30 Games To The Finish Line!

As a marathon runner, I can really appreciate the length of the major league baseball schedule.  162 games is a lot of games just as 26.2 is a lot of miles.  You get the analogy.  The baseball season resembles less of a sprint and more of a marathon with the time, energy and commitment it takes to be at your best and to stay the course. And after two bad games with the White Sox, despite a walk off win last night, we have to regroup and figure out how to improve our form to glide through the finish line with strength and purpose.

But even Aaron Boone, the eternal optimist of the Yankees, had nothing positive to say about the Yankees performance against the Chicago White Sox on Monday night.  He said the team did not play “clean baseball” and from the looks of the start of the game on Tuesday night, the Yankees seem to be continuing their unclean ways with two errors in two and half innings, placing us at a deficit early on in the game.

“I thought there was some sluggishness tonight that we have to get past, and I don’t think we played a very clean brand of baseball,” manager Aaron Boone said bluntly as reported by the YES Network. Again, that kind of game play seemed to be duplicated on Tuesday night with Yankees bobbling balls and letting the weaker White Sox get the best of them or worst, depending on your outlook.

The kind of replication the Yankees need is that of 1978, the team that came back from 14 games in July to win the Division in a one-day winner takes all playoff in Fenway.  “If the Yankees are to duplicate their ’78 comeback, they’ll need more than a few things to go their way. In addition to feasting on lesser competition — something they’ve had difficulty with during parts of the season, but have done a better job with recently — their long list of injured impact players have to get back on the field and be productive,” reported the New York Post.

But as of last night, Gary Sanchez has made some significant progress and is rehabbing in Scranton, Aaron Judge still has pain in his wrist and has not participated in any baseball activities, the Yankees are optimistic about Didi Gregorius getting back in the line up soon and the jury is still out Aroldis Chapman.  We need them all back…asap!

30 games to the finish line sounds daunting but for marathon runners, it is just part of the mindset of getting it done.  The Yankees want to see winning baseball and they are going to lose a game or two. But, we need to win as many as we can in the next 30 games if we are going to win the Division.  And it is doable. We have proven we can do without for a number of weeks and still win, even if it is by the skin of our teeth. We need to commit, put our heads down and forge ahead and oh yea, don’t give up.

–Suzie Pinstripe
BYB Managing Editor
Twitter: @suzieprof