Kansas City Royals: Second Postseason Picture Update

AL first wild card spot

New York Yankees

Overall record (through Sunday): 61-55

Last week: 2-4

This week: Vs. New York Mets (Mon.-Tue.); at New York Mets (Wed.-Thu.); at Boston Red Sox (Fri.-Sun.)

The Yankees have been far from perfect over the past several weeks, but to stay in this position they haven’t had to be.

While Boston has slowly pulled away in the East Division, chaos in the Wild Card standings has allowed New York to maintain a fairly consistent lead over whichever team is occupying the second spot that day.

That being said, the Yankees need to vastly improve if they expect to make the playoffs—let alone have home-field advantage in the Wild Card game.

There are a lot of teams lurking behind. If a couple—perhaps the Twins and Angels?—stay hot, the Yankees could be in some trouble.

This team seemed to be well-constructed at the trade deadline, but Aaron Judge returning to human form and injuries to the rotation have hampered a once-promising squad.

Seven games against rivals are next on the docket, so we’ll just have to wait and see how this team reacts—particularly with five games in enemy territory.