1. The Yankees arrived in Arizona to play a struggling Diamondbacks team that had lost five of seven and couldn’t beat them. The Yankees lost two of three to the Diamondbacks, blowing leads in both losses. The Yankees won 9-2 on Friday, blew a 3-2 lead on Saturday to lose 5-3 and blew a 4-1 lead on Sunday to lose 8-4. The Yankees were unable to add on to either of their leads on Saturday, when they allowed three unanswered runs, or on Sunday, when they allowed seven unanswered runs.
2. A couple of weeks ago, the Yankees arrived in Anaheim with the Angels having lost seven straight, and the Angels promptly beat the Yankees 10-1. Then the Yankees went to San Diego to play a Padres team that had lost seven of nine, and the Yankees lost two of three to the Padres. This is what the Yankees do. The Red Sox were 32-46 before sweeping the Yankees in a four-game series to jumpstart their season at the end of June.
3. It’s a good thing the Yankees had a load management plan in place for Aaron Judge’s return two weeks ago to prevent him from getting injured. The Yankees continue to have these ridiculous rest plans for players and pitchers who recently returned to prevent injury and they never work. Never. This season is didn’t work for Judge. Nothing works for Giancarlo Stanton. Max Fried came back from a bone bruise, was limited by a pitch count and went back on the injured list with a bone bruise. Carlos Rodon missed a chunk of the season, came back, was limited and went back on the IL. Trent Grisham has been on the IL twice with hamstring injuries. Clarke Schmidt couldn’t pitch over the weekend because of biceps soreness. There’s no way to prevent injury other than to not play (unless you’re Stanton, who somehow always injures an additional body part while on the IL for a different body part).
4. And now Judge won’t play until at least the last game of the season. Judge made Ryan McMahon look like the MVP version of Aaron Judge during his return, going 4-for-23 with 13 strikeouts. So he’s going to come back either in Game 162 and get one game’s worth of at-bats, or just come back for the postseason with no at-bats? No one should count on Judge to return and no one should count on him being anything more than a name in the lineup if he returns.
5. To add to the oft-injured softness that is the New York Yankees, Spencer Jones sat out Saturday’s game with “wear-and-tear” from playing on turf. He played on turf on Friday and previously played on it in Toronto on August 16. So two turf games in 35 days were too much for the 25-year-old to handle. Jones overcame his toe issue to play on Sunday and hit a home run. Good thing he didn’t play Saturday. I’m sure the Yankees couldn’t have used his bat in a two-run loss.
6. The Yankees wasted another really good Cam Schlittler start on Saturday as the righty allowed one earned run in six innings. Schlittler could pitch seven scoreless innings in the postseason or allow one or two runs and the Yankees could lose. It’s my biggest fear. What if Schlittler is spectacular and the offense can’t do anything, like it frequently can’t? Then I guess the postseason won’t last more than a few days.
7. Tuesday was supposed to be an awesome day with the Yankees trying to surpass the Rays and two games at Yankee Stadium to begin a four-game series. Instead, the games are meaningless. The Yankees are six games back with seven games to play. The Yankees have to sweep the Rays and then sweep the Orioles next weekend, while the the Rays win no more than one game against the Phillies. It’s not happening.
8. What is happening is the Rays celebrating a division title on the Yankee Stadium field at some point this week. It could happen Tuesday afternoon or Tuesday night or Wednesday or Thursday, but it’s happening. Add another line to the list of embarrassing moments that have happened under Aaron Boone’s watch.
9. Boone called the 2025 Yankees the best roster he has managed and that team was humiliated in four games in the ALDS. He called the 2026 Yankees the deepest team he has managed and the team couldn’t win the division for the sixth time in Boone’s nine seasons. The “best” team couldn’t get out of the real first round and the “deepest” team couldn’t overcome injuries to beat out a team whose highest-paid player makes $2 million less than DJ LeMahieu this season (and LeMahieu hasn’t been a Yankee in 14 months).
10. This week and the remaining seven games may as well be extended spring training. The division is over and the Yankees are going to be the first wild card. The next meaningful game will be next Tuesday night against the Red Sox in the first game of the Wild Card Series. Until then, the results don’t matter, only staying healthy does. And with this roster, staying healthy for a week is less likely than overcoming a six-game division deficit with seven to play.
Last modified: Sep 21, 2026
