It was only a matter of time before Yankees manager Aaron Boone addressed the elephant in the room: his team is simply playing horrible baseball and is being kicked in the mouth right now.
A Season of Challenges
Every year, the Yankees go through a difficult stretch where they’re being blown out and losing at a brisk pace, forcing Boone to try and calm the nerves. Still, everybody sees through the tea leaves that the Yankees have a ton of different liabilities they’re trying to work around.
“You don’t like getting your teeth kicked in. It’s been a crappy two weeks for us. But it’s part of it. We know it’s coming,” manager Aaron Boone said. “Adversity’s going to hit you. We got hit with a little bit right now.”
A Harsh Series Against the Mets
The Bombers were completely dismantled by the New York Mets in a two-game set, allowing 21 runs and scoring nine. The Yankees didn’t only get their teeth kicked in; they got hit by an 18-wheeler, which then backed up to finish the job. Somehow, they maintain a one-game lead in the American League East over the Baltimore Orioles, who just snapped a five-game losing streak on Wednesday.
The Yankees are Facing Realities and Injuries
It was always unrealistic for the Yankees to maintain their unbelievable pace, especially with injuries starting to take hold. The bullpen has been shredded, and the starting rotation is regressing significantly at the moment. Not to mention, the infield is in disarray, with Gleyber Torres being benched, Anthony Rizzo fracturing his right arm, and DJ LeMahieu destroying more ant hills than baseballs.
“No one expects it to be easy,” Boone said. “I know you sail through the first couple months and obviously at a level not foreseen, really. You’re going to have bumps along the way. So we’ll kind of rally around him and keep up with him getting better. But he’ll learn from it and grow from it.”
Silver Lining and Optimism for Recovery
The one silver lining is that the Yankees go through a situation like this every year, and we are fortunate it’s happening in June and not September, right before the playoffs. The Yankees will hope to reinforce the roster by the trade deadline in late July, trending in a better direction after the All-Star break, getting some much-needed rest, and resetting before the long stretch.
Upcoming Challenges and Opportunities
October is months away, and the Yankees will likely have bullpen support and another infielder available to help them get back on track. They have a tough series coming up against the Toronto Blue Jays, one of the worst teams in the American League this year, but are still sneaky at times.
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Their pitching has been disastrous, so the Yankees need to use this as a get-right series before they enter the final month of the first half. They will finish the next two weeks facing off against Boston, Tampa Bay, and Baltimore, a gauntlet of teams that either dismantle their rankings in the AL East or maintain their status as the best team in the division.