing playing time because his manager and general manager can shield him from the media, but they can’t shield him from the fans, and the fans have put up with below-league-average play from him for long enough and they have the power to make a performance reversal impossible

7. I think it’s time Paul Goldschmidt stopped playing against right-handed pitching, don’t you? The Yankees’ defense is a mess whether Goldschmidt plays or not, so they need to focus on creating offense and Goldschmidt just doesn’t do that. Goldschmidt has one home run since June 6 and a .589 OPS since the beginning of June. He has a .615 OPS against righties this year. Ben Rice needs to be playing against righties every game. He needs to be pinch-hitting for Goldschmidt against righties in games.

8. Give me this lineup against a right-handed starter:

Trent Grisham, CF
Cody Bellinger, RF
Giancarlo Stanton, DH
Jazz Chisholm, 2B
Jasson Dominguez, LF
Ben Rice, 1B
Ryan McMahon, 3B
Austin Wells, C
Anthony Volpe/Amed Rosario SS

And this lineup against a left-handed starter:

Paul Goldschmidt, 1B
Cody Bellinger, CF
Giancarlo Stanton, DH
Jazz Chisholm, 2B
Amed Rosario, RF
Jasson Dominguez, LF
Ryan McMahon, 3B
Anthony Volpe, SS
Austin Wells, C

(I would play Dominguez in center field with Grisham out of the lineup, but we all know that’s not going to happen.)

9. Again, the defense is going to be a problem no matter who is playing, so it’s time to worry about offense, especially with Judge out. I wish the Yankees had one regular, everyday lineup, but they don’t seem to believe in that and also lack the personnel to have that. Their righties don’t hit righties and their lefties don’t hit lefties for the most part. The roster construction remains a mess in that they have players who don’t deserve to play every day and others who can’t play every day because they don’t have positions.

10. The summer slog continues on Tuesday in the second game of four against the Rays. I went into this series wanting the Yankees to split the series. Take four games off the calendar and keep the Rays at bay, while trying to stay afloat until the trade deadline and injured list bring back some names and Judge returns. But after Monday’s loss, the Yankees need to win two of three to accomplish that and (as of now) Marcus Stroman is starting one of those three games. Max Fried needs to go out on Tuesday and make sure the bullpen usage is kept to a minimum. He needs to go out and give the Yankees the kind of start he gave them every five days through the end of June. The kind of start he hasn’t given them in more than a month.

1. The Yankees played a good team over the weekend, so if you didn’t watch, you know how it went: they lost two of three and dropped another series. The Phillies blasted the Yankees’ bullpen for a 12-5 win on Friday and rocked Marcus Stroman for a 9-4 win on Saturday before the Yankees managed to salvage the third game by somehow getting to Zack Wheeler for four runs. The Yankees played one error-free game in the series, and guess which one was it was? The one they won. What a coincidence.

2. Going back to May 30, the Yankees have played 10 series against teams with a winning record. Here is how those series went:

Lost two of three to the Dodgers
Lost two of three to the Red Sox
Swept by the Red Sox
Lost two of three to the Reds
Lost two of three to the Blue Jays
Lost two of three to the Mets
Swept the Mariners
Lost two of three to the Cubs
Lost two of three to the Blue Jays
Lost two of three to the Phillies

The Yankees went 1-9 in the 10 series with an 11-17 record. Over that time, they have watched their eight-game lead over the Blue Jays turn into a 5 1/2-game deficit (and it’s really 6 1/2 when you account for the head-to-head tiebreaker).

3. The Yankees have been a bad team for a long time. They were 42-25 after sweeping the Royals on June 12. Since then, they have gone 15-23 and blew a massive division lead. They are now clinging to a 1 1/2-game lead for a playoff berth (though it’s really 2 1/2 games since they hold the head-to-head tiebreaker over the Rangers).

4. Things have been going poorly for the Yankees for nearly two months and now they will be without Aaron Judge for at least 10 days (and possibly more) and when he does return he will only be allowed to be the designated hitter at first. That means for Giancarlo Stanton to play, he will have to play the outfield. That means the Yankees’ defense (which is already a well-known embarrassment) will get even worse.

5. The Judge injury annoys me because not only does it hurt the Yankees’ chances of winning, it creates a built-in excuse for Aaron Boone’s job security if the season ends poorly (and all signs point to the season ending poorly), the same way Judge’s long absence in 2023 served as an excuse for the Yankees’ 82-80 disappointment. No single player in baseball should have as a great of an impact on a team as Judge does, and his absence shouldn’t serve as an excuse for anyone keeping their job if the season spirals out of control (which it has been doing since the end of May). The Yankees were in a bad place while Judge was healthy and playing. They are in a much worse place now.

6. The Yankees finally addressed third base after neglecting to do so in the winter or for 2024 or 2023 or 2022. The last time the Yankees had a solid everyday third baseman was when they had Gio Urshela there from 2019-2021, and he wasn’t supposed to be there, Miguel Andujar was. After trying Josh Donaldson, Oswaldo Cabrera, DJ LeMahieu, Jazz Chisholm, Oswald Peraza and Jorbit Vivas there over the last three-and-a-half years, the Yankees now have Ryan McMahon for this season and the next two.

7. When I wrote about McMahon recently, I wrote that he wasn’t worth trading for because I never thought Hal Steinbrenner would agree to take on his whole salary in order to lessen the prospect cost. I figured the Yankees would have to give the Rockies a real prospect in order to get the Rockies to eat some of McMahon’s money, like the Yankees did to get Anthony Rizzo and Joey Gallo four years ago. Instead, Steinbrenner agreed to take on McMahon’s contract, which is essentially double at the moment because of the Yankees’ luxury-tax penalties.

8. McMahon had a nice first weekend as a Yankee, going 3-for-6 with a double, walk and two RBIs. It’s enjoyable to see him make challenging plays with such ease at third and it’s comical to see his arm make throws from the left side of the infield to first compared to Anthony Volpe. Maybe the pinstripes will enhance McMahon’s performance the way they have for so many over the years. At least the Yankees know who their third baseman will be for the rest of 2025 and 2026 and 2027.

9. Giancarlo Stanton hit two more home runs over the weekend. Cody Bellinger went 1-for-the series. Volpe went 3-for-12, which is about as good as it gets with him. Austin Wells went 1-for-4 with a couple of walks. Jazz Chisholm went 4-for-12. Paul Goldschmidt went 2-for-10 with a walk. Ben Rice went 1-for-9 with a walk. Jasson Dominguez went 2-for-7 and Trent Grisham went 2-for-12 with a walk.

Will Warren was OK, Stroman was bad and Carlos Rodon was blah. The bullpen was an unmitigated disaster and Boone was his usual nonchalant, everything-will-be-fine self. Except everything isn’t fine, hasn’t been fine in two months and is unlikely to be fine over the next two weeks.

10. The Yankees’ next two weeks are daunting. They were going to be that way with Judge, and without him, the next two weeks have the potential to sink the season.

The Yankees play four games at home against the Rays, who are sitting at .500 and three out of the last wild-card spot. (The Yankees could destroy the Rays’ season with a big week here, but we all know that won’t happen.) Then it’s three in Miami against the Marlins, who are red-hot and 20-9 over the last month. Then it’s three on the road against the Rangers, who are 27-15 over the last six weeks and trying to chase down the Astros in the West. Then it’s three at home against the Astros. Thirteen games in 14 days, many of them without Judge, and possibly all of them.

While the Yankees’ schedule from late August through the end of the season is favorable, they have to survive the end of July and rest of August to get there.