The New York Yankees went off to a scorching hot start to the 2024 season, erasing memories of their disappointing 2023 campaign in the process. However, the past few weeks haven't exactly gone according to plan for the team in pinstripes. They have crashed back to reality, and their 5-3 loss to the Tampa Bay Rays on Tuesday night only serves to pile on the misery that has the Yankees completely by the throat.
The Yankees' latest defeat gives them 16 over their past 21 games, a terrible stretch for any team, let alone one with World Series aspirations like they do. In fact, no other team has gone 5-16 or worse over a 21-game span this season, according to Bleacher Report, which gives the Yankees the distinction of having the most putrid stretch of the 2024 campaign. The Yankees now have a 55-38 record, which is still solid, but a far cry from their early-season form.
One of the saving graces of this stretch is that the Yankees gave themselves a solid enough buffer to begin the year that they have the margin of error for stretches such as these. Going 5-16 at one point would be death for most teams' playoff hopes, but the Yankees remain squarely within the playoff picture, although they have lost the AL East lead to the Baltimore Orioles.
Again, the good news is that New York is still in pole position in the AL Wild Card race, and they are only three games behind the Orioles in the win-loss column. But the Yankees better find a way to stop the hemorrhaging, and quickly, lest this miserable 21-game stretch fester and turn into a rot that they cannot escape when it matters the most.
A quick look at the Yankees' brutal 21-game stretch
The Yankees started off the season red hot, going 50-22 and looking like they were in control of the stacked AL East division. However, the Yankees' bats have gone mostly silent amid a tough period in which they faced three teams that are currently in playoff spots (Boston Red Sox, Atlanta Braves, and Orioles), three that are underperforming but have the talent to crawl over the .500 mark (New York Mets, Toronto Blue Jays, and Tampa Bay Rays), and the Cincinnati Reds, a team that finished with a winning record in 2023.
Still, going up against tough opposition is no excuse. After all, to be the best you got to beat the best. The Yankees were swept by the Mets and Reds, and they haven't won a series since mid-June, when they took care of business against the Kansas City Royals.
Fans blame the Yankees' inconsistent offense for their decline as of late, and to an extent, this is true. Despite averaging 4.76 runs per game over the past 21 games, which is good for 10th in the entire MLB based on season-long rankings, their blowout wins in which they scored 16 and 14 runs definitely padded those stats.
Their team OPS during this span dropped off to .695, which would have them ranked 18th in the MLB, and overall, their bats have been hot and cold. But the pitching may be a more grave concern for the Yankees as of late.
Their team ERA over the past 21 games is a mind-boggling 6.16; they have allowed a total of 135 runs during this span, an average of 6.42 per ballgame. Suffice to say, this would have them ranked dead-last in the MLB over a full season.
Carlos Rodon, in particular, has been struggling immensely. Rodon has put up a staggeringly poor ERA of 10.57 over his past five starts, unsurprisingly going 0-5 during that span. In fact, he was the losing pitcher for the Yankees in their most recent defeat to the Rays after he gave up four earned runs in four innings of work.
Marcus Stroman hasn't helped as well; he has an ERA of 6.43 in four starts over the past 21 games. Gerrit Cole, in his return for the Yankees off the injured list, hasn't been at his best quite yet (6.75 ERA in four starts). Even breakout darling Luis Gil has been guilty of a few bad starts during this stretch, as he has an ERA of 9.37 over his last four starts.
Only Nelson Cortes has had some semblance of consistency, putting up 2.70 ERA during this period. For those counting at home, the five aforementioned starters have combined to start all of the games during this time period and they have, more often than not, put the Yankees in a difficult spot to begin games.
At the very least, the Yankees can hold on to the hope that positive regression may be somewhere around the corner for them. Moreover, they should be getting some quality reinforcements back from the Injured List really soon.
Follow Us
Subscribe
