Late-Inning Magic Keys Yankees Sweep

When the Yankees pulled into the nation’s capitol for this last series before the All-Star break against the improved Nationals, I didn’t have a great feeling about it. I know, that’s nothing new for me, Mr. Pessimist.

But come on, my concerns weren’t without reason.

Despite their 12-run outburst in the finale against the Rays last Thursday which earned them a gritty and much-needed split, I certainly didn’t believe their offensive woes were behind them. Yeah, it was a great game, especially since it was started by Tampa Bay stud Drew Rasmussen who has typically dominated them, but it was one game and it didn’t wash away the stench from the previous three weeks.

There were still too many guys in slumps and even though the Nationals’ pitching has been mostly atrocious - particularly the bullpen which sure proved to be the case in all three games- I just didn’t think the Yankees, in their current state, would take full advantage of that.

And on the flip side, even more concerning is that the Nationals are the highest-scoring team in MLB who had been raking against everybody, and with Ryan Weathers and Will Warren starting two of the games, that felt like a bad matchup. I figured the Yankees were going to really need to hit and score, and that felt like a tough ask with how things had been going.

So yeah, for the Yankees to have swept the series, giving them a four-game winning streak headed into the All-Star break, leaving them just three games behind the Rays who lost Sunday to Seattle, that was a spectacular and somewhat unexpected weekend.

Are all the offensive struggles in their past? No. All nine runs the Yankees scored in the first two games came via the homer and in those two games they were a combined 0-for-14 with runners in scoring position. That’s hideous, and as we always say, home runs are