Even the best-laid plans need to be tweaked. Sometimes the best prepared teams in baseball need to look at the reality of where they are and make some adjustments. The Yankees, who loaded up for this series against the Red Sox only to fall flat, are a team that needs to adjust their focus right now.
After getting swept at Fenway this weekend, the Yankees are looking at a different landscape going forward.
They went to Boston on Wednesday night thinking they were armed for a second-half push to try and pass the Red Sox in the American League East and avoid the uncertainty of the wild card. After a case of hand, foot and mouth disease threw a wrench into their rotation and an anemic lineup put the Yankees in their season-worst slump, their chances of catching the Red Sox, currently the best team in baseball, are now slim to none now.
“There’s no question they’ve established themselves right now as the best team in this league,” Yankees skipper Aaron Boone told reporters at Fenway on Saturday. “That said, I think if you walk through our room out there, to a man, we know we can absolutely play with them, we know when we’re at our best we can beat them.”
But the Yankees are clearly not at their best right now and maybe it’s time to change their focus. Instead of expending all their energy on chasing the Red Sox, the Yankees can try and put themselves in their best situation for a potential playoff run that goes through the wild-card game.
This Yankees team survived the wild-card round last year and came within a game of the World Series. Yes, this year, that road is tougher. The wild card winner will likely have to go through Boston in the division series and the Red Sox are having a historic season.
But by then the Yankees could be, as Boone said, at their best again and well prepared for another run at Boston.
Luckily, the Yankees have time on their side.
They do not meet the Red Sox again until Sept. 18. Through the rest of August, the Bombers will only face one team with an above-.500 record, the Rays at the Stadium from the 14th to the16th. Down the stretch, the Yankees have 33 games against teams with sub-.500 records, while the Red Sox have 22.
Before you bemoan the myth that the Yankees cannot beat losing teams, their actual record is 36-19 against teams below .500. They have struggled against the Orioles, going 6-6 and do have seven games remaining against them.
Boston has a slightly more difficult schedule ahead. They have 12 games against current division leaders Houston (3), Cleveland (7) and Philadelphia (2), as well as three against the surging Braves and six with the pesky Rays. The Yankees have three each against the Mariners and A’s, but the only division-leading team they face the rest of the way is the remaining six against the Red Sox.
The Yankees’ switch of focus to getting ready for the now seemingly inevitable wild-card game gives them time to get themselves set up for the postseason. They can give their starters extra rest and maybe that will help get Luis Severino back on target and it would certainly keep CC Sabathia healthier and sharper down the stretch (his ERA in seven starts with six days rest this year is 1.89.)
Boone can get Didi Gregorius and other everyday players the rest he has been trying to give them. Conversely, he can get their part-time players like Neil Walker, who was heating up before this series, some reps to keep them sharp.
Most importantly, however, they can start by taking it cautiously with Aaron Judge and Gary Sanchez.
The Yankees expect to get back their two big bats by the end of the month, but that should not be a hard-and-fast target date. Judge, who suffered a chip fracture of his right wrist bone, was expected to be back swinging a bat this weekend and in a “game situation” three weeks from the initial injury. Sanchez, who played just three games before going back on the disabled list after already missing 20 games with a groin injury, is expected back at the end of the month.
The Yankees are already getting their improved rotation back to full strength this week with J.A. Happ expected to return from hand, foot and mouth disease and Lance Lynn making his first start in Sonny Gray’s spot. They are facing the struggling White Sox and Rangers, so they can get through the next stretch without their big boppers for now.
After this weekend, it might be time for the Yankees to adjust their focus and prepare for what now looks inevitable: a playoff run that has to go through a wild-card game and Boston.
