MLB

The Yankees tumble to dead last in the AL East

After more than half the season slips under the keel, the prodigiously talented New York Yankees have slipped to dead last in the division.

Isaiah J. DowningUSA TODAY Sports via Reuters Con

The Yankees should be World Series contenders. I know that every non-Yankee fan just rolled their eyes, but it is true. The hardcore fanbase never tire of telling the world how great the Yankees are and the rest of baseball fandom is sick of hearing it. But it is true.

Which makes their incredible flop, tumbling all the way down to fifth place in the AL East all that much more shocking. For the first time since 1990, the Yankees find themselves sitting dead last in the division.

It is easy to point the finger at Aaron Judge’s prolonged absence as the culprit for the pinstripes’ woes, but a team is made of more than one man. Just look at the Angels. Even with Shohei Ohtani cranking out record high home run numbers, and record low ERAs, they are still struggling to find their winning form. It takes an entire team to win.

The insanity of the Yankees predicament is that, unlike Ohtani, they have a team of bona fide giants. With a total payroll of $280 million, they have Gerrit Cole and Domingo German on the mound, and Anthony Rizzo, DJ LeMahieu, and Giancarlo Stanton at the plate. Even without Aaron Judge, the Yankees should be contenders.

But they are 50-45 and are on track to lose close to 90 games this season unless they can turn it around, and quickly. That 1990 season was their second worst in franchise history, and they went on to lose 95 games that season.

Will Judge’s return make a difference? It is tempting to say yes, but if he returns at 50%, or even 80%, he could do more harm than good.

Lately the Yankees press has been agog with the possibility that they may make a move to trade for Shohei Ohtani, but that is increasingly unlikely since Ohtani’s impetus to leave the Angels is to win. Right now, the Yankees, quite literally, can not buy a win.

MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand has reported that the Yankees have shown interest in acquiring outfielder Dylan Carlson from the Cardinals, a move that could add some life to the listless Bronx bats.

But whatever they do, they need to do quickly, because the best chance that the Yankees have to claw their way back into contention is quickly passing them by. After dropping the series to the Rockies, they have lost the first game to the Angels and will face the Royals this weekend before the schedule gets decidedly trickier.

The Mets, Orioles, and Rays await them to round out July and August brings a heavy dose of Astros, Braves, Red Sox, and Rays trouble. September will see them face the Astros again as well as the Brewers and Blue Jays twice.

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