The Yankees lost another game, this one to the Los Angeles Angels, 5-3. When is it too late to turn this team around?
The New York Yankees need to stop messing around.
After a 5-3 loss to the Los Angeles Angels, the Bombers now sit at a very average record of 40-38. Many fans have given up on the season already, and quite frankly, I can’t blame them. So far, the Yankees have played 78 games — nearly half the season — and being just two games over .500 isn’t very inspiring when talking about a team that had World Series aspirations. Teams are generally evaluated on their first-half performance during the All-Star Break. In all likelihood, the Yanks will go into the All-Star Break with a very underwhelming win total through the first three-and-a-half months of the season. However, if New York is going to turn the ship around, they must do so right now.
Two Steps Forward, Three Steps Back
It actually looked like the Yankees were making progress, and it’s fair to say that they even have over the past few weeks. How they’ve gotten to where they are today, though, leaves plenty of cause for concern. The Yankees, over a nine-game stretch against the Blue Jays, Athletics, and Royals, respectively, went 7-2. This was quite the encouraging sight, putting up this record against a solid team, a probable playoff team, and a not-so-good, but feisty, Royals squad.
Following their 7-2 run, however, came a four-game losing streak that the Yankees are currently fighting through. They were swept in a three-game set by the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park last weekend in what was their biggest series of the year. Now, they’ve come home to face the average to even slightly below-average Los Angeles Angels, where they’ve lost the first game of that four-game set. They sit 7.5 games back of first place and 6.0 games out of a wildcard slot.
Yankees Have a Tough Stretch Ahead
After this set against the Angels, the Yankees will face the Mets, Mariners, and Astros. The Mets are in first place, the Mariners have a better record than the Yankees, and Houston is arguably the best team in the American League. In total, combined with the final three games against the Angels, that leaves the Bombers with 12 games to try and turn this around. They need to, in my opinion, go at least 9-3 to give the fans — and themselves — any sort of hope that they can get hot and turn things around.
The Yankees have played practically a half of the season, and they’ve been consistently mediocre. Things need to change fast, or this World Series favorite will be riding the pine in October.