Do the Yankees have a chance to win the AL East? | Baseball Night in NY
On Baseball Night in NY, John Harper and Anthony DiComo discuss whether the Yankees' AL East hopes are unrealistic at this point with them falling 7 games behind in the loss column.
Video Transcript
Do you think right now, as I said, seven games back in the loss column with the front-running Rays, is the AL East still a realistic conversation for this Yankee team?
I would, I wouldn't bet on the Yankees winning it- but I wouldn't rule it out either.
I mean, the Rays have been hot, obviously.
They've won nine in a row.
And, and they're, you know, they're sc- they're a scrappy team.
They don't overwhelm you with talent.
They got good pitching.
They're I, I was looking it up.
They lead the league in, in They lead the majors in runners in scoring position, average runners in scoring position, so they, they're playing those kind of games, the clutch hitting and all that stuff.
You can't, maybe you can't do that forever.
I like the way the Yankees have looked more recently.
Spencer Jones has started to swing the bat, and you get the kid Lombard up there.
You don't know when Bellinger and Judge are coming back.
That And Fr- and Stanton as well.
So that's, that's the biggest issue for them.
If they came back relatively soon, I would think they'd have a shot to make a run here.
But, I, I, I certainly wouldn't bet on it.
Yeah.
Entering today, FanGraphs had them at 12.8% to win the division.
I know you can quibble with how those calculations are made, but that actually feels about right to me.
I give them a puncher's chance, like Harp said, for a couple reasons.
One is I trust their rotation more.
Schlitter, Freed, you know, these guys are pitching well right now.
Gerrit Cole is pitching out of his mind right now.
So you throw that into the mix.
The Rays had enough rotation issues that they went out and got Freddy Peralta.
Right.
So a- and, and look, I'm sure Freddy Peralta will pitch to a two ERA the rest of the year, but still, I trust the Yankees' rotation more.
And as Harp mentioned, the Judge-Bellinger factor, if the Yankees make this, like, a three to four game AL East lead, then those guys come back.
They have four head-to-head games against the Rays at the end of September.
All of a sudden the Yankees are feeling themselves.
Like, go in there, win three out of four, even sweep the series.
Yeah, I, I can see a scenario in which it happens.
Does it happen every time?
No.
But one out of 10 feels about right.
And it would be great if those games still mean something, right?
The four games they have in the Bronx against Tan-
