Yankees Season A Long, Strange Trip To Top Of AL
You play the opponents on the schedule you’re given, so give the Yankees credit for winning more games than anyone in the mercurial American League this season.
The Bronx Bombers entered the season’s final weekend needing any combination of two wins or Cleveland defeats to clinch the No. 1 seed in the AL playoff bracket. When both clubs lost twice by Saturday night, New York (93-68) backed in to secure home field advantage should they reach the AL Championship Series round.
How fitting. This AL season’s theme was more like “I don’t want it” than “Let’s get it.” A bunch of teams had opportunities to break away from the mediocre pack only to slide back down the standings. Or in AL West’s winner Houston’s case, forgot to hit the alarm when the season started.
Trivia question: When was the last time an AL regular season leader posted fewer than 95 wins in a 162-game campaign? Answer: You have to go back 50 years to the 1974 Orioles. Here’s another 2024 oddity: For those pointing to parity, this happened to be the season where the White Sox set an MLB record with their 121st loss.
The Yankees were the first team to cough up a lead, as they followed up a roaring 50-22 start by dropping 23 of their next 33 games. The AL East was a dogfight thereafter until the final week, with Baltimore finally succumbing with Thursday’s 10-1 smackdown at Yankee Stadium.
So though the Yankees may now don the regular season crown, don’t for a minute think it will have any meaning for the playoffs. The Orioles, New York’s most likely opponent in the Division Series, finished just three games behind them in the East and went 8-5 in the season’s head-to-head meetings. Should Detroit take the best-of-three Wild Card round instead, Cy Young contender Tarik Skubal could be in the Bomber’s path toward a 28th World Series title. Maybe even twice in a best-of-five series.
The Yankees, like everyone else in the AL playoff bracket, have obvious flaws they’ll have to try to conceal in the brightest of spotlights. They may have led the AL in runs, homers, and on-base percentage, but they are overly reliant on the top of their order. The Orioles, in contrast, hit better up-and-down the lineup this season, with all of their top nine in plate appearances recording an OBP over .300. In the Yankees case, they have Aaron Judge, Juan Soto, Gleyber Torres, Austin Wells, and…that’s it (if first baseman Anthony Rizzo’s broken fingers don’t heal in time for the ALDS—even so, he barely breached the relatively low barrier at .301).
Of course, pitching typically dictates postseason baseball. On paper, the Yankees trio of Gerrit Cole, who seems to be rounding into form right on schedule, Carlos Rodon, and Luis Gil is at least the equal of Baltimore’s Corbin Burnes, Zach Eflin, and Dean Kremer, but both staffs have had their bouts with inconsistency this season. In their final starts this weekend versus the lowly Pirates, Rodon and Gil combined to surrender six home runs in 11 innings. However, both finished their seasons with Ks/9 innings over 10, a good harbinger for postseason success. Baltimore’s staff allowed more balls to be put in play. And for all the worries about New York’s relievers, the Orioles blew just as many saves and posted a higher ERA by a significant 0.6 difference. Neither bullpens’ WHIP or K percentage were all that impressive.
And speaking of lacking trust, Aaron Boone has a lot to prove in October managing in Yankees fans’ eyes. His resume here isn’t exactly exemplary—the Bombers are 14-17 in playoff games since he took the job in 2018. In several of the defeats, his decisions, from lineups to pitching changes, were roundly criticized.
Can you imagine fans’ reaction if Boone turns to the washed DJ LeMahieu, who is attempting to recover from a hip injury, to replace an ailing Rizzo? LeMahieu needed a late run merely to burst through the .200 Mendoza Line and his 13 ground into double plays in 228 plate appearances was a frighteningly league-high ratio (minimum 10 GIDPs). Yet he remained the apple of Boone’s line when it came to making out the lineup cards almost all the way through to his early September injury.
What a weird season. A long, strange trip indeed, with Judge’s awesome heroics (58 homers, 144 RBIs, 133 walks, .458 OBP, .701 slugging—all MLB highs) the main reason to pay attention every day. Despite having the best player, the Yankees needed to overcome all sorts of deficiencies to officially earn the title of the AL’s best team.
But not in the colloquial sense. No, as it has now become in the MLB era of the Wild Card, it will be the team that plays the best when it counts that takes the pennant.