1. I have gotten used to the 2025 Yankees losing since that’s mostly what they have done since June 12.
The Yankees won on June 12 and didn’t win again until June 19. They won on June 29 and didn’t win again until July 6. They won on July 11 and didn’t win again until July 19. They won on July 22 and didn’t win again until July 27. They won on July 31 and didn’t win again until August 6. I have grown accustomed to full weeks going by between Yankees wins, so when the Yankees won on Wednesday after having last won on Thursday, it was nothing new. It’s become expected.
Over the last 48 games the Yankees are 19-29. Their eight-game division lead is now a 7 1/2-game deficit (tiebreaker included). They have a 1 1/2-game lead on a playoff spot over the Guardians. (Cleveland currently holds the intradivision record tiebreaker.)
2. When the Yankees beat the Rangers 3-2 on Wednesday to salvage the final game of the series and the final game of their six-game road trip, I was stunned. I was waiting for the other shoe to drop all game like it has in most games since June 12 and it never did. The Yankees didn’t make an egregious game-changing mistake in the field or on the bases, the offense did just enough to overcome a poor starting effort and the bullpen didn’t implode.
3. Clinging to a one-run lead in the eighth, Aaron Boone went to David Bednar and never went to anyone else for the rest of the game. Bednar got the last five outs of the game with five strikeouts.
It’s appalling Boone went to the mound with two outs in the ninth with the plan to take the ball from Bednar and give it to Camilo Doval. How that thought could have ever entered Boone’s mind shows you the level of incompetence Yankees fans are dealing with in their manager. Boone hadn’t had enough late-game implosions from Devin Williams, so he figured he would go to the next-best candidate for such an event in Doval. Thankfully, Bednar told him to go back to the dugout when he approached the mound.
“I told Boone I wanted him, and he agreed” Bednar said of facing Adolis Garcia with two on and two out in the ninth. “I just wanted to bear down and get that last one.”
“I was going to take him out, honestly,” Boone said. “I said, “I’m going to take you out here,’ and he gave me a look like, ‘No, you’re not.'”
4. Rodon was his usual shaky, crappy self: 5 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 4 BB, 3 K. He got saved by three double plays before turning the ball over for 12 outs from Mark Leiter Jr., Tim Hill, Yerry De los Santos and Bednar. If the Yankees reach the playoffs, Rodon is going to be their No. 2 starter because service time and money owed are the first two factors in determining status and playing time with the Yankees, then comes actual performance. As I wrote before Wednesday’s game, no Yankees fans should ever feel confident with Rodon taking the ball in a big game, and he showed again on Wednesday why that is.
5. The offense got the go-ahead, pinch-hit blast from Paul Goldschmidt in the seventh inning. Goldschmidt can’t start against righties, but he certainly can come off the bench once a right-handed starter is removed from the game and a guaranteed at-bat against a left-hander is available. After botching an opportunity to give Goldschmidt an at-bat against a lefty on Monday (and instead, used him against a righty), Boone figured out how the three-batter minimum rules of the game work in time to use Goldschmidt correctly on Wednesday.
“I just try to be ready just like I would my first at-bat,” Goldschmidt said. “Fortunate to be able to get the job done today.”
6. My current bullpen pecking order in terms of trust:
Luke Weaver
David Bednar
Yerry De los Santos
Mark Leiter Jr.
Tim Hill
Brent Headrick
Camilo Doval
Devin Williams
Hill is kind of unfairly placed there because he is awesome and I have the utmost trust in him if the third out of an inning is needed against a lefty or there is a two-lefty-lane coming up or a ground ball or double play is needed.
7. Aaron Judge needs to be able to throw the ball soon and needs to be able to play the outfield soon because the Yankees can’t afford to keep sitting Giancarlo Stanton. When you have Anthony Volpe and Austin Wells in your lineup daily, Jazz Chisholm slumping, Judge trying to get back to his March through mid-June self and the streakiness of Trent Grisham and Ben Rice, you can’t not play Stanton. Stanton was in the zone before being forced to the bench with Judge at designated hitter, so I’m sure he will be nice and cooled off when he returns to playing every day.
8. Fortunate, indeed. The win over the Rangers is the biggest of the season to date (since every win moving forward is the biggest of the season to date) because not only did it stop the losing streak at five, but it prevented the Yankees from falling out of the playoff picture completely, and most importantly, it gives them the head-to-head tiebreaker over the Rangers for the season, which very well could determine whether the Yankees reach the postseason or not.
9. The Yankees picked up a game on the Red Sox, but on no one else as the Blue Jays, Mariners and Guardians all won.
The Astros come to the Bronx this weekend with old friend Carlos Correa back in the fold. While the Yankees are playing their archrival of the last decade, the Blue Jays will be on the West Coast playing the Dodgers and the Red Sox will also be out west playing the Padres. It’s a great opportunity for the Yankees to chip away at the deficit they have created for themselves, if they can find a way to beat an Astros team looking to improve their own postseason chances, as they have just a two-game lead over the Mariners in the AL West.
10. I don’t feel any better about the Yankees today than I did at this time yesterday. They have produced a negative 15 1/2-game swing in the division over the last two months and will be lucky to reach the playoffs in a format that accepts 40 percent of the league. They are still a mess of a team that believes saying they will turn things around will actually turn things around. If they are ever going to turn the corner Boone has told us countless times is coming, now would be the time to do so with a six-game homestand and 13 of the next 17 at home.
Last modified: Aug 7, 2025
