Yankees Bullpen Remains a Huge Concern Going Into the Postseason

Not only do New York’s relievers have the 9th-worst ERA in the entire league, but they also rank 18th in home runs allowed, 19th in WHIP, and 20th in walks allowed. This is completely unacceptable for a team that not only bulked up their bullpen at the trade deadline by bringing in three solid arms in David Bednar, Camilo Doval, and Jake Bird (who is currently in the minors), but a team that also expects to compete in the postseason.

Yankees Bullpen Still a Prominent Weakness Ahead of Postseason

More Than a Few Games

Of course, it’s easy to be skeptical of New York’s ‘pen after an especially demoralizing performance. However, Tuesday’s 12-2 loss to the Detroit Tigers was very concerning for a few reasons. Firstly, it put on full display how easily the Yankees can collapse in any given game. No matter how well their starter performs (Will Warren allowed two runs over six innings on Tuesday), it may not matter when opposing teams are able to score 10 runs after New York turns to the ‘pen. Wednesday’s game spiraled out of control in a similar fashion, with the bullpen surrendering nine runs after six solid innings from Carlos Rodón in an 11-1 loss.

At the end of the day, a lot of these demoralizing losses have come down to inept decision-making. Manager Aaron Boone has often left in pitchers who are obviously struggling to get outs for far too long. In Tuesday’s catastrophe, Boone let Fernando Cruz face five batters despite already surrendering three runs, and he then proceeded to let Mark Leiter Jr. stay in the game to allow five runs across four batters before taking him out of the game. This is just one example of how Boone lets certain pitchers stay in the game for way too long, leading to those games getting completely out of hand.

Playoff Implications

In the postseason, letting games slip away in this manner is completely unacceptable. Even at this point in the regular season, the Yankees are three games behind the Toronto Blue Jays for first place in the American League East, and are just four games out of losing their Wild Card spot. If they keep allowing themselves to lose very winnable games, they may not even be playing in October at all.

Still, the Yankees are just too good a team for that to happen. Their starting pitching has been excellent all year, especially considering how they’re missing Gerrit Cole, Clarke Schmidt, and lost Luis Gil for the first three months of the season. Though they do often rely on the home run as the driver of their offense, this roster has way too much talent to miss out on October baseball. So, as long as the Yankees can avoid late-game collapses thanks to the bullpen and avoidable errors, they should at least have a crack at trying to win their second-straight pennant.