The New York Yankees and Baltimore Orioles have been two of the best teams in the American League East this season. Resultingly, the race for the division title has been in a dead heat. While both teams have revealed some weaknesses, particularly in the last month, the Yankees may have the bigger issue on their hands.
In the first few months of the season, the Yankees arguably had one of the best pitching staffs in baseball; what’s more, they were without Gerrit Cole. Clarke Schmidt and Luis Gil were both having stellar seasons until Schmidt went down with a lat injury and Gil came back down to earth in June. Even now, with a healthy Gerrit Cole, the rotation has made a complete 180. Barring occasional good starts from Cole, Gil, Marcus Stroman and Carlos Rodon, starting pitching has become a serious issue. Even the bullpen seems to be falling apart. At this rate, it looks like pitching may cost them the division.
How the Yankees Can Win the AL East
No Deadline Deals
According to multiple reports at the deadline, it appeared that the Yankees would make a move for Detroit Tigers right-hander Jack Flaherty. However, the deal never went through because New York wasn’t thrilled with his injury history, and he ended up getting shipped to the Los Angeles Dodgers.
It appears that not trading for a high-end starter may have been a mistake. Since the deadline, Yankee starters have failed to record a single quality start. This only further fatigues the bullpen, which is shaky to begin with. They did acquire Mark Leiter Jr. and Enyel De Los Santos as bullpen arms, but neither has shown much promise. Leiter gave up a pair of homers in Sunday’s narrow win over the Texas Rangers, and De Los Santos gave up 7 earned runs to the lowly Chicago White Sox on Monday.
Boone had previously stated that they were fine with the guys they have, but the issue is that none of them are consistently performing. Nestor Cortes is having one of his worst years in pinstripes; Cole has had some good starts but has not been himself; Rodon and Stroman have both had up-and-down seasons. Gil has been the best of the bunch, but he isn’t the guy you want starting Game 1 in October.
The Bullpen is Beat
Let’s not even get into the whole Clay Holmes ordeal. Looking at the bullpen as a whole, it has been serviceable most of the year but not World Series-worthy. Multiple guys are having great seasons (Weaver, Kahnle, Tonkin), but there isn’t enough pen depth to consistently win ballgames. And when your manager is Aaron Boone, who often relies on the bullpen over his starters, the relievers are inevitably going to fall off at one point or another.
On top of how fatigued the pen is, the New York’s “All-Star” closer has been anything but a star. Don’t let Holmes’ 2.81 ERA fool you; his numbers don’t tell the whole story of his wild inconsistency. Not only has he blown 9 saves in 34 opportunities (3rd worst save percentage of all closers), but his 1.31 WHIP ranks eighth worst of all closers. Though he can be effective at times, he is not nearly dependable enough to be a playoff closer.
The Competition
The Yankees and Orioles are certainly the top two teams in baseball in terms of offense. But unfortunately for the Yankees, it seems that the Orioles have a slight edge in the pitching department. By no means does Baltimore have great pitching (at least without John Means and Kyle Bradish), but they are better off than their division rival.
Firstly and most importantly, they have an ace at the height of his powers in Corbin Burnes. The Yankee’s ace Gerrit Cole has not pitched like he did in his Cy Young-winning season in ’23. And unlike the Yankees, their depth starters have given them chances to win. Grayson Rodriguez has 13 wins (though he is now injured) and Albert Suarez has a 3.43 ERA in 16 starts. Considering the lack of Means and Bradish, these are not bad numbers from the bottom of the rotation.
Neither team has anything going in terms of pitching as a strong suit. But the Orioles do have something that the Yankees don’t: an established closer with playoff experience. Having a former All-Star veteran in Craig Kimbrel to close out games automatically boosts the bullpen. Though the Orioles rank 16th in bullpen ERA, they have multiple pitchers on the IL that could potentially return for the postseason and make a difference.
The Last Word
Overall, it appears that the Orioles are more poised than the Yankees to take one of baseball’s best divisions. New York cannot continue relying on Aaron Judge and Juan Soto to make up for their lack of effective pitching. If Clarke Schmidt returns in September and continues to dominate, the Yankees will be in a much better spot. But still, the Bombers can’t expect to win the division and make a postseason run with an inconsistent pitching staff.
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