Addressing the Collapse of the New York Yankees.

Let me take you back, it is the middle of June, school just got out, and the Yankees are on pace for 120 wins. Aaron Judge is in the middle of a historic season, Jose Trevino broke out as an all star, and Nasty Nestor was pitching out of his mind. The Yankees had a comfortable lead of 15 games in the AL East. Life was good and summer was just starting.

A few weeks later, it was the All Star break. The man, the myth, the legend, Matt Carpenter had just terrorized the city of Boston with a two home run game right before the break. The Yankees had slowed down their winning pace after losing some close games to the Reds, but still sat comfortably. After Stanton won the All Star Game MVP, things turned for the worse. Stanton went down with an Achilles injury. They then went to Queens, and lost two close ones against the Mets. Thankfully, Cashman made some trades at the deadline which included getting Benindenti, Bader, Effros, and Lou Trivino, and trading Gallo to the Dodgers. The Yankees were on a losing streak, but everyone hoped that some key additions would help the team down the stretch.

Then the 8th month of the year started, and August was an awful month. The Yankees finished with an MLB worst, 10-18 record. The injury bug struck this team with injuries to key players like Matt Carpenter, DJ Lemahieu, Jose Trevino, Michael King, Zach Effros, Andrew Benintendi, and Clay Holmes. The Yankees were not the same team after these guys went down. However, as August was winding down, a huge series against the Mets loomed in the Bronx. Anything less than a sweep would shatter any playoff and world series hopes the team had. The Yankees won both games fairly easily. Those two games really changed the season around for the squad. They finished September with a winning record and won the AL East in Vladdy’s house. Key players were returning, and Clay Holmes was getting back to his early season form. Judge finally broke the record, and Sevy threw 7 no hit innings. The Yankees were poised to make a deep playoff run. 

When October rolled around there was hope, hope being something Yankees fans had not experienced since July. They faced the Cleveland Guardians in the ALDS and comfortably won game one of the series behind an Anthony Rizzo two run blast. However, the Yankees lost Game 2 and 3 in heartbreaking fashion. They blew a 2 run lead in Game 2, and they blew another 2 run lead in Game 3, which led to a gut punching walk off. After Game 3, many fans, including myself, thought the season was over. Despite this, the Yankees then won the next two games, showing up Josh Naylor and wound up in the ALCS against the Houston bleeping Astros. The stage was set, like many predicted in the beginning of the season, it would be a New York Houston ALCS for the third time in six years. 

Game One and Two of this series went pretty much the exact same way: decent pitching matched with the offense being dead. The Yankees could have, and should have won both of those games. I had the pleasure of attending Game 3 of the series. Even though they were down 2-0, there was still a buzz at the stadium and a sense of hope. As the national anthem ended, the stadium grew louder and louder, and there were plenty of chants regarding Jose Altuve, and of course the 2017 cheating scandal. It was scoreless through 3, until Harrison Bader dropped a routine flyball that would have ended the inning. Gerrit Cole then had the audacity to say “I got you” to Bader after the mosque. The very next pitch was a 2 run shot to right. The crowd was dead, and everyone got the feeling that we would lose to Houston again. The Yankees finished Game 3 with 3 total hits. I don’t even want to talk about Game 4. It was a Game the Yankees easily could have won, but a crucial error by Isiah Kiner-Falefa (Also known as IKF or I Kant Field) cost the Yankees the game. After all that the team went through, they found themselves in the same spot as they have in the past six postseasons, watching the other team celebrate. 

I don’t care what anyone says about the Yankees, this season was an utter failure. So much hope, so much skill, all wasted. The pain, suffering, and the heartbreak will continue for all Yankee fans until Aaron Boone is fired. The Yankees will never win a World Series under his management. Some would even say to fire Cashman, which is not a bad idea. A massive offseason looms for obvious reasons (Aaron Judge). The Yankees do have one thing going for them: it was another October where the Mets and their fans were sitting at home watching the Yankees and praying for their downfall. The Yankees run NY.