Bronx Bomber Ball

With the Yankees tragic number at one, the Bombers need a lot of help from the Houston Astros to have any hope of forcing a tiebreaker game with Boston for the division. In a beautiful day game in the Bronx, the Blue Jays came to the stadium to face Masahiro Tanaka and the Bombers. Tanaka started off as superb as could be, and the offense did enough to complete a 4-0 shutout. @Yankees Twitter

Entering their last series of the 2017 regular season, the Yankees are holding on to very slim division hopes as they need the Red Sox to lose their last three games and need a sweep of this series just to secure a division tie. Otherwise, the Yankees will enter the playoffs as the first Wild Card team and will face off against the Minnesota Twins at Yankee Stadium with an ALDS berth on the line. Even if the Yankees can’t manage to tie up the division, these three games could provide the Yankees with solid momentum going into the Wild Card matchup, and should be treated as a time to build this momentum, for whatever playoffs await the Yankees, against a Blue Jays team which has struggled all season and is going to finish the season under .500.

The New York Yankees dropped the third game in the series to the Tampa Bay Rays 9-6 at Yankee Stadium as the away team avoids the sweep. Pitcher Sonny Gray had a tough start, only throwing 4.2 innings and allowing six runs. The highly touted trade piece has yet to figure out his late season form and may be playing himself into a bullpen position come playoff time, as this game represents his last start before the postseason. photo from New York Yankees

On Tuesday September 26th 2017, it was the top of the first inning and bases were loaded for Wilson Ramos of the Tampa Bay Rays. The pitch left Jordan Montgomery's hand, and it was heading right down the middle. Ramos geared up, drove the ball to right center field, and stared it down like he knew it was gone. A grand slam was about to fall into the Yankee bullpen, when out of nowhere, Aaron Hicks leaped. Timing his jump to perfection, Hicks was able to snag the ball, which would have landed a few feet over the fence. The play was reminiscent of one of those plays that children pretend to do in little league during warm-ups where they tell their friend to throw it over the fence, so they can jump and rob it. Unlike little league, the Yankees are a professional baseball team and are in a pennant race. The Rays scored on the play, as it ended up being a sac-fly. The score at the end of the game was in favor of the Yankees, as they went on to win 6-1. Was this the best defensive play

There is no argument that Aaron Judge’s 2017 season is going to be boldfaced in the Major League Baseball history books, due to the sheer amount of accomplishments he was able to compile in not only his rookie season, but in the historic confines of a Yankee uniform. Aaron Judge began his improbable year when he won the right field job out of Spring Training by a minuscule margin. He then powered and charmed his way into the hearts of not only Yankee fans, but all baseball fans, in the blink of an eye. Photo Credit: Getty Images

The main storyline coming into tonight’s game against the Tampa Bay Rays was that the Yankees are three games back with five games to play. With last night’s win, the Bombers solidified homefield advantage for next tuesday’s American League Wild-Card Game, but are still looking to make up ground on the rival Red Sox in the Divisional race. The Yanks can’t control what happens outside of their matchup, yet they looked to keep their winning ways rolling against the now playoff eliminated Rays. Luis Severino dished out another fantastic outing going six innings, striking out nine batters while allowing only one run. That is one stat line that he leads in the majors, marking his 16th time this season allowing either one or less earned runs in a start in the Yankees 6-1 victory. Photo Credit: Kathy Willens | AP Thanks to early offensive struggles and rather domination from the starting pitching on both sides, the first four innings went by with no runs scored. Then, in the fifth, r

Photo Credit: Mike Stobe | Getty Images A few days ago on MLB Network, Brian Kenny discussed the idea of starting Chad Green in next week’s Wild Card Game, and thus, saving Luis Severino. It’s a fine idea that nearly has the support of Hall of Famer John Smoltz. But there are many reasons the Yankees should avoid this plan of attack when they play the Twins next Tuesday in the Bronx. Let’s break it down. I say the #Yankees should start Chad Green & Bullpen the Wild Card game. And I have John Smoltz' blessing (almost): pic.twitter.com/tdI2LmpYUB — Brian Kenny (@MrBrianKenny) September 26, 2017

Recovering from back spasms that have sidelined him since September 1st, Adam Warren is on the path to rejoining the Yankees just before the end of the regular season.   Photo Credit: AP

Fresh off a record breaking performance by Aaron Judge when he hit his 50 th home run of the season in an 11-3 throttling of the Royals in a makeup game, the Yankees took on the Rays in the first of a three game set. The Yankees sent Jordan Montgomery to the hill making his 28 th start of his rookie campaign. In what could be his last outing of the year, Montgomery excelled going six strong allowing just one run in the Yankees 6-1 win on Tuesday night.   Photo Credit: Randy Miller | NJ.com

The Yankees come into their second to last series of the 2017 regular season down four games in the American League East. While the odds are extremely slim that they catch Boston for the division, the Yankees have still yet to secure home field advantage for the Wild Card. The magic number to do so sits at two games, which can be easily accomplished in this series against a Rays team that has had an overall poor season.

Aaron James Judge accomplished an improbable feat on Monday Night as he tied and passed the infamous Mark McGwire’s record of 49 home runs in a rookie season. In the 114 years since Major League Baseball was officially founded, no player had ever hit 50 home runs in their inaugural season. None of Babe Ruth, Ted Williams, Hank Aaron or any Hall of Fame baseball player for that matter, nor the prolific juiced hitters of the late 1990s and early 2000s were able to successfully blast 50 bombs out of their respective ballparks over the course of their first season in the sport. Photo Credit: Seth Wenig | AP

ALL RISE, HERE COMES THE JUDGE! Yankees Rookie Aaron Judge hit his 49th and 50th homers of the year today, tying and passing Mark McGwire for most in MLB history by a rookie in today's 11-3 win over the Royals. CC Sabathia was sent to the hill to face off against rookie right hander,  Jakob Junis, in a one game makeup from a rainout back in May. Photo Credit: Seth Wenig | AP

Coming into the 2017 campaign, the New York Yankees had already been written off before a single game had even been played. Everywhere you looked, the Bombers were being billed as a .500 team at best. They were too young, too inexperienced, and played in a division where they MIGHT be the third best team. The team used the negativity as a driving force, and courtesy of last Saturday’s 5-1 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays , the Yankees find themselves in a familiar place, albeit one that has eluded them since 2015; the postseason. Photo Credit: @TheJudge44/Twitter

The Yankees will play host to the Kansas City Royals in a 1:05 PM matinee at Yankee Stadium; a makeup of the May 25th rainout.  With the AL East all but out of reach for the Yankees and the Kansas City Royals all but eliminated from playoff contention, this game won’t have much flair, but a win would go a long way in securing home field advantage for New York in the American League Wild Card Game next week.  As of this morning, the Yankees hold just a 4.5 game lead over Minnesota for the top Wild Card spot. The Twins were able to shrink New York’s lead with a four game winning streak combined with the Yankees dropping two of three in Toronto over the weekend.

Coming off an 8-1 shellacking in the first game of the series, the Yankees looked to clinch a playoff spot this afternoon with a bounce-back win in Toronto. The Bombers fell behind early with a solo home run in the third, but Greg Bird would send a rocket in the fifth to take a 3-1 lead. That would be all the Yankees needed for the win but tacked on a few more runs to clinch their first postseason berth since 2015. Randy Miller NJ.com Gray took the mound to face the hard-hitting Blue Jay lineup in the bottom of the first. After a quick strikeout, Gray gave up a walk and a sharp outfield single, bringing up slugger Jose Bautista. Gray was able to get the righty to pop up to centerfield,  but the threat wasn’t over just yet. With Kendrys Morales up to the plate and a runner in scoring position, Gray was in trouble early. Morales would hit the ball out to left field, but a sliding catch by Brett Gardner ended the inning. In the top of the second. Chase Headley reached on a one-ou

Technically, the Yankees are still in the hunt for the AL East title, sitting four games behind the Boston Red Sox with nine games to play. Realistically, however, the Yankees are cognizant of the fact that they will more than likely be playing in this year's American League Wild Card Game. Bearing this strong possibility in mind, I've decided to put together what I identify as the best lineup the Yankees can field against their potential opponent, whether it be the Twins, Angels, or Rangers. In all likelihood, the lineup I'll soon articulate will not match the one Joe Girardi trots out on October 3rd. However, it would be the best lineup, under the circumstances, the Yankees can concoct in a one-game playoff. Photo Credit: Paul J. Bereswill/New York Post

According to Jon Heyman of FanRag Sports Network, the New York Yankees hope to get below the luxury tax threshold in 2018 for the first time since 2002. Currently, the Yankees payroll is at about $201 million, second to only the Los Angeles Dodgers’ staggering $242 million. The threshold for the 2018 season is $197 million, this was agreed upon in the 2016 Collective Bargaining Agreement. With big-time players like Manny Machado and Bryce Harper set to become free agents in 2019, now is the time to get under the threshold and reset the tax percentage. Brad Penner | USA TODAY Sports

The Yankees would look to stay hot behind the arm of Masahiro Tanaka, who has been fairly consistent in the second half of the season. His split finger fastball, which is his go-to with two strikes, has been very electric. Coming into the game, the Yankees could clinch a playoff spot with a win, an Astros win, and an A’s win.  Unfortunately, Tanaka didn't have anything going for him tonight and buried the Yankees early en route to a crushing 8-1 defeat, all but ending any remaining chance this team had at snatching the AL East title from Boston. Photo Credit: Frank Gunn/The Canadian Press

The final road trip of the regular season will take the Yankees north of the border to face the last place Blue Jays, who will be trying to eliminate the possibility of the Yankees winning the AL East. Despite winning eight of their last ten, the Bombers still find themselves three back of the Red Sox with just ten games to go, and in dire need of a few Boston losses in order to avoid the dreaded wild card game. The series shouldn’t be as easy as one would think however, as the Yanks are only 6-7 vs Toronto this season.

Jacoby Ellsbury has been labeled as “the 153-million-dollar bust”, “the most expensive fourth outfielder”, and by many on Yankees Twitter, “The Thief,” due to his lucrative contract and relatively poor play over the course of his Yankee tenure. Putting the monstrous contract aside, Ellsbury has displayed the ability of being an extremely talented player with his ability to put the bat on the ball, play phenomenal outfield defense, and cause chaos on the bases during the course of his career in Major League Baseball. Other than flashes of superb defense and the occasional pinch-run situation, Ellsbury has failed to successfully implement his skillset into the Yankees offense in 2017, until the calendar month flipped to September. Photo Credit: Getty Images

Once the obvious front runner, Aaron Judge tailed off in the second half of the season, leaving the AL MVP up for grabs. Judge is still one of the top candidates and in this, I'll tell you why he still should be the AL MVP, despite his late-summer struggles. Photo Credit: AP

We’ve written a lot about Didi Gregorius here this year and for good reason. The Yankees are a team filled with exciting young players with bright futures ahead of them and every day it seems that Didi’s future is as bright as just about any of them.  Simply put, Didi Gregorius is awesome and it would be a smart move for the Yankees to extend his contract now to ensure his place as a key member of this team for years to come. Credit: Jim McIsaac Getty Images

Looking to create an even larger cushion on the American Wild Card race, the Yankees came into Thursday afternoon’s game with their best pitcher on the mound in Luis Severino and were up against a pitcher that has struggled mightily as a Twin, Bartolo Colon. While their ace did not have his best stuff, the Yankees scored 11 runs over the course of the third, fourth, and fifth inning and never looked back. Some unheralded Yankee relievers stifled the Twins offense for the remainder of the game and secured the sweep. This 11-3 victory puts the Bombers up seven games for home-field advantage in the Wild Card game and moved them to 2.5 games behind Boston at the time of this publication. Photo Credit: Bill Kostroun | AP

As the season winds down, the Yankees magic number does as well, and with it only being seven coming into the game against the Twins on Tuesday night, it was clear that there was no better man to have on the mound than the trusted veteran, C.C Sabathia, who turned in another solid performance, going six innings and allowing two early runs before settling down in during the middle innings. C.C also got some help from his offense, as Brett Gardner got two clutch RBI singles early on, and got further aid from Stalin and Judge, as the Yankees took their second straight from Minnesota and their sixth consecutive series win, by a score of 5-2. Photo Credit: AP Kathy Willens

The Yankees have one of the most heralded bullpens in the majors, routinely labeled one of the best in the MLB, and usually owning a top five bullpen ERA. However, if you took the blood pressure of Yankee fans when Aroldis Chapman or Dellin Betances stroll out to the mound in a tight game, they would most likely compare to a cardiac arrest patient, why is that? MLB.com

This series with the Twins might be one of the most important of the season, and the Yankees began in style, winning 2-1. This game had such a playoff feel to it, and most likely will be a preview of the AL Wild Card game. Ervin Santana against Jaime Garcia wasn't exactly a playoff level pitching matchup, but both pitchers gave solid performances, and the Yanks prevailed behind a dominant Aroldis Chapman. Kathy Willens / AP

With the graduation of Mets’ youngster Amed Rosario off prospect lists, Yankees INF Gleyber Torres has taken over in the top spot on prospect boards. The 20-year-old phenom has seen his stock rise ever since turning pro, and his stock is at its highest point in the final few weeks of the MLB regular season. Photo Credit: Scranton Times Tribune

CC Sabathia is obviously no longer the same pitcher he was when he first signed his multi-year deal with the Yankees in 2008. So far in the 2017 season, he’s been one of the more consistent pitchers in the Yankees rotation, even though he has been on the 10-day disabled list twice. CC has started 24 games posting an 11-5 record, 3.85 ERA, 1.305 WHIP, and 105 strikeouts in 131 innings pitched. He’s far from his days as the Yankees workhorse, as he’s only gone 7+ innings three times this season. CC has clearly shown signs of his body slowing down and that will probably be the main factor in his decision following the 2017 campaign. AP Photo | Patrick Semansky

The Yankees may be coming off a loss against Baltimore, but there is much to be excited about in the Bronx. The Bombers have won five straight series since the sweep by Cleveland, and they have performed great in that span. They have won games with their explosive offense, closed tight games with their bullpen, and even played enough small ball to win a low-scoring game. The list goes on, but in short, the Yankees are doing a lot of things right. It may not always be pretty, but it's working. This matchup against the Minnesota Twins may be the most crucial since the Boston series as the Yankees can all but ensure a playoff berth while closing in on a division title if they can corral the Twins at home.

The Yankees entered Sunday afternoon’s contest looking to complete a four-game sweep of the Baltimore Orioles as the offense looked to stay hot to wrap up the weekend. However, the Yankees spotted themselves an early 6-1 deficit and were unable to complete the comeback as they fell 6-4. Photo Credit: Seth Wenig | AP The Orioles struck first in the top of the second on a sharp RBI single up the middle by Austin Hays to score Chris Davis. Yankees starter Sonny Gray did a nice job of limiting the damage there, which in turn allowed Didi Gregorius to step up and tie the game with his third homer in three games in the bottom of the second. The blast was Gregorius’ 24th on the season, tying him with Derek Jeter for the single season record for homers in a season by a Yankee shortstop. Photo Credit: Seth Wenig | AP Gray gave the lead right back in the top of the third on a 3-2-2 RBI double down the left field line by Trey Mancini to score Manny Machado all the way