After the Yankees lost to the Blue Jays by a score of 4-0 on Friday, manager Aaron Boone told his team to do a task.
After losing to Toronto in the second of a 4-game set, the Yankees are 5-12 in August. In 8 of those games, they scored two runs or less. This month, only the Nationals (5-12) & the Tigers (4-13) have done as badly.
After their first 60 games, in which they went 44-16 (.733), most people thought the Yankees were the best team in baseball. According to research by ESPN Stats & Information, they are the 1st team in Major league baseball history to go from a .700 win percentage in their first 60 games to a .500 win percentage in their next 60 games. They have gone 29-31 in their last 60 games.
And it was this track record that Boone used to explain why he has faith in his team.
Boone was talking about the Yankees’ shrinking lead in their division. On July 8, the Yankees led the AL East by 15.5 games, which was their biggest lead. When they lost to Toronto on Friday, their divisional lead shrunk to eight points. The very last time the Yankees’ lead in their division was this small was after the last game on June 10, when they led by 7.5 games.
Infielder DJ LeMahieu started both games against the Blue Jays even though he had been out for four games with an inflamed right toe. He said that the team has been trying too hard lately, which has led to their current skid.
After going 1–2 against Boston & Tampa Bay, the Yankees will attempt to produce much-improved at-bats to avoid losing their third straight home series and third straight series to an AL East rival.
This season, the Yankees have done very well against the AL East. Last Sunday, they lost a series to an AL East team for the first time since April 15–17 in Baltimore. This ended a 12-series winning streak. After losing that series to the Sox, the Yankees split their two games with the Rays before playing the Jays.
The Yankees’ first 3 home series in 2019 were the last time they lost 3 consecutive home series.
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