New York Yankees on Track For Worst Record in the Division Ever in the Divisional Era
When you do a case study of the 2023 New York Yankees and look at what went wrong, there's a lot of places to look.
First, the team had major injuries to several key contributors. Giancarlo Stanton, Aaron Judge, Carlos Rodon, Tommy Kahnle, Josh Donaldson and Harrison Bader were all out for several weeks.
Then, there were questionable moves made or not made by the front office.
But maybe nothing stands out more than this stat, courtesy of Katie Sharp of Stathead:
Yankees are 19-29 (.396) vs AL East this season. That would be their worst win pct vs AL East since divisional play began in 1969.
When the unbalanced schedule began in Major League Baseball in 2001, play against your own division became the most important thing for a team. If you can handle your division, you have a good chance to get to the playoffs. If you can't, you end up on the outside looking in.
The Yankees' inability to win within the American League East may end up being the biggest culprit in their poor season, which sees them at 76-76 entering play on Thursday.
The Yankees are in fourth place in the American League East, 1.5 games ahead of the Boston Red Sox in the battle to avoid last.
The Yankees will take on the Toronto Blue Jays again on Thursday night. First pitch is set for 7:05 p.m. ET as Jose Berrios (TOR) battles against Gerrit Cole (NYY).
Berrios is 11-10 with a 3.49 ERA while Cole is 13-4 with a 2.81 ERA.
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