The Yankees’ bats were quiet and Carlos Rodon got rocked as the Royals won Game 2 of the ALDS 4-2.

Here are 10 thoughts on the Yankees.

1. I knew the Yankees were potentially in trouble for Game 2 long before it began on Monday night. I knew as much because Carlos Rodon said as much when discussing his emotions leading into his first Yankees postseason start: “It can propel me to very high highs and super low lows.”

The last thing any fan wants is the starting pitcher of their favorite baseball team having the mindset of a touring member of Guns N’ Roses during their heyday. You’re hoping your team’s starting pitcher is composed and of a sound mind. You want to be confident he’s going to keep it together and not wear his emotions on his sleeve with each pitch in such a pressurized, high-stakes environment. A Joba Chamberlain 360 twirl into a fist pump after stranding a pair in a big spot? Sure. But going wild after striking out the leadoff hitter of the game? Walking around the infield yelling after striking out the second batter of the game? Roaring like a lion marking his pride’s territory after retiring the side in order IN THE FIRST INNING?

Rodon was maniacal on the mound in the first inning on Monday night. He was experiencing the “very high high” he spoke about before the start. The Stadium was buzzing, he was locating his fastball and everyone was biting on his slider. He was experiencing the moment he dreamed he would get to experience when he signed a $162 million contract with the Yankees. The moment he talked about when he got hurt in spring training last year and said: “I’m not here to pitch until the All-Star break. I’m here to pitch well into October. If this was down the stretch, yeah, I would be going for sure. If it’s October 5 or the ALDS, I’m taking the ball.”

2. The “very high high” slowly wore off. While Rodon kept the Royals off the board in the second and third, he couldn’t produce a shutdown inning in the fourth after the Yankees opened the scoring. Instead, he got beat by Salvador Perez, unraveled and never recovered, falling into the “super low low” stupor he warned could take place. The kind of stupor Yankees fans have grown accustomed to their so-called “No. 2” starter having when the slightest adversity hits him. The kind of adversity that led to him blowing a kiss to heckling fans in Anaheim last year. The kind of adversity that led to him turning his back on his pitching coach during a mound visit at the end of last season. The kind of adversity that led to him crying in the dugout this season. The kind of meltdown that led to him allowing eight earned runs without recording an out against these Royals in his final start of last season.

After Perez homered to tie the game, Rodon couldn’t put Yuli Gurriel (who is still hitting against the Yankees in the postseason like he did as an Astro) away with two strikes and allowed a single. He threw a wild pitch with Gurriel on first and allowed an RBI single to Tommy Pham on a 1-2 pitch. He followed that by giving up an RBI single to Garrett Hampson (owner of a career 72 OPS+) and eventually got charged with a fourth earned run when Ian Hamilton allowed Hampson to score. Rodon took his clean slate for the postseason and took a dump on it. Rather than rewrite his Yankees tenure with a dominant postseason, he crumbled under the pressure of the postseason. His final line: 3.2 IP, 7 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 0 BB, 7 K, 1 HR.

3. “It’s just unfortunate,” Rodon said. “I wanted to be better than that.”

But he wasn’t. Rodon couldn’t get out of the fourth inning. It was progress from his only other postseason start, when as a White Sox in 2022 he couldn’t get out of the third inning (2.2 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 3 K). The Yankees signed the guy capable of striking out the Royals’ 1-2-3 hitters on 12 pitches in the first. They feared the guy who allowed the bottom of the order put the game out of reach could show up. And he did. Following Gerrit Cole’s miserable effort in Game 1, Rodon’s postseason debut as a Yankee was a disaster.

4. It was a disaster made worse by an offense that is conducting its annual October disappearing act. (Well, annual minus last October when they couldn’t make the postseason in a six-team format.) The Yankees failed to produce an extra-base hit in the game until Jazz Chisholm’s home run in the ninth inning. The Yankees’ 1-2-3 hitters combined for an infield single by Aaron Judge, who has decided to bring fuel to the fire to combat the argument he can’t hit in the postseason. Giancarlo Stanton continues to run like he has two torn hamstrings and unless the Royals are going to walk in runs like they did in Game 1, it seems like the Yankees are never going to score. The Yankees went 2-for-13 with runners in scoring position in Game 1. In Game 2, they went 1-for-6. They’re now 3-for-19 in the series.

5. “That’s playoff baseball,” Aaron Boone said. “The heat is turned up, and you’ve got to be able to slow it things down.”

The Boone Yankees have never been able to “slow things down” with “the heat turned up.” The performance you have seen from the 2024 Yankees through two postseason games is the performance the 2018-2022 Yankees produced in the postseason.

6. “We had a lot of opportunities tonight,” Chisholm said. “They just got lucky.”

Chisholm’s comments were so delusional I thought Boone or Nestor Cortes said them. Chisholm’s comments were every bit as foolish as Rodon acting like he was three outs away from pitching the Yankees to a championship in the first inning only to be removed in the fourth. Every bit as foolish as Judge walking through Fenway Park blaring “New York, New York” on a boom box after the team’s Game 2 win in the 2018 ALDS only to then lose the next two games of the series at home by a combined score of 20-4. Every bit as foolish as Boone saying, “The league has closed the gap” on the Yankees after the team’s 2021 wild-card game loss. Every bit as foolish as Luis Severino saying Alex Bregman “got lucky” because he hit his game-winning home run only 91 mph in Game 2 of the 2022 ALCS. Every bit as foolish as Boone admitting he used video from the 2004 ALCS to motivate his team in the 2022 ALCS. Every bit as foolish as Harrison Bader saying, “No concern,” when asked about being 4 1/2 games out of a playoff spot in 2023. If the Yankees don’t win two of the next three games, Chisholm’s comments will be the latest in a long list of delusional line coming from this era’s clubhouse.

The Royals didn’t get lucky. They were the better team. They drove in runs, got extra-base hits, stifled Juan Soto and enhanced the idea that Judge is Mr. May. The Yankees lost a game started by a lefty that gladly walked the top of the order and challenged the rest of the order to beat him, and they couldn’t. Then the left-handed relievers of the Royals did the same. The Royals weren’t lucky. They were smart and they executed their game plan.

7. “If I’m not hitting 1.000,” Judge said, “I’m not feeling good.”

How about you start with hitting .250? Something you haven’t done since the 2019 ALDS.

“I just gotta keep getting on base for the guys behind me.”

Well, that’s not working.

“If they get on [in front of me],” Judge said, “I gotta drive them in.”

They are getting on in front of you. In both Games 1 and 2, you came up with runners on first and second and no outs in the first inning and struck out both times.

“We haven’t been able to come through,” Judge said. “We’ll do it next time.”

Just like you did in the other seven postseasons you have been a part of?

8. The only truly bright spot for the Yankees in the first two games has been the bullpen, which has had to get 28 of 54 outs.

Cole and Rodon this series: 8.2 IP, 14 H, 8 R, 7 ER, 2 BB, 11 K , 2 HR.
Yankees bullpen this series: 9.1 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 3 BB, 11 K.

Other than that, everything I feared about this Yankees team in the postseason is coming to fruition. All of their flaws I worried about showing up in October have. The offense has been putrid led by Judge, their big-name starting pitching has been abysmal, the infield defense has been shaky and their manager hasn’t done anything to elevate their chances.

9. Now the supposed inferior Royals (who clinched a postseason berth in Game 161) control the series. They have Seth Lugo going in Game 3. The same Seth Lugo who turned in seven shutout innings with 10 strikeouts against the Yankees four weeks ago in the Bronx. The Yankees will counter with Clarke Schmidt, a starter they didn’t feel confident in announcing until the day of Game 2. A starter who has never made a postseason start and whose three career postseason appearances in 2022 (in relief) were horrendous. I think Schmidt will be fine. I’m worried about what the offense will or won’t do against Lugo.

10. Things can change so quickly in the best-of-5 division series. A day ago, Yankees fans were harping on the fact the Yankees played like shit, but still came away with an ugly Game 1 win. After Game 2, the mood is different.

The Royals’ win in Game 2 guaranteed Cole a second start in this series to redeem himself. It made possible the petrifying idea Rodon could go again in a winner-take-all Game 5 at the Stadium on Saturday night. If the high-paid and overpaid names on the Yankees play and pitch to their abilities it won’t get to that terrifying Game 5 scenario. If the offense would show up for the first time in this core’s history it won’t get to that. I pray it doesn’t get to that. But if the Yankees lose Game 3 in Kansas City, I will be praying it gets to that.

The Yankees overcame three different one-run deficits and two blown leads to beat the Royals 6-5 in Game 1 of the ALDS.

Here are 10 thoughts on the Yankees.

1. “Tear down the empire from the inside out.” That’s what Bob Costas said as he read a promo for the HBO show The Penguin as the third inning of Game 1 began on Saturday night. At the time, the promotional ad read for that show sounded like a good idea for the empire that is the Yankees.

Because at the time, Gerrit Cole was coming up small in a big game once again and the Yankees’ offense looked like every postseason version of itself since their last World Series appearance 15 years ago.

2. After a 1-2-3 first in which Cole allowed three rockets to the top of the Royals’ order, the Yankees began their offensive postseason with second and third and no outs after Gleyber Torres walked and Juan Soto doubled. With Aaron Judge, Austin Wells and Giancarlo Stanton coming up, the Yankees would have a chance to put up a crooked number and potentially end the game in the first inning. They didn’t. They didn’t score a single run.

Judge struck out, which is all he seems to do in the postseason. Wells hit a first-pitch grounder to first and with the Yankees idiotically having the contact play on (a staple of the Aaron Boone Yankees), Torres ran home and was thrown out by 10 feet. Stanton followed with a strikeout of his own and the Yankees wasted their second-and-third-with-no-outs situation.

Immediately after that, Cole allowed allow a single, walk, single and sacrifice fly and the Royals had a 1-0 lead. It would have likely been more if not for Salvador Perez inexplicably being sent home with no outs, resulting in Juan Soto throwing him out. Suddenly, the first game of the 2024 postseason was playing out like a game from every other postseason of the Boone era.

Cole was horrible. He pitched four-plus innings, needed 80 pitches to get 12 outs, allowed nine baserunners and three earned runs. Of his 80 pitches, he recorded only six swings-and-misses. Forty-three percent of the 21 batters he faced reached base and 11 of those 21 batters produced a “hard-hit ball” (an exit velocity of at least 95 mph), a season-high for the 2023 Cy Young winner.

For as good as Cole was over his final 10 starts, I didn’t expect him to pitch well in this one because I never expect him to pitch well in big games. I gave up on those expectations a long time ago.

After the game on YES, Michael Kay believed the layoff to be the reason why Cole wasn’t any good. There’s always some excuse for Cole. A layoff, a delayed start, a national anthem rendition running too long, a ceremonial first pitch not being on time. It’s never on Cole. Kay opined that Cole would be better the next time out. Will he? If the series goes to Game 4, he will be pitching on five days rest. If he’s not needed until Game 1 of the ALCS, he will be pitching on eight days rest, which is another extended layoff. How about he just pitches well in the postseason and the excuses stop? There was no excuse in Game 1. He sucked.

3. The other star of this Yankees core also sucked. After going 1-for-16 with a single in the last postseason series the Yankees played in the 2022 ALCS, Aaron Judge went 0-for-4 with a walk and three strikeouts in Game 1.

On Friday, I wrote: I am worried about Judge. For being as worried about Judge as I am, I do expect him to finally have that big postseason and carry the Yankees to the World Series. If not now, when?

My concern for Judge flopping in October again was warranted and after watching him leave runners on second and third with no outs in the first inning and fail to put the ball in play the entire night, those concerns are now heightened with Cole Ragans and Seth Lugo starting Games 2 and 3 for the Royals. At some point Judge has to do something, right? Right?!

4. Also on Friday, I wrote: I’m not worried about Soto. He has proven capable of handling October in his two postseason appearances, especially in 2019 when as a 20-year-old he hit three home runs and posted a 1.178 OPS against the Astros in the World Series.

Soto shined in his first postseason game as a Yankee the way he shined for the entire regular season. He went 3-for-5 in the series opener and threw Perez out at home in the second inning. Soto was his usual awesome self in the postseason and the win extends his time in pinstripes by at least one more game.

5. Austin Wells reverted back to being the awesome version of himself that he was from the end of April through the end of August. Wells went 1-for-3 with two walks. The first of his two walks forced in a run to tie the game at 3 in the fifth. His hit tied the game at 5 in the sixth. But for as awesome as Soto and Wells were, it was Alex Verdugo, yes Alex Verdugo, who was the best of all.

6. I don’t like Alex Verdugo. I think anyone who reads these thoughts with regularity knows that. I was against the trade for him and was against him continuing to receive everyday playing time all season as arguably the worst everyday offensive player in the league. But everyone gets a clean slate for the postseason, even Verdugo, and through one game, he is making the most of it.

“You can make up for a lot of things in the playoffs,” Verdugo said after the Game 1 win.

Verdugo walked in his first plate appearance and scored on Torres’ two-run home run. In the fourth, he made a sliding catch down the left-field line to end the inning and prevent a blooper from falling in and causing more damage on the scoreboard. In his third plate appearance, he drew a walk to lead off the sixth and scored the tying run on Wells’ RBI single. In the seventh, he singled to left field to drive in Jazz Chisholm, giving the Yankees a 6-5 lead, a lead they would hold on to for the Game 1 win.

Verdugo was the hero of Game 1. An unlikely hero, but a hero nonetheless. He was the type of hero that is born in October: a regular-season poor performer or afterthought who gets hot at the right time for a couple of weeks. The Yankees need a hero like that, especially because of the letdown performances from so many others.

7. Like Cole and Judge, Giancarlo Stanton was a zero in the game. He went 0-for-4 with two strikeouts and a walk. On that walk, any other player in the league would have been able to score when Oswaldo Cabrera doubled to center field, but not Stanton. Later in the game, Stanton was also thrown out on a ball to third that most players also would have been able to beat out. Stanton’s lack of speed on the bases was nearly a huge factor in deciding the game. He provides no value when he isn’t hitting home runs. And he doesn’t hit them frequently enough.

There’s this narrative that Stanton is some legendary postseason player. I don’t know how that started. Maybe because he hit six home runs in seven games in the 2020 playoffs … when there were no fans in the stands? Here are his other postseason home runs:

2018 Wild-Card Game: Solo home run with the Yankees up four in the bottom of the eighth.
2019 ALCS Game 1: Solo home run with the Yankees up two in the top of the sixth.
2021 Wild-Card Game: Solo home run with the Yankees down five in the top of the ninth.
2022 ALDS Game 2: Two-run home run with 0-0 score in the bottom of the first.
2022 ALDS Game 5: Three-run home run with 0-0 score in the bottom of the first.

The two home runs against the Guardians in the 2022 ALDS were important. The rest? Not so much.

Stanton is going to play. At least the next game with the left-handed Ragans starting. It would be nice if he could contribute in some way with the bat (and not assume every 2-0 and 3-1 pitch he gets is going to be a middle-middle fastball) since he doesn’t contribute in the field or on the bases.

8. Anthony Volpe was able to contribute a bases-loaded walk in the fifth, and thankfully he was able to at least provide that because the rest of his game was abysmal. The Golden Boy went 0-for-3 with that walk, struck out on a pitch in the other batter’s box with Chisholm running in the seventh and also made a disastrous error in the sixth that gave the Royals a lead. The Yankees had nine hits, eight walks and 11 strikeouts. Judge, Stanton and Volpe combined for no hits, three walks and six strikeouts. That needs to be cleaned up.

9. I wish I could say the in-game managerial decisions need to be cleaned up as well, but now in a sixth postseason of watching Boone, I think it’s safe to say it’s never going to be cleaned up.

It was a bad night for Aaron Boone fans who thought the manager would manage differently in October than he did from March through September. In the very first game of this postseason, Boone tried to steal outs with Cole in the fifth inning, when it was clear Cole was finished long before then, and when Boone had Clay Holmes warming and ready to go the inning before for Cole. Boone’s decision to let Cole start the fifth backfired as he allowed a ball off the left-field wall to begin the inning and the Royals eventually scored two runs when Volpe couldn’t make a throw to second base and when Boone called the infield in. The Yankees had a week off and have Sunday off and Boone managed as if he had a tired bullpen.

Holmes eventually did come in and got five important outs, followed by Tommy Kahnle getting two outs and Luke Weaver recording the four-out save. The bullpen was outstanding and for one night put to rest the fears most Yankees fans had about the relievers going into the playoffs.

10. Cole was bad, Judge and Stanton no-showed, the Gold Glove shortstop’s defense was sloppy and the Yankees still won. That’s both promising and frightening. But a win is a win, and for now, the “teardown of the empire from the inside out” can be put on hold. One win down and 10 to go.

There has never been and will never be a more clear path to the World Series for these Yankees.

Here are 10 thoughts on the Yankees.

1. The Astros went 12-5 against the Yankees in the 2017, 2019 and 2022 ALCS. They’re out. The Orioles went 8-5 against the Yankees in the regular season this year. They’re out. The Tigers and Royals did the job I feared the Yankees may not be able to do if they faced the Astros or Orioles this October. Now they don’t have to.

Three teams from the AL Central remain. Again, that’s three teams from the AL Central standing between the Yankees and their first pennant in 15 years.

The Yankees destroyed the AL Central in the regular season. They won the AL East and avoided the dangerous best-of-3 series because of the number they did on the AL Central in the regular season, including going 12-6 against the three Central teams remaining.

They went 4-2 against the Guardians. Both losses were in extra innings.

They went 4-2 against the Royals. One loss was a Clay Holmes blown save.

They went 4-2 against the Tigers. One loss was another Holmes blown save.

None of those three have any offense. They finished sixth, seventh and eighth in the AL in runs scored. Their entire success centers around their pitching and the Yankees’ bats will have to get to some combination of Cole Ragans, Seth Lugo, Tarik Skubal, Tanner Bibee and other quality starters to end their AL pennant drought.

2. Those bats producing in October is what keeps me up at night. No matter what happens during the regular season, the entirety of the Yankees’ season each year hinges on whether or not the bats will be there in October. The bats haven’t shown up in a long time.

The dynastic Yankees of the late-‘90s and 2000s won in the postseason because their stars remained stars in October. When the 163rd game came, there was no drop-off in production despite only facing the top teams and elite pitching each game. Look at these regular season vs. postseason career numbers.

Derek Jeter regular season: .310/.377/.440
Derek Jeter postseason: .308/.374/.465

Bernie Williams regular season: .297/.381/.477
Bernie Williams postseason: .275/.371/.480

Paul O’Neill regular season: .288/.363/.470
Paul O’Neill postseason: .284/.363/.465

That hasn’t happened with this Yankees core. When October comes, these Yankees have always disappeared, and Aaron Judge has been as big of a problem as anyone.

Aaron Judge regular season: .288/.406/.604
Aaron Judge postseason: .211/.310/.462

3. Judge hasn’t had a postseason series OPS above .738 since the 2019 ALDS when the Yankees beat the shit out of the Twins. Since then he’s posted OPS of .681, .717, .637,. 500, .738 and .180 across a wild-card game, a wild-card series, two ALDS and two ALCS. He’s supposed to be the best hitter in the game, but he hasn’t even been the best hitter on the Yankees in a postseason series since the 2017 ALCS.

Judge has the home run record. He has the captaincy. He has the long-term contract and life-changing, generational wealth. The only thing missing is a championship, and this is his best chance to date to win one, and he may never get a chance as good as this again.

4. The Yankees have far and away the best roster of the remaining four AL teams. It’s not even close. And for as concerend as I am with the Yankees’ offense, their offense is in another stratosphere compared to the light-hitting Royals, Guardians and Tigers. But like the other three teams, the Yankees’ bottom of their order won’t do them any favors.

Gleyber Torres, Juan Soto, Judge, Austin Wells, Giancarlo Stanton and Jazz Chisholm are going to be the 1 through 6 hitters. After that’s, it’s likely to be Anthony Volpe, Alex Verdugo and Ben Rice in some order.

Volpe has been an offensive disappointment since his first major-league plate appearance. Verdugo was benched over the last two weeks of the season for being arguably the worst everyday hitter in the majors for six months and is only going to be playing because Jasson Dominguez can’t be trusted to catch fly balls. Rice was sent to the minors at the end of August after posting a .624 OPS over two months and is only on the team because the Yankees’ first and second options at first base (Anthony Rizzo and DJ LeMahieu are both injured). It’s bleak at 7 through 9.

One-third of the Yankees lineup is as close to being three automatic outs as there are in the postseason. So either the trio is going to have to provide some unexpected offense or a few big hits with runners on, or the top two-thirds of the lineup is going to have to carry all of the weight with the Yankees essentially giving away three innings worth of outs each game.

5. If the Yankees are going to willingly give away three innings worth of outs each game, Judge and Juan Soto are going to have to hit like they did in the regular season when they were being mentioned alongside Lou Gehrig and Babe Ruth daily. I’m not worried about Soto. He has proven capable of handling October in his two postseason appearances, especially in 2019 when as a 20-year-old he hit three home runs and posted a 1.178 OPS against the Astros in the World Series. I am worried about Judge. For being as worried about Judge as I am, I do expect him to finally have that big postseason and carry the Yankees to the World Series. If not now, when?

6. When is centered around the future, and if the Yankees can’t get to the World Series against this field, I don’t know that there will be a future for Aaron Boone with the Yankees. Even though he was able to retain his position after the Yankees missed the postseason last year and finished with the club’s worst record in three decades, falling short with this team against those teams would have to mean the end for him, given that his contract expires this season.

With each previous failed postseason run, Boone has always talked about how close his teams have been and how sweet it will be once they finally win, only to never get close and never finally win. That has to change this October.

7. In-game management in close games isn’t exactly Boone’s forte. Well, neither is being transparent about injuries or accurate in player evaluations. Then again, communication — the trait he was sold to Yankees fans on — is a problem as well. OK, I don’t really know what Boone’s strong suit is. He’s a nice guy? That must be it. He’s a nice guy, loyal and someone you would want to grab some beers with. When it comes to being a capable, major-league manager though, to put it nicely, he has been a disaster to this point.

8. Boone has been exceptionally bad in the bad postseason. In his first postseason in 2018, in the pivotal Game 3 at home, his starting pitcher didn’t know the start time of the game. In that same game, he let that starting pitcher go back out for a third inning despite giving up piss missiles all over the place in the first two innings. By the time he decided to make a pitching change, the Yankees were down 3-0 and the bases were loaded with no outs. Despite having a stable of strikeout arms in his bullpen, he went to a starter with mediocre strikeout ability at the time and it ended in the Yankees suffering their most lopsided home postseason loss in franchise history.

The following night, facing elimination, he let CC Sabathia face the entire Red Sox lineup a second time because he liked the matchup of Sabathia against Jackie Bradley Jr., who was batting ninth. The Yankees were eliminated.

The next October, he used JA Happ in relief in extra innings in Game 2 of the ALCS. Carlos Correa walked off the Yankees and the Yankees went 1-4 over the final five games of the series.

In 2020, there was the Deivi Garcia-Happ debacle in the ALDS. In 2021, he led the odds-on favorite in the AL to a third-place finish in the division and a fifth-place finish in the AL. Their postseason lasted nine innings (and really just a half-inning of those nine thanks to Gerrit Cole).

In 2022, he changed his starting shortstop daily, somehow made Clarke Schmidt the first guy out of the bullpen in Game 1 of the ALCS, kept batting Josh Donaldson fifth and eventually used video from the 2004 Yankees’ ALCS collapse to motivate his own Yankees team.

9. The Boone Yankees are 14-17 in the postseason. A lot of it is because of the offense’s annual disappearing act, but Boone hasn’t done anything to elevate the game or the chances of his previous five postseason teams. If anything, he has been detrimental to their success.

I like to say that the Yankees need to outhit their own manager to win games to prevent him from having an impact on close games. That’s not possible in the playoffs where games are low scoring and close. Every decision Boone makes from the moment he starts to fill out his lineup card until the final out of each postseason game is crucial, and he has been incapable of handling the pressure that comes with making correct decision after correct decision, which is what it takes in October.

I want nothing more than for the Yankees to win and for Boone to win. I don’t want to sit through another end-of-the-season press conference with him telling everyone how close the team is and how sweet it’s going to be once they do win it all.

10. Boone’s decision-making shouldn’t be able to deter the Yankees from winning the AL this year. It shouldn’t matter in the AL playoffs if Verdugo plays or Dominguez plays. It shouldn’t matter if Wells bats cleanup or Chisholm does. It shouldn’t matter if Schmidt starts Game 3 or Luis Gil does. The Yankees are that much better than the three remaining AL opponents. The 50/50 choices and decisions around the margins shouldn’t be the difference between this team advancing or being shockingly eliminated. The Yankees were the best team in the AL in the regular season and are the best team remaining in the AL postseason. It’s time they played like it in October.

The Yankees routed the Orioles 10-1 on Thursday and clinched the AL East title in the process.

Here are 10 thoughts on the Yankees.

1. Aaron Boone was right. He knew back in July when he regurgitated (for a third straight season) his popular phrase “It’s right in front of us” in regards to the Yankees’ postseason and division chances. He knew playing .500 baseball for the final three months of the season would lead the Yankees to an AL East title.

2. The season goals are to reach the postseason, win the division, receive a bye to the ALDS, win home-field advantage through the ALCS, win the ALDS, win the ALCS and win the World Series. The first three have been accomplished. Next up is to win home-field advantage through the ALCS.

3. “We’d love to get it,” Boone said. “That said, I’m going to make sure I get guys a day here. I feel like we gotta do it, but we’ll be playing to win.”

I believe being the 1-seed in the AL playoffs is important. The Yankees don’t. They never have. Boone said as much on Thursday. The Yankees have always operated under the idea of “just get in” and that hasn’t exactly worked out for them. They haven’t been the 1-seed in any of Boone’s six previous years managing the team. That could change in the seventh.

The Yankees currently have a one-game lead over the Guardians for the 1-seed. Because the Yankees won the head-to-head season series (4-2), finishing with the same record as the Guardians is all they need. The odds are in their favor.

4. But no matter what happens this weekend, the Yankees returned home on Sunday, got to sleep in their own beds for the Orioles series, will sleep in their own beds this weekend, get to sleep in their own beds all of next week and won’t need to travel until after Game 2 of the ALDS, which is scheduled for October 7. They will have been able to be in their own homes, playing in their own stadium and not traveling for 16 days from when they returned from Oakland until they have to leave for Game 3 of the ALDS.

5. That’s just one of the many advantages the Yankees have heading into the postseason. On top of that, they will be able to set their rotation as they please and open their postseason playing in front of what will be a raucous Stadium crowd on a Saturday night in the Bronx.

6. “I feel like we’ve been through a lot as a team already this year,” Boone said. “So I’d like to think we’re battle-tested for what’s ahead.”

The Yankees haven’t been through that much. Most of what they have been through was self-inflicted. But hey, if coming up with a fictional narrative is what Boone needs to motivate his team in the postseason, I’m all for it. It’s better than using video from the 2004 ALCS as motivation like he did the last time the Yankees were in the playoffs two years ago.

7. “We’re going to celebrate tonight,” Judge said, “and then look forward to October.”

I’m confident about the Yankees heading into the postseason. I know it can all change in an instant. A loss in Game 1 of the ALDS can make it feel like the season is ending. I know the bats can just not show up in a way they haven’t in October for a while now. I know the most trusted arms in the rotation could lay eggs, the bullpen could implode or Boone could manage his team to elimination.

8. Every fan knows their own teams flaws, watching them unfold nearly daily for six months. But for as critical as I am of the Yankees (and rightfully so given their performance and internal decisions over the last 14 years), they boast the best roster of any of the six AL teams that will be in the field.

9. “We’re in a good spot,” Stanton said, “but there’s a lot of work to do.”

Everything is in their favor heading into this October in a way it hasn’t been in a long, long time. There is no dominant team in the field. If anything they are the team to beat in the field. Their rotation is healthy (outside of Nestor Cortes, but he may not have been part of the rotation anyway) and they have the best two hitters in the league in the same lineup. The only potential AL opponent that scares me is the Astros, but that’s more about the past than the present, as this Astros team isn’t the 2017, 2019 or 2022 teams. (Thankfully, as long as the Yankees win the 1-seed they won’t have to face the Astros until the best-of-7 ALCS format.) If the Yankees can’t win the World Series with the setup they have this year, I don’t know when they will.

10. This weekend will now be relaxing and stress-free. Next week will be the same. But come next Saturday when Yankees fans wake up, the second season begins. The good and bad of the previous 162 games is erased. Every Yankee gets a clean slate full of opportunity. No opportunity greater than the chance to be a part of something no Yankees team has been a part of in 15 years.

The Yankees lost to the Orioles 9-7 on Wednesday and failed to clinch the division title in their second attempt at it.

Here are 10 thoughts on the Yankees.

1. 0-for-2. That’s what the Yankees are in opportunities to clinch and win the AL East. Add two more missed opportunities and it will read like an Alex Verdugo batting line. But if the Yankees miss two more opportunities they could possibly be in a world of shit.

One Yankees win or one Orioles loss over the next four days will give the Yankees the division. It would be nice if they could get it out of the way with a win on Thursday, rendering the three remaining games of the regular season against the Pirates rather meaningless. But given the way the Yankees have played in the first two games of this three-game series against the Orioles, it wouldn’t surprise me (and shouldn’t surprise anyone) if the division is not over by the end of play on Thursday.

2. Prior to Wednesday’s 9-7 loss to the Orioles (to drop the Yankees to 4-8 on the season against the Orioles), Nestor Cortes was placed on the 15-day injured list, taking him out of the equation for the ALDS. In his place, Marcus Stroman made his first start in 15 days and second in 21 days. The Yankees have done everything they can to avoid giving Stroman the ball in September and rightfully so.

Stroman was awful once again, needing 66 pitches to get 10 outs, while giving up six earned runs on 10 hits. Since July 4, Stroman has started 64 innings and only nine of them have been 1-2-3 innings, which is outrageous. Every seven-plus innings Stroman will give you a clean frame. He didn’t have one on Wednesday.

3. “It’s frustrating,” Stroman said. “I didn’t execute and do my job out there to keep my team in position to win.”

The last pitch Stroman threw should be the last pitch he throws in 2024 outside of maybe some innings eating this weekend against the Pirates (as long as the division is wrapped up). Stroman can’t be trusted to nibble in October and he can’t be trusted out of the bullpen either without swing-and-miss stuff. Balls in play (even ones on the ground) lead to bad things (just ask Clay Holmes) and Stroman relies on balls in play more than anyone in baseball.

4. In a game in which Juan Soto and Aaron Judge both hit multi-run home runs and the Yankees scored seven runs, they lost. That’s how bad Stroman was and then how bad Clayton Beeter was in relief of Stroman (1.1 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 2 K).

Soto and Judge combined to go 4-for-8 with three runs, two home runs, six RBIs and two walks. The rest of the lineup went 6-for-28 with no extra-base hits. It was the type of offensive performance the Yankees have to have in October to succeed since no one in the lineup outside of those two can be trusted with any regularity. Despite Gleyber Torres’ last month, he’s only now a league-average hitter for the season. Austin Wells has a .410 OPS in September and looks like the April version of himself. Giancarlo Stanton is either extremely hot or extremely cold with no in between and there’s no knowing what he will be in October. Jazz Chisholm has a .446 OPS over the last three weeks. Any plate appearance for Anthony Rizzo or Anthony Volpe resulting in them getting on base is a magnificent surprise. Alex Verdugo is a lost cause and Jasson Dominguez plays too infrequently to get into an extended groove.

5. Dominguez was back in the lineup after an unnecessary day off on Tuesday. He misplayed a ball in left field in the first inning that looked to be tailing away from him in the corner and then came back into the field of play.

“I have no excuse,” Dominguez said. “That ball needs to be caught, 100 percent of the time.”

Almost 100 percent of the time since it had a catch probability of 95 percent.

6. “He’s missed some plays that he should make,” Aaron Boone said of Dominguez. I can count on one hand (I may need a finger or two from my other hand) to count the times Boone has been somewhat critical of one of his players in seven seasons and this is one of those instances. Boone defended Torres’ game-altering baserunning gaffe just 24 hours earlier (when Torres himself couldn’t defend it), but there was Boone not having the same type of defense for Dominguez, who is playing a position he has little experience playing. Dominguez has played 20 total games in left field this season between the majors and minors.

“I haven’t played a ton of games in left field,” Dominguez said, “but I feel I can do it.”

Unfortunately, for Dominguez, the Yankees only have four games remaining, so there’s not much time to learn in actual games. Boone wants to play Verdugo over Dominguez and Dominguez is giving him a reason to.

7. “You try to take it all in, what gives you the best chance to win on a given night,” Boone said of his ongoing left-field competition. “We’re trying to give a good look to Jasson here down the stretch.”

That second part is telling. “We’re trying” is Boone foreshadowing him telling the media “they tried” when Dominguez is on the bench or not on the postseason roster next Saturday night at Yankee Stadium.

On Wednesday, Dominguez hit balls 109.3 mph, 106.5 mph and 109.2 mph. Verdugo has hit one ball over 100 mph in the last two weeks. It doesn’t matter to the Yankees that Dominguez is the far superior hitter to Verdugo. Boone wants to play Verdugo and Dominguez’s defense is going to be what Boone uses to play one of his favorites.

8. I fear Verdugo will be the Yankees’ starting left fielder to begin the postseason. Then if the team is having trouble scoring in the postseason the way they do every October, they will insert Dominguez into the lineup in place of Verdugo to try to get a jolt out of his bat after he has been sitting cold and not playing. When that doesn’t work out, everyone will say Dominguez sucks. It’s almost too easy to predict.

9. I pray that doesn’t happen. I pray if Verdugo plays over Dominguez that he hits, and that if it’s Dominguez over Verdugo that he catches fly balls. You can’t afford to play with automatic outs in the lineup (like Verdugo) in October and the Yankees will already be playing Rizzo and Volpe since they are immune to losing playing time for their lack of offense. And you can’t afford to be misplaying easy outs and giving the opposition extra outs to work with in October either.

10. For now, the Yankees need to worry about getting to October with a bye. That can be resolved with one more win. It wasn’t resolved on Tuesday or Wednesday. Thursday will be their third chance at it. I don’t want to have to write about them going for it for a fourth time tomorrow.