For their existence the New York Yankees have been one of the most storied franchises in all of professional sports. The Yankees have won 27 World Series Championships which is by far the gold standard in Major League Baseball. The Yankees have had a who’s who of Baseball Hall of Famers such as Babe Ruth and Yogi Berra suit up for them while they’ve also been romanticized in film as well. The Yankees have also had no problem with being front page news as they play in the world’s biggest media market. Former Yankees owner George Steinbrenner once equated owning the team to having the Mona Lisa due to the fact that it is very rare which makes this year’s edition of the Bronx Bombers very intriguing.
From 1995-2012, the Yankees only missed the postseason one time and over that stretch as they enjoyed five World Series Championships in seven appearances in the Fall Classic. But the past two seasons have resulted in the Yankees watching the playoffs from home. We didn’t know what to expect from the Yankees in 2015, but they appear to have found their groove this summer.
As the month of July is winding down, the Yankees have a record of 54-42 which is good for the top spot in the American League East. The Yanks have an 12-game lead in the AL East over their arch-rival in the Boston Red Sox while they swept a three-game series this week from the Baltimore Orioles to put them seven games back which might be too much for them to recover from. The Toronto Blue Jays are in second place in the division as they are 5.5 games behind the Yankees who are keeping all of the teams within the AL East at a distance and they’ve done it without much fanfare.
The Yankees didn’t have one starter elected to this month’s Major League Baseball All-Star Game and in spite of the fact that they are in first place in the AL East, they’ve flown under the radar which is rather surprising as they typically have been an organization that garners a ton of media attention.
Joe Girardi
This is the first season since 1994 in which the Yankees don’t have shortstop Derek Jeter in the lineup. The Yankees came into this season with many questions and uncertainties about their team. But under manager Joe Girardi, the Yankees are showing that actions speak louder than words. On May 24, the Yankees had finished a stretch where they had lost 10 of 11 games and their record was 22-22. The Yanks were in second place in the AL East and they were searching for answers as they were trying to find themselves, but since then they’ve been in a strong groove and it has been the veterans on this club that are answering the bell.
Alex Rodriguez
After being suspended for the entire 2014 MLB season as the result of performance-enhancing drugs, Yankees designated hitter Alex Rodriguez came into this season with something to prove. At first the Yankees wanted nothing to do with Rodriguez as they were looking to get rid of him as they felt that he was an embarrassment to their organization. But A-Rod has been one of the Yankees best players this season as he is batting .277 with 23 home runs and 58 runs batted in. Rodriguez is doing this in the twilight of his career as he’ll be 40-years old on Monday and he’s attempting to show that he is clean along with proving that he has the ability to still be one of the better power hitters in the game of baseball. Yankees first baseman Mark Teixeira entered 2015 coming off of consecutive subpar seasons. But Teixeira changed his diet as he is now gluten free and at the age of 35, he is still a productive player for the Yanks. Teixeira might not be a .300 hitter like he was at one point during his MLB career, but he is tied for fourth in the American League in home runs with 24, and he’s second in runs batted in with 65 as he and A-Rod have provided the pop in the middle of New York’s lineup. Outfielder Brett Gardner is enjoying one of the best seasons of his MLB career as he is batting a career best .293 with a .370 on-base percentage. And because of this Gardner would go on to be named to his MLB All-Star Game earlier this month. Now that outfielder Jacoby Ellsbury has returned from the disabled list, the Yankees have their leadoff man and table setter as their lineup in rounding out.
Pitching wise, the Yankees team earned run average of is one of the highest in the American League as they’re 11th in the category at 3.95, but they continue to crank out wins. Starting pitchers Masahiro Tanaka, CC Sabathia, Michael Pineda, Adam Warren, and Nathan Eovaldi have all had their fair share of ups and downs this season, but Sabathia is the only one that currently has a losing record. Pineda has shown flashes of potentially developing into an ace, but he still needs to put it together consistently while Tanaka has been able to shake off the words of his detractors that say that he is destined for Tommy John surgery due to his elbow problems. Tanaka is 7-3 with earned run average of 3.64 in 13 starts this season.
Andrew Miller
But wherever the Yankees starting rotation has been unable to hold their own this season, the bullpen has picked up the slack. Relief pitchers Andrew Miller and Dellin Betances each have the ability to be a closer for Girardi, but it is Miller that gets the ball in the ninth inning as he has 23 saves this season.
The ups and downs of the Yankees this season and the fact that this isn’t you’re typical “murderers row” type team that we’re accustomed to seeing from them has allowed them to go a bit unnoticed this season. Under the control of team owners Hank and Hal Steinbrenner, these Yankees don’t consistently spend the big bucks on players like they did when the team was being run by their father George, but one stroke of the pen can always change that. And if the Steinbrenners give Yankees general manager Brian Cashman the okay, this team will be a player on the trade market. With what the Yankees currently have on their team, they’ll be in the hunt to win the American League East, but a trade for another starting pitcher, middle reliever, or quality bat could be the difference in them merely making the playoffs and hoisting the World Series Championship Trophy this October. And regardless of what this current Yankees roster looks like, they’ll still be must-see TV if they can make it to October.
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