A Tale Of Two (Half) Seasons?

  It was the best of times. It was the worst of times. Such a phrase has definitely applied lately to the New York Yankees.

It looked like the Bronx Bombers were not going to be stopped in June, heading to another AL East title without much of a problem. The team had a solid lead over its division rivals. 

Aaron Judge was hitting near .400 and pummeling the ball. Max Fried and Carlos Rodon were a dynamic left-handed pitching duo. The bullpen seemed impenetrable. 

Until all of a sudden the wheels came off the bus. And the Yankees started a long losing skein which resulted in a fall from first place. 

Which got the fans and the media in a real frenzy. Manager Aaron Boone and General Manager Brain Cashman were on the proverbial hot seat. 

Going back to the days of owner George Steinbrenner, the expectations remained the same year after year—winning it all. Making the World Series in 2024 was nice. But it wasn’t enough. 

Sure, the Yankees suffered a great loss when they couldn’t re-sign Juan Soto. Playing with Judge, they formed a mighty pair which troubled pitchers greatly. 

Yet when he decided to take his bats and glove to Queens and play for the New York Mets, Cashman pivoted and signed former NL Rookie of the Year and a one-time NL M.V.P. in Cody Bellinger. Smart move replacing the popular Anthony Rizzo at first base with another former NL M.V.P., Paul Goldschmidt. 

Those two veterans know how to win and play the game. They are among the leading hitters on the club and excel in the field. Bellinger and Goldschmidt made two marvelous defensive plays on Sunday to preserve a much-needed win over the Mets at Citi Field. 

Plenty of people point to how flawed the Yankees are. I agree. Then again, what team isn’t flawed this season in baseball? The Mets, even with Soto, have struggled. The reigning World Champion Los Angeles Dodgers just were whupped by the Brewers in Milwaukee. Houston, which swept LAD at Dodger Stadium, were promptly swept by Cleveland, which had been playing mediocre baseball in June. Only Detroit seems to continue to roll on—and I wonder how long that might last?

The Yankees really don’t have a solid player at third base. Oswaldo Cabrera was playing the hot corner adequately until he suffered a gruesome ankle fracture in Seattle, putting him out for the season. That clearly is a hole. 

Returning Jazz Chisholm, Jr. there was not a good move—the guy is such a spectacular second baseman that he made the AL All Star team at that position. D.J. Le Mahieu, once a force as a hitter—he was a two-time batting champion and a Gold Glove fielder—was not the answer at second base while Chisholm toiled at third. Injuries and age robbed Le Mahieu of his formidable talents. So much so that the team cut ties with Le Mahieu this week, putting Chisholm back at second base—even if New York may remain on the hook for the $22 million owed to Le Mahieu for 2024 and 2025 should no team trade for him. 

New York certainly has suffered its share of injuries. Starting with ace Gerrit Cole going down and requiring Tommy John surgery on his elbow. 2024 Rookie of the Year Luis Gil still hasn’t made his 2025 debut as he recovers from the same surgery. This were two big losses before the season even began. 

Add in the loss of starter Marcus Stroman for much of the first half of the season; fill in starter Ryan Yarborough lost for an undetermined time as he was pitching well; and this week learning that emerging pitcher Clarke Schmidt, who seemed like he was the number 3 or 4 starter, is out as he awaits Tommy John surgery. Those are heavy blows to any team. 

Cam Schittler, a very promising pitching prospect, made his major league debut against a potent Seattle lineup on Wednesday night and came away with the win. Showing hitters a 100 mph fastball and some good off speed stuff, this kid has some potential. 

His character is good, too. Schittler is the son of the Needham, Massachusetts police chief, so he understands discipline and hard work. It showed in his amateur career, which included a Spring Training start versus the top stars of the Boston Red Sox while he was at Northeastern University. He retired them in order. 

Whether Schittler is the missing piece to the puzzle remains to be seen. Nobody knows how Gil will return, nor is Gil guaranteed a spot in the rotation. Stroman, the odd man out at the beginning of the season, seems to be good for five fairly strong innings in his starts, which then taxes the already overworked bullpen even more. These are all unsettled questions which loom large for the Yankees hierarchy to sort out. 

Speaking of the bullpen, that is a quagmire at this time. Closer Devin Williams began the season in atrocious fashion, with his E.R.A. skyrocketing and being demoted to a secondary role. Suddenly, Williams has pitched like the elite pitcher the Yankees thought they acquired, having not allowed a run in 11 of his last 14 appearances, which included a lights out performance versus Seattle on Thursday night. 

As bad as he had pitched, Williams was thrust back into the closer role when last year’s phenom closer Luke Weaver, a power pitcher, went down with a hamstring issue. Now that he’s back, Weaver is once more a set up man to Williams. However, Weaver has been hit hard, as his fastball is down a tick in speed, allowing good major league hitters to catch up to it and rocket the ball over the fence. 

Of course the Yankees need Weaver to get back in sync to form with Williams an awesome tandem closing out games. The additional problem is the fifth through seventh innings to bridge holding a lead until Weaver and Williams take over. 

One of the answers was Mark Leiter, Jr. I am not a big fan of this guy. He is too inconsistent. But Boone likes him and used him as much as he could. 

Therein lied the issue. I felt that Leiter was overweight. Maybe that’s true. And if so, coupled with his overuse by the manager, it could be the reason that Leiter is on the IL with a stress fracture to his left leg—his plant leg when throwing. His availability is uncertain going forward. 

Previous stalwart Jonathan Loaisiga also had a late start to the season due to injury. Now that he’s back, just like Weaver, he is prone to giving up home runs in high leverage situations.

How much can Boone rely on Ian Hamilton, another pitcher who has been injured; Scott 

Effross, a side arm pitcher with an injury history; or lankly lefty Tim Hill is in serious question. Because the other stop gap relievers promoted from Scranton-Wilkes Barre have not pitched like major leaguers. 

Cashman will have his work cut out for him as the trade deadline approaches at the end of July. Will he have to part with much minor league or even major league capital to get what he thinks the team needs for pitching and at third base? If he is as successful as when he acquired Chisholm last season, then this might work out favorably for NYY. 

One thing is for sure—the offense is there. Sure, in June the team failed to repeatedly capitalize when men were in scoring position, which led to too many losses. Yankees fans should take heart that the offense is still the third most productive in all of MLB. 

That was demonstrated on Thursday night when Seattle All Star pitcher Bryan Woo no hit the Bombers for seven innings. The offense began to awaken when Chisholm singled, to break up the no hitter. Four batters later it was 5-3 in favor of Seattle, as notoriously bad pinch hitter Giancarlo Stanton clobbered a pitch into the Yankees bullpen to draw New York within striking range. 

Facing All Star closer Andres Munoz, the Yankees patiently took pitches until catcher Austin Wells delivered a tying single with two strikes and two outs in the bottom of the ninth.

Williams did his job and then Aaron Judge hit a medium range fly ball to center field where All Star outfielder Julio Rodriguez uncorked a great throw to home plate. Ghost runner Anthony Volpe slid, eluding the tag of All Star and Platinum Glove-winning catcher Cal Raleigh to clinch an improbable win for the Yankees over a talent-laden Seattle squad. (NYY went 5-1 in 2025 versus the Mariners, losing only a 2-1 game that went 11 innings in Seattle)

If Volpe, who is struggling mightily at the plate and in the field, and Stanton, who had seemed lost at bat for a long while, get back into form, then this lineup will become even more potent. It’s not Murderer’s Row, but guys like Trent Grisham, Jason Dominguez, Bellinger, Judge, Goldschmidt, Ben Rice, Chisholm and Wells are all very capable to deliver big blows. 

Toronto has been on a tear, which included a sweep of the Yankees at home last week. Boston has matched the Blue Jays, going 9-1 in the last 10 games. Even Baltimore has gone 7-3. Only Tampa Bay has struggled worse than NYY, going 3-7 in the last 10 games. 

Sitting two games behind the Blue Jays in the standings isn’t where the team could have been. The combination of injuries, bad pitching and untimely hitting got the team to this place. 

New York ends the first part of the season at home with the NL Central-leading Chicago Cubs. Then the team starts the final portion of the marathon with road games in Atlanta and Toronto. The remaining games after the aforementioned ones are a mixed bag of AL East teams; the leaders of the NL East (Philadelphia home); AL Central (Detroit home); & AL West (Houston home and home); plus Wild Card hopefuls; and some teams out of it. NYY will have to stay more than above water to have a realistic chance to win the division, let alone secure a Wild Card slot. 

While fans will be watching Judge continue his quest for the Triple Crown, there is more at stake. Come August 1, who can predict what the dynamic of the team might be. Or how the team weathered the storm which began in June. 

It is not quite Charles Dickens here. The dichotomy of the French Revolution was much different. This is baseball and it is a long season with much drama seemingly in every game. 

For the New York Yankees, it is an ongoing tale of two (half) seasons. The best and worst of times. Just stay away from anybody named Defarge. Especially if they know how to knit.