The Yankees spent another week in the AL East grind, but this one did them no favors.
New York has stayed in the mix with Tampa Bay for much of the season, and Toronto is starting to chip away as well. Even with Aaron Judge sidelined, the Yankees had managed to keep themselves in the race. Judge went on the IL on June 5 after an MRI and CT scan showed a stress fracture in his right rib.
That momentum took a hit last week, though. Against two under-.500 teams, the Yankees never found much rhythm.
They opened at home against the Detroit Tigers and got swept in the three-game set. Then came the Minnesota Twins, and New York could only salvage one win in that weekend series, leaving the club with a 1-5 week.
Bleacher Report’s Kerry Miller reflected that slide in his latest power rankings, dropping the Yankees from No. 5 to No. 9.
"What ought to have been a 'get right' week at home against a pair of sub-.500 clubs from the AL Central instead ballooned into another chapter of New York's ongoing horror story. While the New York Mets have lost 12 of 15, the Yankees have dropped 13 of their last 17, held to five runs or fewer in all 17 of those games.
Ben Rice and Cody Bellinger going cold in recent weeks has cast quite the spotlight on the many black holes in this lineup. And Aaron Judge's return from a fractured rib is nowhere near imminent."
Now the schedule turns back toward a big divisional test. The Yankees are set to face the Tampa Bay Rays in a four-game series starting Monday, then move on to a weekend series against the Washington Nationals before the All-Star break arrives.
In Other News...
Yankees Suddenly Have New Deadline Chips Fans Arent Talking About
A few lower-level Yankees prospects have started to make themselves more interesting at just the right moment, and that matters with the August 3 trade deadline approaching. Thatcher Hurd, Kyle Carr and Stiven Marinez are each showing enough in their own way to draw attention, whether it is Hurd working back from Tommy John surgery, Carr handling both Double-A and Triple-A, or Marinez holding his own in Rookie Ball.
For a front office that is always weighing present needs against future depth, that kind of progress can change the conversation quickly. Hurds recent outing hinted at real upside, Carr has paired command with swing-and-miss stuff, and Marinez has been productive as a teenager in the Florida Complex League after the Yankees made room for him in the international market. If those trends keep going, the Yankees may have a few more ways to navigate the deadline than fans realize. [Read more 🡒]
Yankees Suddenly Linked To The Deadline Move Fans Have Been Demanding
The Yankees recent slide has only sharpened the conversation around what they might need to do before the trade deadline, especially with the club looking for a way to steady itself after a rough stretch. With about a month left before the 2026 deadline, the focus is drifting toward big-name pitching help, and one familiar front-line arm has started to surface in that conversation as a possible fit for a team trying to get back on track.
Sandy Alcantara is the kind of starter who would change the tone of any deadline discussion, and his name carries obvious appeal for a Yankees club that wants more certainty on the mound. Even so, any pursuit comes with the usual questions tied to his recent injury history and how he would hold up over the rest of the season, which is part of why this feels like the sort of move that could dominate the final weeks before the deadline. [Read more 🡒]
Yankees Deadline Reunion Rumor Raises Big Question About This Lineup
The Yankees offense has spent much of the season looking like a group still searching for a spark, which is why any deadline chatter tied to middle-infield help is going to draw attention. One name floating into the conversation is a familiar one, and the appeal is obvious on the surface: a bat with enough familiarity to make the fit feel easy, at least in theory, for a club trying to patch over its lineup issues.
But the deeper look is where the uncertainty starts to creep in. The player in question has dealt with oblique trouble for much of the year, and even with the Yankees clearly needing more production, there are reasons to wonder whether this is the kind of move that solves the right problem. For a team under pressure to hit better now, the deadline will be about more than reunion nostalgia. [Read more 🡒]