The American League East (AL East) is officially a three-team race, as the New York Yankees are now tied for the wild-card lead following a doubleheader sweep of the Boston Red Sox Tuesday.
The Yankees have been riding high in August, going 13-4 to close the gap not only in the wild card, but in the AL East as well, where they now trail the Tampa Bay Rays by five games. And they've been doing it without some of their biggest stars, too.
Gerrit Cole and Jordan Montgomery have been on the COVID-19 list (Cole and Montgomery have since returned), along with first baseman Anthony Rizzo, who they acquired from the Cubs at the trade deadline and should be close to returning soon. Joey Gallo, another huge trade deadline acquisition, has gotten off to a slow start in his Yankees career with a .162/.313/.397 line , but he has hit three home runs in the past five games.
New York is simply playing well as a team at the right time – and the wrong time for Boston.
The Red Sox are scuffling right now, currently mired in a 6-14 stretch. They are still tied for a piece of the AL wild card are only five games out of the AL East – the same as the Yankees – but it's all about perception and that vague concept of momentum, which the Red Sox don't have at the moment; all signs indicate Boston is trending in the absolute wrong direction.
Boston got a boost in the recent return of Chris Sale, but the Red Sox are going to be facing an uphill climb with the overall state of their pitching. Boston failed to make a trade for a starter at the trade deadline and it's starting to show, as the Red Sox rotation sports a 4.51 ERA, which is only the eighth-worst mark in the AL, but hardly something to have a ton of confidence in during a push for the playoffs, let alone the postseason itself.
The Red Sox do have rookie Tanner Houck, who has been effective with a 3.12 ERA in nine appearances (seven starts), but he does run up his pitch counts, which has prevented him from going too deep in games. Despite being shuttled back and forth from the minors as well, Houck figures to be an important piece of the pitching puzzle down the stretch.
Speaking of young pitching, the Yankees have something special in rookie Lucas Gil, who pitched Tuesday night in New York's 2-0 victory. Gil threw another 4 2/3 scoreless innings, becoming the first pitcher to begin his major-league career with three straight scoreless starts. Though he was sent back down to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre after the game, one figures Gil will be back again at some point, even as the Yankees' pitching staff ramps up to full strength.
Meanwhile, the Rays are just cruising along at the top of the division. Tampa Bay has scored the second-most runs in all of baseball (627) and have the fifth-best team ERA in the AL (3.73). By now, most everyone is familiar with the Rays' unorthodox approach to pitching, using a mix of traditional starters, openers, and bullpen games. Other teams have tried to mimic this strategy to varying degrees of success, but the Rays have mastered it. Nobody has a deeper bullpen, which would certainly bode well in the playoffs.
Even as the Rays, somewhat shockingly, traded away multiple pitchers at the deadline (Diego Castillo and Rich Hill, who were both having solid seasons), it hasn't stopped them from going about their business as usual. Sometimes, it's best to just appreciate what Tampa Bay is able to do rather than attempt to fully understand it.
Offensively, the Rays don't have any single player who pops out as the stud who carries the rest of the lineup. They aren't dependent on any one particular player; this is a top-to-bottom great lineup full of solid offensive contributors. Plus, it didn't hurt that they picked up Nelson Cruz from the Twins at the deadline, either.
As the season approaches its final month, the Yankees have the momentum (there is that vague concept again) that should carry them to the postseason, at least as a wild-card team. The roster is stacked offensively and they are getting some unexpected great pitching, helping this team finally live up to its always-lofty expectations.
The Rays are, well, the Rays, and it would really be a shock to see them lose the AL East lead, but they do still have ten games left against the Yankees and Red Sox, with a three-game series against the Yankees in New York to end the season. The division could still be in the balance by then, making for yet another memorable series in the Rays-Yankees rivalry, which has featured more animosity than even most Boston-New York games in recent years.
As for the Red Sox down the stretch, well, they might be in some trouble.
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