1. I love the AL Central. Since the 2012 ALDS, the Yankees haven’t won a best-of-5 or best-of-7 postseason series against a non-AL Central team. During that time, the Yankees have used beating up on the AL Central to reach the postseason nearly every season and they’re doing it again in 2026. Following Tuesday’s 3-2 win over the White Sox, the Yankees are now 4-1 against the White Sox this season and 17-9 against the AL Central overall, compared to 16-16 against the AL East and 13-9 against the AL West.
2. The White Sox are the “best” team in the Central and they have allowed the Yankees to have run totals of 12 (June 16), 10 (June 17) and 9 (July 27) against them without Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton for the first two of those games and without Cody Bellinger as well for the third. They have lost games started by Gerrit Cole twice (12 IP, 2 ER), Carlos Rodon (5 IP, 3 ER), Ryan Weathers (6.1 IP, 1 ER) and a rusty, pitch-count-limited Max Fried (3 IP, 3 ER). Their only win came in a game in which the Yankees scored one run, and that game was tied at 1 in the eighth. The White Sox are fake good, the AL Central sucks, and the Yankees are doing their job by taking care of annual business against their postseason red carpet.
3. On Tuesday, for the second straight night, a mediocre-at-best left-handed White Sox starter struck out the side in the first inning. Jasson Dominguez and Trent Grisham hit back-to-back singles to open the second and moved up a base on a wild pitch. Anthony Volpe hit a double to the wall in left-center that allowed Dominguez to score, but Grisham was unable to score because of the combination of having to wait to see if it was caught (which it initially was) and his half-assed running style. Grisham and Volpe both came around to score when Max Schuemann hit a double down the third-base line and the Yankees had an early 3-0 lead.
4. Cole easily handled the White Sox lineup with six scoreless innings and seven strikeouts. The White Sox had a bases-loaded, two-out threat in the fourth, but Cole easily extinguished it with an inning-ending flyout to Amed Rosario in shallow left field. Angel Chivilli threw a perfect seventh in relief of Cole and Brent Headrick picked up his major-league-leading 46th scoreless appearance in the eighth. It wasn’t until a two-out, two-run home run in the ninth off David Bednar that the White Sox got on the board, ending Bednar’s scoreless appearance streak, which dated back to May 18.
5. The Replacement Yankees (a term I haven’t used since the 2019 Yankees) went 6-for-32 with four walks and 10 strikeouts, and their only offense came in the three-run second inning. Paul Goldschmidt went 0-for-3 with two walks and a strikeout, Ben Rice went 0-for-4 with two strikeouts, Rosario went 1-for-4 with two strikeouts, Jasson Dominguez had his second straight two-hit game, Trent Grisham had a single, Volpe went 1-for-4 with the double, Jazz Chisholm went 0-for-3 with a walk and two strikeouts, Max Schuemann went 1-for-2 with the double and Austin Wells went 0-for-4 with a strikeout. Spencer Jones went 0-for-2 with a strikeout after pinch-hitting for Schuemann. Defensively, the Yankees didn’t commit an error, which seems like a rarity this summer.
6. If Volpe played second base and batted ninth, the entire perception of him would be different. But because he was given the starting shortstop job and has had it taken away from him for not even two weeks over the last four seasons, while every other Yankees prospect ever has had to earn playing time, everyone is sick of him. Again, not sick of him as the person, but sick of what he represents in the Yankees’ arrogance in this era. Because Volpe continues to bat between fifth and seventh in the lineup and play shortstop every day despite having a second baseman’s arm, he will never live up to the prospect status and hype he once had. The Yankees and fans could deal with him if he played the lesser position and was a bottom-of-the-order presence, and maybe that’s the plan for him once George Lombard Jr. arrives and Chisholm leaves, but until then, the constant criticism of him and the disappointment from him won’t end.
7. Another game off the schedule and another day closer to the August 3 trade deadline and no new names on the roster for the Yankees. Last season, Ryan McMahon was traded to the Yankees six days before the deadline and Rosario five days before. The Yankees traded for Austin Slater one day before the deadline and got Camilo Doval, Jake Bird, Bednar and Jose Caballero on deadline day. The deadline is now five days away, so we are certainly in range of the Yankees beginning to make moves, and as I outlined in recent Thoughts, they have to make moves and get Judge, Stanton and Bellinger back if they plan on ending the championship drought before it reaches 17 years.
8. The Rays and Red Sox both lost on Tuesday, so the Yankees are now two games back of the Rays in the loss column and five games up on the Red Sox in the loss column. The difference between winning the division and not winning it right now is getting a bye to the ALDS or playing the Red Sox in a best-of-3 for the second straight season. A few days ago, the Yankees were in a position where, if the playoffs had started that day, they would have hosted the Guardians in the Wild Card Series with the winner playing the White Sox in the ALDS. I don’t want any part of the Wild Card Series, but if the Yankees are to play in the best-of-3 round, that’s the opponent and path you want.
9. Michael Kay stirring his tea with his glasses was disgusting and Joe Girardi was right to call him out for it. Kay tried to make Girardi out to be the crazy one in the argument, but I can’t imagine there is anyone on Kay’s side for this one. If the tea didn’t dissolve like Girardi explained, Kay could have either drunk it unstirred or not drunk it at all, but at no point was using his glasses to stir it an acceptable choice.
10. Schlittler coming off the most dominant regular-season start of his career gets the ball on Wednesday. He’ll go against Davis Martin — the White Sox best starter — who the Yankees blasted for nine earned runs and three home runs in 3 1/3 innings back on June 16 at the Stadium. A win on Wednesday would clinch at worst a .500 record on the 10-game road trip, which is the mark I would have signed up for before it began.
Last modified: Jul 29, 2026
