Yankees Strengthen AL East Hopes

The Yankees completed a very good week by taking three of four in Baltimore which gives them seven consecutive series wins on the road, their longest streak since they won nine straight away from the Bronx in 1998 which was a season when they hardly ever lost anywhere. Lets get to it.

I got to enjoy a rare weekend without the Bills so Sunday afternoon, while there was all kinds of craziness happening in the NFL, I spent my time locked in on the Yankees game and I’d have to say that was time well spent.

They played a rock solid game Saturday night during a stress-free 6-1 victory over the Orioles at Camden Yards, and then Sunday, while there was a bit of frustration because the offense could do virtually nothing for nine innings, they pitched great throughout and that allowed them to get to the 10th inning where they exploded for six runs and finished off a series win.

So now we have reached the final week of the regular season, and if you had told me a few weeks ago that the Yankees would still have a chance to win the AL East, I would have told you that you were nuts. In fact, I probably wrote that in a few newsletters, but here we are.

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Both the Yankees and Blue Jays have Monday off, then the last push begins with the Yankees hosting the pathetic White Sox for three games, and then the Orioles for three on the weekend. The Jays also play their last six games at home as they host the Red Sox for three games and then the Rays for three.

“It’s huge,” Sunday hitting hero Ben Rice said. “Every game is going to be more important than the last one, so just got to stay on top of it and keep our foot on the gas. We’ve still got a chance to take the division here. We have some important games coming up.”

On the surface, the Yankees certainly have the easier schedule, but it might not matter because the Blue Jays have a two-game lead, and it’s really three because they own the tiebreaker thanks to winning the season series against New York. Think about this: If the Yankees go 6-0 which is entirely possible, the Jays would have to go 3-3 for the Yankees to leapfrog them. Sure, that’s possible as well, but I don’t think that combination of results is likely. A 5-1 Yankees finish might be more realistic, but that would mean the Jays would have to go 2-4 and it’s tough to see that happening.

The math is not great, but the fact that I’m even laying out the various computations is a positive development. The Yankees were buried in the division, 6.5 games back on Aug. 23, so to get this close has been a nice achievement. Since that date they have gone 19-8 and are a season-high 20 games over .500 so the one thing you always wish for as October approaches is happening: They’re peaking at the right time.

After their great start when they opened a 7.5-game lead through May 28, they went into a summer-long coma and looked like a team that if it somehow made it to October, had zero chance of doing anything meaningful. That has changed because the starting pitching continues to be so good, the bullpen was very good in Baltimore, and the offense is still doing its part with an MLB-best 261 home runs and .784 OPS.

If the Yankees can’t catch the Jays, they need to hang on to the top wildcard spot because that means that best-of-three series would be played at Yankee Stadium. Although going on the road wouldn’t be a death knell because the Yankees finished an impressive 44-37 in road games this season. As they start the week, they have only 44 wins at Yankee Stadium.

They now have a three-game lead on the Red Sox, and they’re four ahead of the Guardians who have miraculously jumped into the final wildcard spot ahead of the fading Astros who just got swept three straight at home by Seattle and is now three games back in the AL West.

Sept. 18: Yankees 7, Orioles 0

➤ Sorry I missed this one but I was busy in Buffalo covering the Bills-Dolphins game. Let’s all hope Max Fried pitches this well in the postseason because it was quite a performance - seven scoreless innings, three hits, one walk and he tied his career high with 13 strikeouts. Dominant.

➤ Amed Rosario got a rare start because he has killed left-handed pitching all season, and right away that decision paid off because Paul Goldschmidt singled, Cody Bellinger walked and both raced home on Rosario’s double off Cade Povich.

➤ Not much happened until the fifth when Anthony Volpe hustled a single into a double, Jose Caballaro walked and Austin Wells singled home a run. Goldschmidt grounded into a double play to ruin a potential bigger inning, but it didn’t matter with Fried mowing down the Orioles.

➤ Not that they needed it in this game, but the Yankees put it away with four in the seventh off someone named Chayce McDermott with Giancarlo Stanton providing the big hit with a two-run double.

➤ This win put the Yankees a season-high 19 over .500 and with Toronto losing, they were within three games of first place, stoking hope.

What they said in Thursday’s clubhouse

• Fried: “I feel like I did toward the beginning of the year. This is when you want to really hit your stride. Going into the last week or so, we’re excited and want to go out there and finish strong, (and) go into the playoffs strong, and for me, personally, wins are a team stat. Can’t give my teammates enough credit for putting me in position to get that win.”

• Rosario: “I prepare the same way I used to when I played every day. It’s been something over the years where I’ve gotten experience being in this position and have been able to come through. It’s very satisfying to be in this position. I know how fans want teams in New York to win. I understand their expectations and I hope to get opportunities in the playoffs to deliver for them.”

Sept. 19: Orioles 4, Yankees 2

➤ Man, what a gut punch. The Blue Jays were down 10-1 in Kansas City and the Yankees were within 3-2 going to the bottom of the seventh. Toronto threw in the towel by using a position player to pitch the eighth inning and he gave up 10 runs on 13 hits in a 20-1 loss. So the Yankees could have gotten within two games with a good finish, but instead, their offense - muted for six innings by Trevor Rogers who has been great all season for the Orioles - could not get it done against a weak Baltimore bullpen and it was an opportunity squandered.

➤ Will Warren pitched well enough as he gave up a solo bomb to Ryan Mountcastle in the second, then committed a brutal error in the sixth, followed by a brutal error by Jazz Chisholm that put men on second and third with no outs, and that opened the door to two unearned runs, both of which came on outs, and thus the 3-0 deficit.

➤ Chisholm hit a two-run homer in the seventh off someone named Dietrich Enns - I swear some of these Baltimore relievers are fictional characters - and he became just the third Yankee in history to have a 30 homers and 30 stolen bases in a season. Bobby Bonds did it once and Alfonso Soriano twice.

➤ However, Tim Hill came on with one out and the bases empty in the seventh and got dinged on an infield number by Jordan Westburg and a bloop double to left by Gunnar Henderson for the final run of the game because the Yankees did nothing in the eighth or ninth against Rico Garcia - the same stiff who spent about a week with the Yankees - and then Keegan Akin.

What they said in Friday’s clubhouse

• Chisholm on the 30-30 achievement: “I wish it came in a win, but it’s great. I had to soak it in. I feel like it was in a big place in the game, too, so I got hyped up about it. It’s kind of upsetting not to get the ‘W’ tonight and come closer to the Blue Jays to win the pennant. That’s all we’re thinking about right now is winning the division. This is a tough loss today.”

• Boone: “Every time you lose, it sucks, and every time you win, it feels good. We’re working to shake hands and put ourselves in the best possible position heading down the stretch here. This is a tough one tonight, obviously. We got a good outing from Rogers against us to hold us down and weren’t able to mount enough. But it’s on to the next one. (Saturday) becomes super important, too.”

Sept. 20: Yankees 6, Orioles 1

➤ This was about as solid a performance the Yankees could have had as they did everything well and made it a very easy night. A lot of that had to do with Carlos Rodon who was very good across seven innings allowing just one run on four hits and a walk with eight strikeouts. And what I liked is that he was efficient because even with the eight K’s his pitch count was 96 pitches for 26 batters faced. Opponents are batting .188 against Rodon this year which is second-best in MLB.

➤ And then on offense, the Yankees jumped out to an immediate lead and then systematically tacked on single runs in three different innings and the Orioles were never really in the game.

➤ Stanton’s homer was a big one, the 450th of his career. With two outs, Judge and Bellinger singled and Stanton hit a Tomoyuki Sugano pitch to right and when he hit it, I thought it was off the end of the bat for an easy out but it kept carrying and got out. Stanton seems to be coming out of that two-week funk he was in, hopefully just in time for October.

➤ Judge hit his 49th homer in the third, Bellinger singled, stole second and scored on a Chisholm single in the fifth, and in the sixth Anthony Volpe singled, stole second and scored on a Trent Grisham single. Manufacturing runs, what a concept. And for Volpe, a nice night as he went 2-for-3 with a walk.

➤ Luke Weaver pitched a scoreless eighth, his second good outing in a row so there’s another guy you hope is getting on track as the postseason nears because they need him. David Bednar handled the ninth on six pitches.

What they said in Saturday’s clubhouse

• Rodon: “I thought just the way Ben called that game set up the changeup well. He called the pitches, I just tried to go execute. Outer lane was open with the fastball, I just tried to tunnel that with the changeup. I was fortunate to have a good one today.”

• Boone: “(The changeup) was probably as good as I’ve seen it. He used it a lot, but then had everything else going off of it. You see the pitchability, the pitcher on display now — the sinker, the four-seam, little more life at the end of the game when he knows he’s towards the end and he reaches back a little bit for more. But the changeup and slider were both really good for him tonight. Just another strong outing in what’s been a really strong year for him.”

Sept. 21: Yankees 7, Orioles 1 (10)

➤ What a day for Rice. Wow, that was something to see. Two singles, a double and then the go-ahead grand slam in the top of the 10th to give the Yankees the victory. The five RBI give him 62 for the year and his OPS is a superb .823.

➤ The Yankees could not do anything against Baltimore starter Kyle Bradish until Rice tied the game in the sixth with a two-out RBI single. Grisham walked, Judge was hit by a pitch, and after Bellinger made the second out, Rice hit a liner to left and the Yankees caught a break when Dylan Carlson bobbled it because he might have been able to gun down Grisham, or more likely, Grisham might have been held at third.

➤ The score stayed that way through the regulation nine and then in the 10th, Grisham was the free runner, and Judge walked so the Orioles brought in lefty Akin to face Bellinger and Rice. Yeah, that didn’t work. Bellinger singled to load the bases before Rice crushed one over the wall in right-center. And for the hell of it, Chisholm hit a solo homer for a little more insurance, so Akin got yanked, and the next guy I’ve never heard of in this Orioles bullpen gave up the final run as Caballaro doubled and scored on a Volpe single.

➤ Cam Schlittler gave the Yankees another nice start as he gave up just one run on three hits and a walk. He made one mistake, a bad cutter in the fifth that rookie Samuel Basallo crushed for a home run to right. That was a bummer for sure. But then the bullpen really came through, keeping the Yankees in it until the 10th-inning explosion.

➤ Tim Hill, Fernando Cruz and and Weaver all combined to pitch a scary seventh. Hill got an out, then Cruz came in and walked a man, got a strikeout, then gave up a single. Weaver entered and he walked Carlson to load the bases before he induced Jackson Holliday to ground to first to keep it tied. Devin Williams then pitched a dominant eighth, Bednar left a man stranded at second in the ninth, and as usual Camilo Doval looked like shit in the 10th but he somehow escaped without allowing a run.

What they said in Sunday’s clubhouse

• Rice: “Hitting a go-ahead homer is always fun. I was excited and the team was excited. Just trying to get the guy from third in. You just try to get something elevated in the zone, and get something in the air.”

• Boone on Rice: “I think we’re seeing the emergence of a true middle-of-the-order bat with power. He’s proving himself as a really formidable hitter in this league.”

• Boone on the bullpen: “Hopefully continue to stack days. They all were really good today. Timmy doing his thing, going back out and getting the lead runner, Cruz doing just enough to pass it off, and Weave getting it done again today. Devin was lights-out again and so was Bed. It got a little interesting there in the (10th), but I thought Camilo threw the ball well. They’re all capable of that right there. It’s good to see them piling some good outings together.”

After an off day, the final week of the regular season begins Tuesday with a three-game set against the pathetic 58-98 White Sox and if the Yankees hope to entertain any hopes of catching the Blue Jays - nothing less than a sweep will do.

Here are some of the top White Sox to watch:

➤ IF Chase Meidroth: Leadoff hitter who has been a bit of a pest with a .343 on-base.

➤ RF Mike Tauchman: Just a solid player both at the plate and in the field, he has a .756 OPS.

➤ IF Lenyn Sosa: Leads the team with 21 homers and 71 RBI but his on-base is a poor .291.

➤ OF Andrew Benintendi: He has 20 homers, 62 RBI and a .737 OPS.

➤ RP Mike Vasil: He’s been used in all different scenarios, even as a starter, and he has a 2.45 ERA.

The pitching matchups are scheduled to be:

• Tuesday, 7:05, YES: Luis Gil (3.33 ERA) vs. Shane Smith (4.06) who has been Chicago’s most consistent starter and he pitched well against the Yankees on Aug. 30, two runs in 6.1 innings.

• Wednesday, 7:05, Amazon Prime: Max Fried (2.92) vs. TBD.

• Thursday, 7:05, YES: TBD vs. Davis Martin (4.03) who wasn’t very good against the Yankees on Aug. 28 but his 1.272 WHIP isn’t terrible.