Bronx Bomber Ball

Having lost five of their last six, the Yankees came into Saturday’s game desperately needing to turn things around if they want to continue playing meaningful September baseball. They couldn’t muster a win against their bitter rivals, squandering an early lead to fall to 77-71 and 4.5 games out of the second wild card. Photo Credit: AP/Michael Dwyer

After taking two of three from Baltimore last weekend, the Yankees look to make a legitimate playoff push as they face the Royals in a three game set that will usher in September. New York (67-62) sits 3.5 games back of the second wild card spot, and only a half game back of Kansas City (68-62). If either team dominates this series, it will likely make it extremely difficult for the other to make the playoffs. The Yankees, 6-4 over their last ten games, put on a show offensively against the Orioles, scoring 27 runs over the first two games of the series (although they were shut out in the finale) behind excellent performances from Starlin Castro, Gary Sanchez, and, essentially, the entire Yankee lineup. The Royals, winners of 12 of their last 14 and 19 of their last 26, haven’t lost a series since getting swept by the Rangers in the end of July. To say that they’ve been hot in August is a woeful understatement, and if the Yankees want to take the series and work their way back into th...

The AL East is entirely up for grabs this year. So far, three teams (the Boston Red Sox, Baltimore Orioles, and Toronto Blue Jays) have all held first place at some point this season, and the matter is far from decided, as the Blue Jays, Red Sox, Orioles, and Yankees all still have a shot at a division title. There is no dominant team in this division--the best record of the bunch currently belongs to Toronto, who, at 73-56 (.566), would be a second-place team in any other division aside from the NL West. However, if current standings hold, the AL East will put three teams in the playoffs. Since the revamping of the wild card rules before the 2012 season, there have been two times that one division had three playoff teams (2013 and 2015, both by the NL Central). Photo Credit: Joe Nicholson | USA TODAY Sports

Photo Credit: Seth Wenig | AP A long time ago (today, actually) , in a galaxy far, far away (fine, in the Bronx)...the Yankees beat the Cleveland Indians 13-7 on the night of their first-ever “Star Wars Night” promotion behind a decent outing by Michael Pineda and an offensive outburst by the Yankee lineup.

Clint Frazier Photo Credit: Cheryl Pursell | Pinstriped Prospects Trade deadline sellers for the first time in over 25 years, the New York Yankees made an abundance of trades in an attempt for a rebuild of some sort. Although the Yankees will remain competitive, the moves made were clearly in the interest of the team in the long term as opposed to this year's team. First, they went out and dealt Aroldis Chapman to the Cubs for four players including Gleyber Torres and Adam Warren. The Yankees next move was trading Andrew Miller to the Indians for four prospects including Clint Frazier. Then, the team acquired Tyler Clippard from the Diamondbacks to fortify the bullpen for the time being. But the Yankees weren't done there. On the day of the trade deadline, the Yankees traded Carlos Beltran to the Rangers for three prospects, and they got rid of Ivan Nova for two players to be named later from the Pirates. Now, hear from our very own writer's with their thoughts on the ...

Lance McCullers outdueled Yankees ace Masahiro Tanaka, Colby Rasmus snapped an 0-29 streak with a big two-run home run, and the Houston Astros beat New York 4-1 to avoid a series sweep on Wednesday night. Photo Credit: George Bridges | AP

After salvaging the final game of a three-game set against Boston, the Yankees host the Baltimore Orioles for a four-game series. New York, which went into the All-Star Break with an even record of 44-44, now sits a game below at 45-46 after dropping two of three to start the second half. The O’s, on the other hand, sit at 53-37, good enough for first place in the American League East. They took two of three from the Tampa Bay Rays in their most recent series, and they haven’t lost a series since being swept by the Seattle Mariners on July 1-4. These two teams have already met six times this season, with Baltimore winning four of the six. These games will most likely prove to be pivotal to the Yankees’ season, especially with the trade deadline fast approaching. If the Yankees’ performance in four-game series this year is indicative of future performance, we can expect them to do pretty well. Of the six four-gamers they’ve played this year, they’ve won five, with a 2-2 split against t...

Photo Credit: Noah K. Murray | USA TODAY Sports As most Yankee fans are probably well aware, the first half has been pretty rough for the team. The Yanks have been inconsistent and although they aren’t out of playoff contention, they certainly don’t look like championship contenders. Needless to say, there have been a lot of heartbreaking, frustrating, and aggravating moments. At times, it’s been bang-your-head-on-the-wall bad. However, they have also had their share of highlights, right from the beginning. Which brings me to the first highlight of the Yankees’ season…

In the fourth, after Austin Romine tied the game with a sacrifice fly, Rob Refsnyder’s RBI single gave the Yankees a 4-3 lead that they would not relinquish. After Masahiro Tanaka (5-2, 3.01 ERA) posted six solid innings, "No-Run DMC" took over and dominated with three perfect innings, and the Yankees knocked off the Minnesota Twins, 5-3, in the Friday night series opener. Picture Credit: Associated Press/Frank Franklin II

The Yankees’ season has been up-and-down so far, with some mild success and a lot of painful failure. At their best, this Yankees team has almost looked like they could possibly be a contender, but at their worst, they’ve looked like the only thing they’ll be in contention for is a top-five draft pick. It doesn’t take a whole lot of searching to determine the root of this problem--it’s offense. The bullpen, obviously, has been lethal, and, although the starting pitchers got off to a rocky start, they seem to have settled down and are finding a really nice rhythm. The hitting, however, has been utterly dreadful. The Bronx Bombers rank 14th out of 15 teams in the American League in runs scored and batting average, and they’re dead last in hits, total bases, On-Base Percentage, and Slugging. They don’t have a single player with a batting average above .300, and, after Carlos Beltran, the second-highest OPS on the team is .770, belonging to Jacoby Ellsbury. There are seven teams that have...