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by Kimberly Pena
When you see the Yankees as of late compared to earlier in this season, it is like night and day. The Yankees began the season with an 8-14 record and for most of the season couldn’t maintain themselves over .500. In the month of August, there was a huge change in the Yankees level of play as they went on to a 17-11 record, their best month to date.
At the All Star break, the Yankees were at 44-44, 7.5 games out of first place and 5.5 out of the Wild Card race. The Yankees as of September 11 face their smallest deficit as they sit four games out of first place and two games out of the postseason berth.
With 17 of their last 18 games against teams from the American League East, as the Toronto Blue Jays, Baltimore Orioles and the Boston Red Sox are also in the playoff mix, the Bronx Bombers have the pen to their own script right in front of them.
The Yankees recently swept, at the time, the first place Blue Jays to give notice to the teams in front of them that the Yankees are not going down without a fight.
Manager Joe Girardi claims to have never given up on the season even after the front office traded All Star players like Carlos Beltran, Andrew Miller and Aroldis Chapman in the non-waiver trade deadline and the release of Alex Rodriguez in August.
“I told you we expected to win from day one,” Manager Girardi said. “Everything is in front of us. Would I like to be 15 games up? Yeah. But, hey, we have a shot and in this game that’s what you look forward to.”
A month ago it didn’t look like the Yankees had a shot. Baseball analysts counted the team out, believing it was nearly impossible for the team to make a run and that the organization should think about next season.
It seemed as if the Yankees were going to take that route when in August they called up minor league players Gary Sanchez, Tyler Austin and Aaron Judge to give Yankee fans a taste of what the future would like in New York. But the move actually seemed to revitalize the team and their season.
Sanchez, now the Yankees regular catcher, had a torrid start to his MLB career. In his first 23 games, Sanchez hit for a .400 average, smashed 11 home runs and 21 runs batted in. Tyler Austin and Aaron Judge were the first rookie duo in MLB history to hit back-to-back home runs in their MLB debuts. The Baby Bronx Bombers gave the Yankees the energy they needed to make a push to the playoffs and play their best baseball of the season.
The Yankees before them seem to agree. Closer Dellin Betances can sense the new feel in the clubhouse and is enjoying every second of it.
“These young guys keep doing it,” says Betances. “These young guys are bringing all the energy and the other guys are feeding off of them. You know obviously we are just trying to win as many ballgames as we can. We are playing fun baseball and hopefully we can continue to do this.”
Although the road has been bumpy, the Yankees have come back all the way from the dead to let the baseball world know that they are alive and well. Like one of the Yankees greats, Yogi Berra said, ”It ain’t over till it’s over.”
And that might be the case for this year’s New York Yankees.