New York Yankees Pitching Shines While Offense Flounders

By Billy Lewis:

The New York Yankees pitching rotation has been the star of the show recently. After Tuesday night’s 4-1 win over the Mariners, Yankees pitchers have allowed more than four runs only twice since the calendar flipped to August. Meanwhile, they’ve allowed two or fewer runs in five of the past nine games.

Now with pitching like that, you’d expect the Bronx Bombers to be rattling off win after win. However, in those nine games, they have only scored three or more runs four times. That cumulates to a 5-4 record to begin the penultimate month of the Regular Season.

Aaron Judge has not grabbed a bat for the Yankees since May 31st. The Yankees have treaded water without their captain by playing near .500 baseball. Judge started the first 59 games of the season, and the Yankees were 36-23. After the calendar turned to June, the Yankees are 31-29.

The pitching is not just on a hot streak. As a team, they have a Major League-best 3.30 team ERA. Unfortunately, the offense has dealt with injuries to Judge, Giancarlo Stanton, and Cody Bellinger and has struggled mightily.

New York Yankees Trade Deadline

The Trade Deadline is typically an exciting time for fans. You get to dream about the stars your team may acquire to help with that late October push. The Yankees Trade Deadline plans seemed simple. Acquire a right-handed hitting catcher and get some bullpen help.

Easy right? Well, as the August 3rd Deadline came to an end, the Yankees traded for 1B Luis Garcia Jr. and OF Heliot Ramos. Garcia Jr. was the National League Leader in slugging percentage, so he did fill a need for more pop. At the end of the day, Brian Cashman and company were not able to add the catching and bullpen help that was needed.

After the deadline, they did bring up star prospect George Lombard Jr. and sent Anthony Volpe down to AAA. In his brief 5-game stint with the Bombers, Lombard Jr. has shown off his incredible defensive skill and homered in his Major League Debut.

Despite the lack of offensive production, the Yankees still sit firmly atop the AL Wild Card Standings. While the Rays hold a solid lead over the Yankees in the AL East, they do play a four-game series towards the end of September. Fans in the Bronx have their fingers crossed that the Bombers have their full roster back for that September showdown.