Yankees Final Test Involves Overcoming AL East Demons

One of the Yankees' greatest follies of the 2025 season was their performance against the American League East, particularly against the Red Sox and Blue Jays. This season, they are 4-9 against the Red Sox. Against those Jays the Yankees stand side by side with, they are 5-8.

Overall, the Yankees are 24-25 against divisional opponents. If they have any shot at reclaiming the American League East for themselves and securing a bye for the postseason, they'll need to win this series against the Orioles.

Even dropping a single game against Baltimore could be devastating, because all the Blue Jays need to do is tie to take the division, so the Yankees will have to do something they have struggled with all year. Play clean baseball against a rival when the stakes are at their highest.

The Yankees have only themselves to blame for being in this spot, too. There is no reason for them to be in chase mode so late in the year. Aaron Boone's Yanks should have been on cruise control when they had that seven-game lead, but this team has been the king of soul-crushing losses in 2025, to the point where, even as they're playing well, the next disaster feels like it can be around the corner.

Blowing 33 leads this season, with one of those losses involving watching a six-run lead dissipate, is why it's hard to put a stamp of approval on them. It's hard to wipe away the stench of June and July, where they walked away from those months with winning percentages of .481 and .480.

The baseball season is long, however. Their one saving grace is that the Yankees got hot at the right time. In September, they are playing their best baseball since May, when they went 17-9 and had a .654 winning percentage. In September, they are 15-7 with a .682 winning percentage, and if things fall their way, they can finish the month of Virgo off as strong as they have looked all year.

Their first test is the dominant lefty Trevor Rogers. Rogers went six shutout innings and struck out seven last week. It will be interesting to see how they handle the lefty for the second time in seven days. Though Rogers' final line looked good, the Yankees did run into some bad luck. Rogers gave up seven hard-hit balls in his last start.

The Yankees made six outs on balls that were hit over 95 MPH on Rogers. Anthony Volpe barreled one fly out at 101.2 MPH, which would have been a homer in two stadiums, and there was also a scorching 104.9 MPH double play from Amed Rosario. Only one of those hard-hit balls found grass, and that was a 107.8 MPH single by Austin Wells.

To win the division, it will start with Rogers, and flipping the bad luck they hit into in Baltimore against the tough lefty.

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