The Yankees have climbed in the AL East standings, but the path there has come with a twist nobody in New York can love: the Red Sox are the reason it’s happening.
That’s the strange part of this stretch. Boston’s surge helped the Yankees inch closer to the suddenly stumbling Rays over the weekend, but it also comes with the uncomfortable reality that the Red Sox are no longer just background noise. They’re very much in the mix, and they’ve been piling up wins at a pace that changes the whole feel of the division.
The Yankees’ loss to the Red Sox on Sunday Night Baseball - the one where they blew a two-run lead in the 10th inning - has loomed for more than three weeks now. Boston immediately followed that comeback by dropping a three-game series to the Nationals, then ripped off 14 straight wins and counting.
New York, for its part, hasn’t been great, but it hasn’t gone off the rails either. Since getting swept at home by the Tigers, the Yankees have gone 8-9 through a tough run in the schedule.
Even so, seven games have disappeared from their lead over Boston.
Now the Yankees are staring at a brutal stretch with road series in Philadelphia, Chicago against the White Sox, and Chicago against the Cubs still ahead before any reinforcements are likely to show up. The roster is thin, the need is obvious, and the help isn’t here yet.
Shea Langeliers/Hunter Goodman and two bullpen arms could be on the way, but they’re not walking through that door now. And as for Angel Chivilli, the question remains exactly as it was: is he a guy?
Meanwhile, the Red Sox are operating like the easiest team in baseball to assemble. Put together 26 assorted men, hand them those uniforms, and somehow everything is working.
Stars can leave, and Boston just keeps finding new pieces - even the kind that used to wear Yankees pinstripes - with Anthony Seigler and Caleb Durbin now somehow looking better than Alex Bregman and Trevor Story. It’s the kind of run that makes every random idea feel plausible, whether that’s signing Pete Alonso or imagining him turning into the loudest voice in the room from second base.
That’s how far this has gone. Boston won nine straight on the road entering the break against the Angels, White Sox and Mets, helped along by a Francisco Lindor shouldv'e-been-game-ending error, then came home and handled the Rays and Orioles over five games.
Historic? Absolutely.
Sustainable? Probably not.
But that doesn’t make it any less real right now.
For the Yankees, the timing is lousy. They’ve played a little better lately, splitting the first four with the Dodgers and Pirates since the All-Star Game, but there’s no breathing room and no time to relax before the deadline. Not with Aaron Judge out for many months to come, and not with the Rays fading just enough to make the Red Sox the new problem sitting right behind them.
At least, for now, it’s not the Blue Jays charging up from behind. Yet.
In Other News...
Anthony Volpe Is Now Drawing A Trade Suitor Yankees Fans Will Notice
The Rays are once again in the mix as a team to watch at the trade deadline, and this time their search for lineup help has them linked to a name Yankees fans know well: Anthony Volpe. Contributors to The Athletic recently listed Tampa Bay as one of the better fits for the New York shortstop, a reminder that even a young player with real pedigree can find his name circulating when a season starts to drift from expectations.
Volpe is still under team control through 2028, so any conversation around him would be about fit, development and long-term value rather than a quick rental move. Tampa Bay has built a reputation for getting more out of players, which is part of what makes this pairing worth watching if the Rays decide to get aggressive and if the Yankees decide they need to listen. [Read more 🡒]
Yankees Finally Got Injury News Fans Desperately Needed On Stanton And Fried
Giancarlo Stantons return has been one of the Yankees most closely watched injury stories since the slugger went down with a calf strain on April 24, and there is at least some forward movement now. Stanton has resumed a running progression, which is a meaningful step even if the club still has not put a firm timetable on when hell be back in a game.
Max Frieds path is a little clearer, and it matters just as much for a rotation that could use the help. The left-hander, sidelined since mid-May with a bone bruise in his elbow, is lined up for a 60-pitch rehab start on July 22, with the Yankees expecting him to rejoin the staff next week as they move into a series against the White Sox. [Read more 🡒]
Yankees May Finally Have A Real Catching Fix At A Cost
Shea Langeliers has started to look like one of the more practical catching targets on the market for a Yankees club that could use a clearer answer behind the plate. The Athletics have been open to listening, and the fit is obvious on paper: New York gets a catcher with real offensive upside, while Oakland gets the kind of pitching help it has been chasing as it tries to reshape the roster.
The catch, of course, is getting a deal to the finish line without emptying out the system in a way the Yankees will regret later. Any serious conversation is going to have to account for the Athletics' need for arms, which pushes the talks toward prospect-heavy packages and makes the price feel less like a simple upgrade and more like a calculated gamble on how much catching certainty is worth right now. [Read more 🡒]