1. The Yankees played a team that doesn’t completely suck on Monday, so if you didn’t watch, you know how it went: they lost 4-2. The Yankees scored two first-inning runs on two bases-loaded walks against the Rays and then didn’t score again in the game. They had six hits, all singles. Following Ryan McMahon’s bases-loaded walk to tie the game in the first, the Yankees went 3-for-28 with eight strikeouts. They had one hit from the last out of the first inning until one out in the eighth inning.
“We just weren’t able to mount enough and couldn’t hold them down just enough,” Aaron Boone said, essentially defining the meaning of the word “loss”.
2. On a day the Rays traded their starting catcher (All-Animosity Team member Danny Jansen) to show they aren’t sold on their current roster, they still managed to beat the Yankees in the Bronx. The Red Sox and Rangers also lost, but the Mariners won to go along with the Rays’ win, so the updated wild-card picture looks like this:
WC1: Yankees
WC2: Mariners (0.5 games back of Yankees)
WC3: Red Sox (1 game back of Yankees)
First team out: Rangers (1.5 games back of Yankees)
Second team out: Rays (3.5 games back of Yankees)
The Blue Jays also lost for the second straight game, which seemed like an impossible feat of late. But really who cares about the Blue Jays right now, since the Yankees are just 2 1/2 games up on a playoff spot (because of they hold the head-to-head tiebreaker over the Rangers) and they are 6 1/2 games out in the division (because the Blue Jays hold the head-to-head tiebreaker over them).
3. There isn’t much to feel good about right now with the Yankees. They have fewer wins than both the Rockies and White Sox over the last nearly six weeks, Aaron Judge is out with a flexor strain, the bullpen sucks, the rotation provides no length, the lineup is a collection of inconsistent performers and the manager is somehow in his eighth season making the same kind of in-game decisions he made in his first weekend in his first season. And oh yeah, they’re 11-19 against the division.
It’s depressing watching the 2025 Yankees die a slow, painful death. Because if you think it’s OK they are currently holding the first wild-card spot, you’re a fool. This is a team that had an eight-game lead over the Blue Jays in the last week of May. A team that led the Red Sox by 12 games in the loss column. They didn’t fight to get to where they are like the Red Sox and Rangers. Actually, I guess they did since they didn’t fight and that’s why they are where they are.
4. Cam Schlittler wasn’t good on Monday (11 baserunners in 4 1/3 innings), but I have nothing bad to say about him because nothing bad can be said about him. He has three major-league starts to his name after having just six Triple-A starts and 14 Double-A starts to his name. He has had to start against the Mariners, Blue Jays and Rays, or in other words, the best team in the American League, a team currently holding a playoff spot and a team battling for a playoff spot. He wasn’t exactly given a soft landing spot to get his feet wets in the bigs, and he’s being asked to win important games with no limited run support and a bad defense.
5. After playing a mistake-free defensive game on Sunday in the win over the Phillies, the Yankees made up for it on Monday with a couple of miscues. Jazz Chisholm couldn’t get a ball out of his glove on a play that was inexplicably ruled a base hit and Anthony Volpe couldn’t make a play on a ball to his left that was also inexplicably ruled a hit. I don’t think we’ll hear Boone talk about the official scorer in the Bronx after he did both of his middle infielders a favor on two plays that were clearly errors.
6. The boos came out for Volpe after his misplay. Sure, it was a tough play, but it was also a play a major-league shortstop should make, especially one who has been deemed “fucking elite” by his manager. I don’t know that Volpe is equipped to handle boos from the Yankee Stadium crowd. The Golden Boy has only ever been told how great he is by everyone in the organization. He was a first-round pick who moved quickly through the minor leagues and was given the everyday shortstop job after just 22 games of a .718 OPS at Triple-A because of a good spring training. Since then, the threat of being sent down has never been an option as he has never even been benched. Not for a series, not for a game, not for an inning. He just continues to play every single day in every single game despite being one of worst everyday offensive players in the majors over the last three years, all while his defense and baserunning have regressed to poor levels. If the boos continue for Volpe (and every indication is that they will if he continues to put up 0-for-4s and misplay ground balls) that may be what leads to him losing playing time because his manager and general manager can shield him from the media, but they can’t shield him from the fans, and the fans have put up with below-league-average play from him for long enough and they have the power to make a performance reversal impossible
7. I think it’s time Paul Goldschmidt stopped playing against right-handed pitching, don’t you? The Yankees’ defense is a mess whether Goldschmidt plays or not, so they need to focus on creating offense and Goldschmidt just doesn’t do that. Goldschmidt has one home run since June 6 and a .589 OPS since the beginning of June. He has a .615 OPS against righties this year. Ben Rice needs to be playing against righties every game. He needs to be pinch-hitting for Goldschmidt against righties in games.
8. Give me this lineup against a right-handed starter:
Trent Grisham, CF
Cody Bellinger, RF
Giancarlo Stanton, DH
Jazz Chisholm, 2B
Jasson Dominguez, LF
Ben Rice, 1B
Ryan McMahon, 3B
Austin Wells, C
Anthony Volpe/Amed Rosario SS
And this lineup against a left-handed starter:
Paul Goldschmidt, 1B
Cody Bellinger, CF
Giancarlo Stanton, DH
Jazz Chisholm, 2B
Amed Rosario, RF
Jasson Dominguez, LF
Ryan McMahon, 3B
Anthony Volpe, SS
Austin Wells, C
(I would play Dominguez in center field with Grisham out of the lineup, but we all know that’s not going to happen.)
9. Again, the defense is going to be a problem no matter who is playing, so it’s time to worry about offense, especially with Judge out. I wish the Yankees had one regular, everyday lineup, but they don’t seem to believe in that and also lack the personnel to have that. Their righties don’t hit righties and their lefties don’t hit lefties for the most part. The roster construction remains a mess in that they have players who don’t deserve to play every day and others who can’t play every day because they don’t have positions.
10. The summer slog continues on Tuesday in the second game of four against the Rays. I went into this series wanting the Yankees to split the series. Take four games off the calendar and keep the Rays at bay, while trying to stay afloat until the trade deadline and injured list bring back some names and Judge returns. But after Monday’s loss, the Yankees need to win two of three to accomplish that and (as of now) Marcus Stroman is starting one of those three games. Max Fried needs to go out on Tuesday and make sure the bullpen usage is kept to a minimum. He needs to go out and give the Yankees the kind of start he gave them every five days through the end of June. The kind of start he hasn’t given them in more than a month.
Last modified: Jul 30, 2025
