1. In all four games of this two-city, six-game West Coast trip the Yankees have had a four-plus-run inning. On Friday, they had an five-run eighth. On Saturday, they had have a five-run sixth. On Sunday, they had had a five-run second and a five-run fifth. On Monday, they had a six-run fifth to blow the game open in their 11-5 win over the Mariners.

2. It’s been an extra-base hit barrage for the Yankees in the Pacific Time Zone where they are now 3-1, having outscored the A’s and Mariners 40-20 in four games. In the series opener against the Mariners the Yankees had three doubles (Aaron Judge, Ben Rice and Oswald Peraza) and three home runs (Trent Grisham with two and Austin Wells).

3. The pair of solo home runs from Grisham went to the exact same spot in straightaway center. The first tied the game at 1 in the third after Clarke Schmidt (6 IP, 3 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 2 BB, 6 K, 2 HR) had given up a solo home run to Julio Rodriguez in the first. On Grisham’s home run, Rodriguez had a chance to make a play on the ball at the wall, but the ball hit off the top of his glove and went over the wall. Had Rodriguez done nothing, the ball would have stayed in the park for a double.

4. Schmidt gave the Mariners the lead back after allowing another solo home run, this one to Jorge Polanco in the third. In the fifth, Grisham got the run back with his second home run, which managed to go three feet farther (415 feet) than his first (412 feet), preventing Rodriguez from making a play on it. Grisham’s leadoff home run in the fifth ignited the six-run rally that carried the Yankees to a win as the first five Yankees of the inning all reached: Grisham homered, Judge doubled, Rice doubled, Paul Goldschmidt singled and Cody Bellinger singled. The Yankees went from trailing 2-1 to leading 4-2 following Bellinger’s RBI single. After Anthony Volpe lined out, Wells hit a three-run home run to break the game open and give the Yankees a 7-2 lead.

5. The Yankees added a run in the seventh and the Mariners answered with one in the seventh and two in the eighth to pull within three. The Yankees extended their lead in the ninth with a three-run inning that included a severe leg injury for Oswaldo Cabrera. Cabrera was on third when Judge hit a sacrifice fly to right field. Cabrera raced home and looked to plant his left leg awkwardly to score, immediately went to the ground and both training staffs attended to him. He was eventually put on a stretcher and removed from the field by ambulance.

“For him to get hurt on a play like that, it speaks a ton to what type of guy he is,” Judge said. “It’s a game where we’ve got a little bit of a lead, and he’s still fighting to the very last out.”

Based on the pain Cabrera looked to be in and the way he was attended to and removed from the field, it’s likely a season-ending injury.

“Before he got on [the gurney], he said, ‘Judgy, did I score?’ and Judge said, ‘Yeah,'” Aaron Boone said. “That made him smile.”

This season Cabrera had finally been getting the most playing time he has received in his four years in the majors before Monday’s injury. During his time in the majors he has played every position other than catcher.

“[Grisham] said something after: ‘Cabby does it right every day,” Boone said. “Every day. How he prepares to do his job, the kind of teammate he is, the joy he walks in this room with every single day. He is an example in so many ways for anyone to look to for how to go about living their life.”

6. Cabrera will be missed in the clubhouse, where he’s clearly well-liked by every person on and involved with the team and on the field where he can fill in at any position, whether in a starting or reserve role. It looks like the Yankees have their replacement on the way in DJ LeMahieu.

“He’s en route now,” Boone said of LeMahieu before Monday’s game.

LeMahieu missed the first two months of last season after breaking his foot on a foul ball near the end of spring training. His season ended a month early due to a hip impingement, making it the third time (2021, 2022 and 2024) in four years his season ended early due to injury. He hurt his left calf on March 1 of this year, having played in one spring training game.

“The stuff I’ve been watching has been really good,” Boone said of LeMahieu’s rehab games.

Boone always says everyone looks really good, no matter how they really look. He told everyone Nestor Cortes’ bullpen sessions leading up to the World Series looked really good. Freddie Freeman proved it was all bullshit.

“DJ LeMahieu could fall out of bed and hit,” Boone said. “I think the biggest thing that’s tripped him up over the years is nagging, different injuries that have popped up and slowed him.”

Yes, once upon a time LeMahieu could fall out of bed (Boone meant to say “roll out of bed”) and hit. But it’s been a long time. LeMahieu hit .204/.269/.259 last season in 228 plate appearances. Since the start of 2021 and his six-year contract, he has hit .252/.336/.362, has been five percent worse than league average and has missed 31 percent of the Yankees’ 689 regular-season games and has missed all 24 postseason games. As for the “nagging, different injuries” Boone spoke about, well, that’s called getting old and LeMahieu is about to play in his 15th season in the majors.

I don’t expect LeMahieu to contribute, and I hope I’m pleasantly surprised. Even a league-average version of LeMahieu is an upgrade over what the Yankees have gotten in the infield in recent years. We know LeMahieu will be fine defensively. Just be average at the plate. That’s all anyone is asking. Be average. (LeMahieu has been league average offensively in one of the last four seasons.)

7. I wrote on Monday how Jasson Dominguez (despite being outstanding against right-handed pitching with a .948 OPS) would be benched for at least one game in Seattle, and sure enough, he sat out the first game. (Have to get Bellinger in there! Just have to to.) That means Dominguez will play on Tuesday, especially since he’s for 1-3 with a home run off of Bryan Woo. Boone can’t possibly sit Grisham coming off a two-homer game, can he? He can’t, but he might. It makes all of the sense in the world to sit Bellinger. Here is what I think Boone will do:

1. Trent Grisham, CF
2. Aaron Judge, RF
3. Ben Rice, DH
4. Paul Goldschmidt, 1B
5. Jasson Dominguez, LF
6. Anthony Volpe, SS
7. Austin Wells, C
8. DJ LeMahieu, 2B
9. Oswald Peraza/Jorbit Vivas, 3B

8. I would play Peraza at third over Vivas, given Peraza’s glove, his homer on Saturday and his double on Monday. But I don’t know that Boone can stomach batting two right-handed hitters consecutively in the lineup in the event a tough right-handed reliever is summoned at some point in the game, since Boone thinks the late innings are more important than the early innings of a game.

9. I also could see Boone sitting Goldschmidt on either Tuesday or Wednesday against Woo or Luis Castillo, two elite righties. That allows Rice to play first and opens up the DH spot so one of the outfielders doesn’t have to sit. With Thursday’s day off, it’s likely Boone gives Goldschmidt the day off on Wednesday, so Goldschmidt has all of Wednesday and Thursday off before Friday’s game against the Mets.

10. Whatever lineup Boone chooses to go with on Tuesday shouldn’t matter that much with Max Fried starting. Three runs is all the offense should need to give Fried to work with. And since Devin Williams and Luke Weaver haven’t pitched in six days, the easy path to victory is Fried for seven to Williams to Weaver. An easier path is Fried to Weaver. That’s the path I would like to see on Tuesday in Seattle.

1. The Yankees’ first stop on their two-city, six-game West Coast road trip had everything the 2025 Yankees seem to offer: the best hitter in baseball continuing to be that, a poor showing against a left-handed starter, a career game for the top prospect, a late-inning meltdown from the bullpen, questionable in-game decison-making from the manager and a few explosive innings from the offense.

2. It had been more than two weeks since Will Warren had given the Yankees a serviceable start after being unable to get through four innings against the Orioles and taking a loss in 4 2/3 innings against the Rays his last two times out. On Friday, Warren turned in the best performance of his career: 7.1 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 7 K.

For much of the game, Warren needed to be as good as he was. The Yankees only had a 2-0 lead entering the fifth, before tacking on one run in each of the fifth, sixth and seventh and then blowing the game open with a five-run eighth. Warren entered Friday having been unable to record an out in the sixth inning this season and was still on the mound in Sacramento in the eighth.

3. The Yankees got to Osvaldo Bido (5.1 IP, 8 H, 4 R, 3 ER, 2 BB, 6 K, 2 HR) and then pounded Hogan Harris and Elvis Alvarado. Aaron Judge, J.C. Escarra, Jorbit Vivas, Ben Rice and Oswaldo Cabrera hit doubles, Paul Goldschmidt had a solo home run and Jasson Dominguez became the youngest Yankee ever to hit three home runs in a game.

“Tonight was special,” Dominguez said. “A very special night that I will remember.”

Dominguez homered from both sides of the plate on three different pitch types. His third home run was his first career grand slam.

“He just needs to play,” Aaron Boone said. “It’s just the experience with him. He’s so talented.”

I feel like Boone is just fucking with everyone at this point. Who is the one who decides when Dominguez plays? BOONE! Boone played Dominguez in all three games in the series and he went 5-for-12 with six runs, three home runs, seven RBIs, two walks and two strikeouts. It was the first time Dominguez appeared in every game of a series since the Guardians series nearly three weeks ago.

Dominguez should be in the lineup every game, but leave it to the Yankees to toy with their top prospect who is hitting .324/.407/.541 against right-handing pitching and just hit his first career home run against a lefty. Overall, Dominguez has a .343 on-base percentage and is hitting 24 percent better than league average. And yet, he doesn’t play every day. You can guarantee he will sit at least one game in Seattle. Can you imagine how the Yankees would have acted if Anthony Volpe had this type of production in his rookie season? Or any season? Volpe gets to play every day and has since the moment he was called up. If he had these kind of numbers two years ago in his rookie year there would already be a plaque for him in Monument Park. But not for Dominguez.

Not for Dominguez because the Yankees traded for Cody Bellinger, and reputation combined with owed money will always trump actual performance, talent and development. Bellinger is hitting .221/.293/.382 on the year and is nine percent worse than league average. If you gave Bellinger’s salary to Dominguez and Dominguez’s salary to Bellinger, Dominguez would be batting third as Judge’s protection every game and Bellinger may not even be on the team. Because if Dominguez were hitting nine percent worse than league average, he would be back in Scranton. Instead, even with his numbers, he has to settle for batting seventh or eighth in 28 of his 34 games.

4. The Yankees nearly came back from a four-run deficit on Saturday to win, but instead, they just added to their league-leading total of blowing games they lead in after the seventh inning. Ex-Yankee JP Sears (traded for Frankie Montas in a memorable Brian Cashman deal) stifled the Yankees for five innings (5 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 4 K, 1 HR), allowing only one run on a Judge solo home run. Add Sears to the list of left-handed starters that have shut down the Yankees.

5. Trailing 4-0 after three because of a couple of home runs and a crooked-number inning against Carlos Rodon, Judge homered in the fourth. The Yankees exploded for a five-run inning for the second straight day in the sixth to take a 6-4 lead. Judge solo homered for the second time in as many at-bats, Bellinger walked, Volpe doubled, Austin Wells hit a sacrifice fly, Dominguez walked, Oswaldo Cabrera hit a sacrifice fly and Oswald Peraza hit a two-run home run. All of that happened against the same reliever. Mark Kotsay removed Sears after five innings and only 82 pitches for fear of Judge facing him again and the rest of the lineup seeing him for a third time. He brought in Justin Sterner and let him throw 28 pitches and allow five runs.

For a moment I felt thankful for Boone as Yankees manager. Even Boone wouldn’t allow something so egregious to happen. Then the very next inning Boone reminded me why I feel the way I do about him.

6. Ahead 6-4 with the top of the A’s lineup due up to begin the seventh inning, the spot screamed for Luke Weaver. But as I wrote in these Thoughts when Weaver was moved into the closer role, Weaver being the closer is detrimental to the Yankees because he will be assigned to the ninth inning (and maybe an out or two in the eighth every once in a while) no matter who is due up. Boone went to Fernando Cruz because Boone manages his bullpen to set innings. His plan was for Cruz to pitch the seventh, Devin Williams to pitch the eighth and Weaver the ninth. Boone has a plan and once the plan is deployed, there’s no stopping it. No matter what takes place on the field, he will see the plan out. Because in his mind, the plan will work flawlessly. Cruz will pitch a 1-2-3 seventh, Williams will do the same in the eighth and Weaver the same in the ninth.

Cruz allowed a one-out single followed by a double. The slugging Shea Langeliers came to the plate and Cruz threw a splitter that didn’t split and ended up being a middle-middle 81 mph fastball and Langeliers hit it 418 feet to regain the lead for the A’s.

7. There are likely some (idiotic) fans who will side with Boone and ask, “Well, if Weaver gets through the seventh, who pitches the eighth or ninth?” Cruz and Williams, obviously. If Weaver had pitched a scoreless seventh, the Yankees have a two-run lead with six outs to go. It changes how the eighth is managed by Kotsay. He may use someone other than Tyler Ferguson for the eighth and he’s certainly not going to Mason Miller for five outs when trailing. (He’s not going to Miller at all when trailing.) But because Cruz gave up the lead, Kotsay went to his elite relievers to close the door and they did.

The Yankees trailed by one still in the eighth and Boone used Ian Hamilton to try to keep it there. Hamilton got two outs but had the bases loaded against him, so Boone went to Tyler Matzek to try to get Tyler Soderstrom out to end the threat. Matzek gave up a first-pitch, two-run single and followed that up by allowing a two-run double to give the A’s an 11-6 lead. Sure enough, in the ninth, Trent Grisham led off the inning with a triple against Miller and Judge drove him in. If only, the Yankees had gotten out of the eighth still trailing by a run.

It’s time for Matzek to go. He was great for the Braves from 2020-2022, missed all over of 2023 and was bad in 11 appearances when he returned last year. As a Yankee, he’s allowed 14 baserunners in 5 2/3 innings despite four of his six appearances coming in games decided by eight runs or more. That’s really the only time he can be trusted: in a game of eight runs or more.

8. The power of the Law of Ex-Yankees may be waning. Sure, Sears had a nice start on Saturday, but any person using their left hand to throw a baseball would have success against this Yankees team. It used to be any ex-Yankee playing or pitching against their former team would have an exceptional performance. But Nestor Cortes got rocked in the second game of the season, Wandy Peralta was a disaster last week and Luis Severino pitched against the Yankees on Sunday the way he would pitch in the postseason for the Yankees.

9. Severino was bad in the series finale (4 IP, 9 H, 8 R, 8 ER, 2 BB, 2 K) and it allowed the Yankees to pick up their second straight series win. Not only was Severino awful, but Ryan Yarbrough was solid: 5 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 2 K, 1 HR. I asked for Yarbrough to join the rotation long ago, and in his second start this year (he started for a scratched Clark Schmidt last week) he gave the exact type of performance you would expect. At this moment, the Yankees won’t need to use a fifth starter until Memorial Day Weekend in Colorado, so back to long relief he goes.

The Yankees had two five-run innings on Sunday (the second and fifth innings), Goldschmidt had three doubles, Cabrera had another double, Judge had a double and Rice hit his first career grand slam. It was the exact type of win anyone could ask for on Mother’s Day: an early-blowout-and-coast-to-the-ninth win.

10. Now it’s off to Seattle for three games against the slumping Mariners. The Mariners just got swept at home by the Blue Jays over the weekend and embarrassed in the series finale in a game in which the Blue Jays used Jose Urena as an opener and then went to Eric Lauer for the bulk work and were able to coast to a 9-1 win.

It’s never easy for the Yankees in Seattle. Add in that it’s the last leg of the West Coast trip, there’s a scheduled day off on Thursday and Juan Soto and the Mets come to the Bronx on Friday, and it wouldn’t surprise me if the end of this series is a slog for the Yankees. But the start of the series shouldn’t be.

1. Late-game comebacks on back-to-back nights? Who are these Yankees?

After erasing a one-run deficit in the seventh inning on Tuesday with a 10-run outburst for their first win when trailing after the sixth inning of the season, the Yankees had another late-game rally on Wednesday. A night after getting to the best bullpen in baseball for their highest-scoring inning in nearly a decade, the Yankees got to the best bullpen in baseball again, this time erasing a two-run deficit in the eighth.

2. The Yankees were down 3-1 in the eighth because they were no-hit for 6 1/3 innings by Dylan Cease. Cease arrived in the Bronx with one quality start in seven games this season, had been unable to get through five innings in his two most recent starts against the light-hitting Pirates and Rays, and earlier this season got tagged by the A’s for nine runs. So of course, he took the Yankee Stadium mound with his best stuff and gave his best performance of the season.

3. It wasn’t until Cody Bellinger’s game-tying solo home run in the seventh that the Yankees put a hit on the board. The reason a solo shot was able to tie the game that late is because Max Fried was unbelievable again: 7 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 8 K, 1 HR. The Yankees have now won all eight of Fried’s starts this season (they are 13-16 when he doesn’t start) and he leads all pitchers in WAR, wins, ERA, innings pitched and ERA+. If Fried were to allow 10 earned runs in his next start without recording an out, his ERA would still be 2.79, which is essentially what Paul Skenes’ ERA (2.77) is.

“I thought this might have been his best command game, in my opinion, all year,” Aaron Boone said. “Obviously, that’s saying something with how well he’s pitched.”

I was fearful the Yankees’ offense would waste another strong Fried start with a lackluster effort the day after exploding for a 10-run inning. Fearful because the Yankees can’t afford to lose Fried starts.

4. If you find yourself wondering why the Yankees are so bad in one- and two-run games, Boone was in the dugout on Wednesday to remind you. Boone did everything he could to manage his team to a loss on a night when Fried was exceptional and Bellinger provided a big blast.

With the game tied at 1 entering the eighth and the top of the Padres’ order due up, Boone decided to go to Ian Hamilton. Why? Because of his belief in set innings for relievers. I warned in these Thoughts that Luke Weaver becoming the closer of the team would be detrimental to the team’s success because instead of Weaver getting through the toughest part of the opposing lineup in winnable games, he would now be locked into the ninth inning and pitching to a meaningless statistic: the save. That’s exactly what happened on Wednesday.

5. Hamilton has been in Boone’s relief circle of trust since becoming a Yankee despite his struggles in big spots and Wednesday was no different. Hamilton walked two of the three batters he faced (Fernando Tatis and Manny Machado) and then Boone decided to go to Weaver with two on and one out. If Boone was willing to use Weaver in the eighth inning, why he didn’t he just let him start the inning clean against the top of the order? Instead, Boone decided to try to steal a few outs with Hamilton and it backfired, like it always does, and then he broke the emergency glass to call on his only trustworthy relief option.

Weaver entered his second game of the series with little margin of error because Boone likes to make things as hard as possible on his relievers. That margin was erased after an RBI single and a sacrifice fly. The more close games the Yankees play, the more games they will lose solely because of their manager.

6. Thankfully, the Yankees didn’t lose this one. After inexplicably keeping Trent Grisham on the bench to start the game, Boone used him as a pinch hitter for Jorbit Vivas representing the tying run in the bottom of the eighth and Grisham crushed his ninth home run of the season to the second deck in right.

“Every game we were down, fighting back,” Grisham said. “We were in every single one of them, and then to come away with the last two was huge.”

With every Grisham home run and every big play in the outfield, it’s hard not to think about the 621 plate appearances the Yankees gave Alex Verdugo last season as he finished 17 percent below league average at the plate. If Grisham had been an everyday plater in 2024, are the Yankees the defending champions?

Both closers pitched scoreless frames in the ninth and to extra innings the game went.

The Yankees had lost both extra-inning games this season, and as a whole they are medicore-at-best in extra innings since the implementation of the automatic runner. Again, this is solely because of Boone’s lack of creativity and logic with a runner on second and no outs.

7. With a tired bullpen (tired in the Yankees’ organizational eye), Boone decided he would give the middle finger to the fan base by having Devin Williams pitch the 10th. Williams had already lost one extra-inning game this season (in Pittsburgh) to go along with his other three blown games in non-extra innings.

Williams struck out Tatis on three pitches to lull Yankees fans into thinking maybe he’s fixed. But before that thought could even process, Williams walked Arraez, struck out Machado and drilled Jackson Merrill. Williams had loaded the bases and for a pitcher who has had no idea where the ball has been going this season, it wasn’t exactly promising.

Up came Xander Bogaerts, who had a big hit in the series opener on Monday and has destroyed the Yankees throughout his career. (No hit bigger than his two-run home run in the first inning of the 2021 wild-card game.) Williams got ahead of Bogaerts 1-2, but then threw a non-competitive changeup in the dirt and a fastball that nearly sailed to backstop. With a full count, Williams went back to his changeup and had Bogaerts let it go, it would have walked in the go-ahead run, but Boagerts swung over it and Williams celebrated as if he had just clinched a postseason series for the Yankees.

8. Williams is anything but fixed. Wherever the catcher puts his glove, Williams’ pitch finds itself on the other side of the plate. The fastball is wild and the changeup is all over the place. I’m happy he finally had a big moment in pinstripes and the Yankees won, but it’s hard to come away from the outing and think he can be trusted the next time he enters in a big spot. And the next time he enters it will be a big spot. Boone has shown he’s only going to use Williams in high-leverage situations. There’s no finding himself in blowouts and mop-up duty. Boone is going to let Williams figure it out on the fly with games on the line.

9. After Williams pitched a scoreless top half, the Yankees ended the game with two batters in the bottom half. A day after popping up a sacrifice bunt for an easy Oswaldo Cabrera laid down a beauty to lead off the inning and move Jasson Dominguez to third. Boone went to his bench and used J.C, Escarra to pinch hit for Oswald Peraza. Down in the count, 1-2, Escarra battled back to send a sacrifice fly to left to win the game.

“Theres are things you dream about as a kid,” Escarra said, “and it’s all unfolding in real time in front of my eyes.”

10. There’s nothing better than a comeback win going into a day off. For the Yankees, there’s nothing better than a comeback win before hopping a cross-country flight for the first West Coast trip of the season.

The Yankees head to Sacramento to play the A’s in a Triple-A stadium. The A’s are two games over .500 and much improved from the team they were the last two seasons. Unfortunately, the Yankees are going to let Will Warren start another game and start the series opener on Friday.

Warren was given an unbelievable opportunity this season with injuries to Gerrit Cole, Luis Gil and Clarke Schmidt, he was going to be given countless chances to start and prove himself worthy of staying in the rotation as the Yankees got healthy. But instead of taking the opportunity and running with it, he continues to fall behind hitters, nibble around the edges to elevate his pitch count and pitch the Yankees out of games. He has no quality starts in seven starts and has failed to get through five innings in four of them. The Yankees have lost five of his seven starts and every time he takes the ball it’s irresponsible for a team with championship aspirations. It also says a lot about their pitching depth at Triple-A and Double-A. It says it sucks if no one there is a better option than Warren and his 7.71 ERA and 1.695 WHIP in 51 1/3 career innings.

Six games in Sacramento and Seattle before the Mets come to the Stadium next weekend. Get your rest in today, it’s going to be a long, late week.

1. Finally. Finally the Yankees won a game in which they trailed later than the sixth inning. It took until the 36th game of the season (22 percent of the season), but the Yankees overcame a one-run deficit in the seventh inning on Tuesday with a 10-run outburst — their most runs scored in an inning in nearly 10 years — in a 12-3 win over the Padres.

For the first six-plus innings on Tuesday, it was more of the same from the Yankees. Defensive issues, a run forced in by a balk and a whole lot of nothing against a dominant starting pitcher other than an Aaron Judge solo home run and a run produced by a throwing error.

When the Padres took a 3-2 lead in the the top of the seventh, I figured that was it. In every other instance in which the Yankees trailed at any point after the sixth inning this season, they went on to lose. Going out against the best bullpen in the majors figured to be their latest such loss.

2. The latest comeback the Yankees had staged prior to Tuesday was on April 15 against the Royals. They trailed 2-o in the sixth inning of that game before Jasson Dominguez, hitting right-handed, cleared the bases with a double to left field. Dominguez served as the rally starter on Tuesday with a hustle double to lead off the seventh.

“It’s fun to watch him run,” Aaron Boone said. “He can really go.”

It’s so fun for Boone to watch Dominguez that he only plays him half the time. Dominguez doesn’t play every day so that Cody Bellinger can. Why? Owed money. 

3. Anthony Volpe followed Dominguez with a single to put runners on the corners with no outs. Austin Wells drove in Dominguez with a single to tie the game at 3.

Maybe Boone is a reader of Yankees Thoughts based on some of his decisions to put pressure on the Padres in the seventh. After what I wrote about him on Tuesday and always waiting around for the  multi-run home run, Boone called for a sacrifice bunt and double steal in the same inning.

After Wells’ single, Boone had Oswaldo Cabrera bunt, but Cabrera popped up the bunt for an easy out. Instead of sitting back after the failed sacrifice bunt, Boone called for a double steal with Volpe and Wells, and they were both successful. The Baseball Gods then went on to reward Boone for his managerial creativity with the Yankees’ highest-scoring inning in nearly a decade.

4. Paul Goldschmidt was intentionally walked to load the bases with one out and the Padres turned to former Yankee Wandy Peralta. It’s almost a guarantee a former Yankee will perform exceptionally well against the Yankees. Almost. There’s the example of Nestor Cortes getting bombed in the second game of the season, and there’s Peralta on Tuesday. Michael King did his part against his former team (6 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 2 K, 1 HR), but Peralta had nothing.

5. With the bases loaded, Peralta walked Trent Grisham on four pitches. Then came a Ben Rice two-run double followed by an intentional walk of Judge. Bellinger singled in Grisham and Dominguez (batting for the second time in the inning) flew out. Volpe hit his second single of the inning to give the Yankees a five-run lead and Wells ended the game with the first grand slam of his career. (Cabrera ended the inning with a ground out. The Yankees sent 13 batters to the plate in the inning and scored 10 runs, and somehow, Cabrera made two of the inning’s outs.) Peralta’s line: 0.2 IP, 4 H, 6 R, 6 ER, 2 BB, 0 K, 1 HR.

6. This is what the Yankees do. They struggle to score runs for a week then blow a team out to prop up their run differential and give postgame quotes about how good and deep their lineup is (it isn’t). The Yankees have a plus-60 run differential on the season and lead the American League in runs scored with 202. But that plus-60 is a mostly a product of four games: a 20-9 win over the Brewers, a 12-3 win over the Brewers, a 15-3 win over the Orioles and a 12-3 win over the Padres. The Yankees outscored the opposition by 41 runs in those four games.

7. The Yankees are 20-16 on the season, though their expected record suggests they should be 24-12 based on their run differential. The problem with expected record is it treats the offense as if it’s playing in one long continuous game instead of 162 games. Look at last week’s series against the Orioles. The Yankees outscored the Orioles 22-12. They lost the series because while they blew the Orioles out in one game, they lost two one-run games.

8. A blowout win is always fun. Scoring 10 runs in an inning is fun. Hitting grand slams is fun. Consistent offense is the most fun though, and the Yankees haven’t been that. Far from it. If you were to have not watched a game this season and looked at the standings and run totals, you would think the Yankees were some offensive juggernaut, which simply isn’t the truth.

9. The offense will see Dylan Cease on Tuesday, who has struggled this season. Cease has made it to the sixth inning in one of his seven starts, pitching to a 5.61 ERA and 1.604 WHIP. In his two most recent starts he couldn’t get through five innings against the Pirates or Rays and a month ago the A’s scored nine runs off of him in four innings. If the Yankees’ offense is to be believed to be anything other than a lineup that gets mostly held in check and goes off once every couple of weeks, this would be the matchup and game to show it.

10. Max Fried gets the ball for the Yankees for his eighth start of the season. The Yankees have won all seven of his starts to date, as he has averaged 6 1/3 innings per start to go along with a league-best 1.01 ERA and 0.940 WHIP. How about Fried for eight and Luke Weaver for the ninth for a nice, easy Yankees win going into the day off on Thursday?

1. The Yankees are 16-16 since sweeping the Brewers to open the season. That’s a .500 record over 32 games, which is equal to 20 percent of the season.

The Yankees fan who thinks Aaron Boone can do no wrong, believes Anthony Volpe is closer to being a star than a bust, feels Cody Bellinger can’t possibly be this bad and promises Devin Williams will figure it out will tell you the Yankees have the second-best run differential in the American League, are playing three games worse than their expected record and are in first place in the division.

The Yankees fan who has watched this team underachieve in every season during the Boone era knows this team for what it really is: a roster with a top-heavy lineup, a top-heavy rotation, a top-heavy bullpen and a manager who is every bit in over his head in 2025 as he was in 2018. The Yankees fan who sees a team with a run differential propped up by a couple of blowout wins over the Brewers, one over the Blue Jays and one over the Orioles. A team that has lost three straight at home and four of five and five of seven overall.

2. The offense is Aaron Judge, Trent Grisham and Paul Goldschmidt, and at times Ben Rice. The rotation is Max Fried and half the time Carlos Rodon. The bullpen is Fernando Cruz and Luke Weaver. The Yankees have no depth, and the depth they do have is mismanaged in inexplicable ways. It’s how you get Pablo Reyes starting and batting seventh twice recently. It’s how you get Reyes playing over Jorbit Vivas and pinch-hitting nightmare matchups created by a manager who seems to be unaware the opposing manager is allowed to make counter moves.

3. Boone manages the team the same way no matter the personnel. He manages a team whose infield the other day was Vivas, Anthony Volpe and Oswald Peraza as if he had Derek Jeter, Alex Rodriguez and Robinson Cano. He manages his rotation as if it’s full of studs and his lineup as if it’s full of sluggers. He thinks fringe major-league starting pitchers (at best) are going to figure it out mid-game after allowing 12 baserunners in three innings. He thinks a 31-year-old, career 76 OPS+ right-handed bat should not only play against a right-handed starter over a left-handed bat, but bat seventh. If you’re going to have a roster with so few impact players, you can’t have this manager managing it.

4. The Yankees aren’t managed, they’re mismanaged. It’s rare when Boone puts his players in the best possible position to succeed. They can’t create offense and fail to ever put the pressure on the defense. They play station-to-station baseball and wait for a multi-run home run to save them, and when they don’t get it, they lose. The Rays used creativity and speed to cause chaos on Saturday and come from behind, just like the Guardians did recently against them as well. When the Yankees get a baserunner on in the eighth or ninth, the runner never advances past their initial base. They’re never in motion. They stand there and wait for the ball to go over the wall, and when it doesn’t, they lose. The ball hasn’t gone over the wall in late-game spots year, and that’s why they keep losing close games: a combination of no late-game power and middle relief decisions made without logic.

5. The two one-run losses last week in Baltimore were frustrating, and the Yankees followed those up by losing another one-run game on Saturday, a two-run game on Sunday and yet another one-run game on Monday. If you’re wondering why the Yankees are 6-13 in games decided by one or two runs and 13-3 in games decided by three runs or more, it’s because they are without a competent manager, are a disgrace fundamentally and lack capable situational hitters. At their core they are the same team the Dodgers spent the offseason publicly laughing about any chance they got.

6. Sunday’s eighth inning roster management was disturbing. Here is the thought process of the man responsible for in-game strategy of the Yankees on his eighth-inning personnel choices on Sunday:

Boone said he was going to pinch hit Ben Rice for J.C. Escarra or Jorbit Vivas. He decided to let Escarra hit because he’s “the guy that’s been here and more experienced.”

(What exactly is Escarra experienced at? Rice has more games played in the majors and then Escarra and has had much more success.)

Once Escarra grounded into the double play, Boone “shut that (idea) down.” Then Vivas had the two-run hit, so Boone used Rice as the potential tying run instead of Oswaldo Cabrera. Boone went on to say he could have used Austin Wells as a pinch hitter, “but I can’t shoot both of them because all I have is Escarra left.”

(Guess what happened? Wells ended up appearing in the game for defense, but wasn’t used as a pinch hitter.)

If you’re confused by all of that, so am I. But Boone has had similar nonsensical answers in the past when asked about lineup choices. Three years ago, Boone went on CC Sabathia’s podcast and was asked how to comes up with his daily lineups:

“My process for making the lineup is actually a little bit different all the time. There’s the ebb and flow of the season. Let’s assume everyone is healthy and we’re not going to bed that night with ‘We’re waiting to find out if this guy’s available tomorrow.’ So if our guys are available, a lot of times, I’ll buzz by my coaches the night before going home where we may have a thought. A lot of times it’s usually with Mendy where I’ll just be like, ‘What do you think about this guy in tomorrow?’ And we’ll kind of bounce things off. When Marcus was here, I said, ‘What do you think of this guy in tomorrow? This guy out? What do you think about flipping these guys in the lineup?’ So that’s usually how it starts and then when I come in, usually I’ll come into my office and Mendy will follow me in and we’ll kind of go through our different things if theres a little tweak we want to make.

Boone said that’s the process he uses if the team is completely healthy. If he said that’s how he thought about things when the lineup was full of Greg Allen, Tim LoCastro, Estevan Florial, Ryan LaMarre and Rob Brantly in mid-July, it would be somewhat acceptable, but that’s the process he uses when “our guys are available?” He’s not even close to done explaining.

“Sometimes I’ll reach out to like I’ve even done this with Cash and Cash is not usually very much involved at all. But sometimes if I have a tough decision that I’m really wrestling with, I may call Cash on it. I may call Mendy on my way home. I may call Marcus Thames when he was here on my way home. When there’s that tough decision I have when I’m thinking about getting a different guy in tomorrow or sitting a guy a day, I may go to different people and ask their opinion on it, and then ultimately, I gotta decide which way I want to go.”

When Boone interviewed to be manager of the Yankees, he was so extraordinary that the front office canceled all other interviews and didn’t even hold a second round of interviews, handing Boone the job with no prior coaching experience at any level. I’m certain he didn’t explain this process in his supposed spectacular interview.

“We have a very strong analytics department that gives us so much information that kind of helps us decisions, give us context on what we’re seeing, what we’re looking at. And I think the reality is any of the really strong franchises are very strong analytically, but ultimately, the teams that do it the best are able to … the secret sauce is how do you strike the balance? Because every day is unique amongst itself, especially in a big league season when you’re playing 162 games. So you’ve gotta be able to strike the balance, but as Cash puts it, ‘We want to have a buffet of everything available to us,’ so that we can make really good decisions and I think we do that here even though we get criticized about it a lot.”

“Sometimes I’ll start a sentence and I don’t know where it’s going. I just hope to find it somewhere along the way. Like an improv conversation. An improversation.“

OK, that final part was from Michael Scott on The Office, but everything else came out of Boone’s mouth. Now knowing exactly how his lineup creation process works, I feel much more at ease about the team’s failure to meet expectations since he became manager because it makes perfect sense that someone who uses the above strategy to create a lineup would fail to meet expectations. The man who gave that answer is now in his eighth season in the same position, having overseen more than $2 billion in payroll.

Boone’s managing on Sunday was a mess. It was nonsensical, illogical choice after choice, and ultimately (to use Boone’s favorite word), the Yankees lost 7-5 in the latest disastrous Will Warren start (4.2 IP, 7 H, 5 R, 3 ER, 3 BB, 8 K, 1 HR).

The day before Boone had another banner day when he decided with a one-run lead in the eighth to use Mark Leiter Jr. against the Rays’ 2-3-4 hitters. It went about as well as expected when the Rays scored twice to take the lead and go on to a 3-2 Saturday afternoon win.

It was the latest example of the Yankees blowing a late lead in a game and then rolling over and losing with a chance to stage a comeback of their own. It was the latest example until Monday.

7. On Monday, the Yankees and Padres started late due to a rain delay and then were interrupted in the fourth inning with another rain delay. When play resumed, the Yankees had a 3-0 lead they would carry into the seventh inning.

With two outs in the top of the seventh, Boone removed Carlos Rodon from the game (6.2 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 5 K). Rodon provided his fourth straight quality start after having none in his first four starts of the year.

Boone went to Cruz and Cruz ended the innings with two pitches.

The Yankees still led 3-0 when the eighth began. Cruz had only thrown two pitches in the seventh, so it made sense for Cruz to get two or all three outs in the eighth and for Weaver to take care of the rest. A simple formula with a high win probability.

Boone had a different plan.

Boone removed Cruz from the game in favor of Williams. After removing Williams from the closer role last week, Boone has continued to use him a high-leverage role and only in close games. Boone felt three scoreless appearances from Williams was enough to erase his first 10 miserable appearances of the season.

After recording a leadoff strikeout, Williams walked Tyler Wade. He then allowed a two-strike single to Brandon Lockridge, and with two outs, he walked Luis Arraez. Williams walked career .590 OPS Wade, couldn’t put away career .561 OPS Lockridge and then walked Arraez who despises free passes. Boone removed Williams for Weaver, leaving Weaver zero margin for error and that margin was destroyed by a Manny Machado double and a Xander Bogaerts single.

8. Why did Boone remove Cruz after one out and two pitches?

“Cruz had thrown two innings two days ago,” Boone said. “Keep everyone in play moving forward.”

There it is. There is Boone admitting he was playing for tomorrow with his decision to remove Cruz. He’s more worried about a fictional late-game scenario in the future in this series in which he may need Cruz instead of the three-run, late-game situation that actually existed.

The best part about Boone’s answer is that once Cruz entered the game with two outs in the seventh, he either had to get the last out of the inning or face up to three batters to come out of the game. When Boone went to him, he was accepting of the possibility that Cruz may throw a lot of pitches and then be down for a few days, which makes his thought process even more idiotic.

9. Once Williams ruined the eighth and the Yankees fell behind, the rest of the game became a formality just like it does every time these Yankees trail late. These Yankees only blow late leads, they don’t overcome late deficits. They have yet to win a game this season when trailing after six innings. They lead the majors in games blown in the eighth inning or later with five.

10. The always-injured Clarke Schmidt who was scratched on Saturday with discomfort that couldn’t be detected with imaging tests (just like Volpe’s shoulder “pop” that wasn’t enough to take him out of Saturday’s game, but was enough to keep him out of Sunday’s game only to return on Monday couldn’t be found with imaging either) will take the ball on Tuesday. He will be asked to outpitch former Yankee Michael King.

Wade continued the tradition of ex-Yankees coming back to haunt the team with his eighth-inning walk to start the Padres’ rally on Monday. King is a bad matchup for the Yankees lineup, though I guess what opposing starter isn’t? The Yankees need Schmidt to match or better King to end the current three-game losing streak, but even if that happens, there’s a good chance the manager will be more worried about a future late-lead the Yankees may have instead of the one they actually have.