New York Yankees manager Aaron Boone has set the record straight on an irritating narrative.
The New York Yankees are 26-15 on the season and have only lost three series all year, but all three losses have come at the hands of winning ballclubs: the Athletics, the Tampa Bay Rays and, most recently, the Milwaukee Brewers.
The Yankees dropped two out of three to the Athletics and were swept by the latter two squads, having just lost three straight to the Brewers over the weekend.
So is New York's record merely a product of it beating up on bad teams?
Yankees manager Aaron Boone shut down that notion following his club's walkoff loss to Milwaukee on Sunday.
“We’re really good," Boone said, via Greg Joyce of The New York Post. "We had a bad series."
Boone is probably right. It is just three series, after all, and it's not like the Yanks were getting blown out in these sets. In fact, each of their last two defeats against the Brewers came by a score of 4-3.
But should the Yankees be somewhat concerned that they are just 1-7 against teams with winning records this season? Maybe.
New York Yankees manager Aaron Boone. Credit: Brad Penner-Imagn Images.New York has some clear issues that must be addressed. The Yankees need another arm in the bullpen, and while their offense has been among the league's best, there are obviously some dead spots in the lineup that could cause problems in October.
Luckily, New York just got Carlos Rodon back from offseason elbow surgery, and Gerrit Cole is slated to return soon, as well. That could partially solve the Yankees' relief pitching problem, as Ryan Weathers will likely move to the pen once Cole returns.
New York could also always peruse the trade market for relief help between now and the Aug. 3 trade deadline, much like it did last summer when it added David Bednar, Camilo Doval and Jake Bird midseason.
As for the offense? Giancarlo Stanton will likely be back soon from a calf injury, so that will definitely help. But guys like Jazz Chisholm and Austin Wells absolutely need to start hitting. In terms of the latter, we have been down this road plenty of times before, which is certainly worrisome.
The Yankees chose to largely stand pat over the winter, only re-signing Cody Bellinger and acquiring Weathers via trade with the Miami Marlins. Fans took umbrage with New York's lack of activity at the time, but its blistering 16-3 stretch prior to facing the Brewers quieted a lot of the unrest.
But if the Yankees continue losing to strong competition, you can bet that the fans will start getting frustrated yet again.
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