The Yankees' once-commanding AL East division lead is shrinking rapidly.
At one point, New York held a seven-game first-place advantage in the division, its largest thus far in 2025. Now, that lead has been trimmed to just 2.5 games over the second-place Tampa Bay Rays.
Tampa, one of the hottest clubs in MLB, has won four in a row and 10 of its last 13 games. Meanwhile, the Boston Red Sox have surged with a six-game win streak of their own, including a sweep of the Yankees at Fenway Park last weekend. And the Toronto Blue Jays have demonstrated they're somewhat viable at 38-33 after many predicted a last-place finish before the start of the season.
The only team in the AL East that isn't currently a threat to the Yankees? The surprisingly downtrodden Baltimore Orioles.
But with three of New York's rivals within a six-game reach of first place heading into play on Tuesday, should there be concern about the Yankees' divisional supremacy?
Timing is everything in baseball, and as New York's chief competition is heating up, the Bronx Bombers are cooling off. The Yankees currently have a four-game losing streak, most recently extended by a brutal 1-0 defeat at the hands of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim at Yankee Stadium.
Christian Moore's first MLB run comes when it matters most -- in extras!
— MLB Pipeline (@MLBPipeline) June 17, 2025
The @Angels' rookie puts his club ahead against the Yankees in the 11th. pic.twitter.com/1EyMKN9DgO
That loss came despite the activation of designated hitter Giancarlo Stanton from the injured list Monday night. Stanton went 2-4 in his season debut.
It doesn't help that Aaron Judge, the Yankees' immortal superstar and captain, is hitting just .200 over his last seven games, though he has three home runs in that span. If New York goes as Judge does, though, the Bronx Bombers' recent struggles make more sense in that context.
However, this recent Yankees lull may say more about how much we underestimated the AL East, considering their rivals seem to be capitalizing on a potential opportunity to make New York sweat through the summer.
If that's indeed the case, and the Blue Jays, Rays and Red Sox are proving to be more formidable than expected, the Yankees' road to a second consecutive AL East title will not be the cakewalk it was shaping up to be just a few weeks ago.
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