The New York Yankees are sounding the alarm after back-to-back blowout losses to the Detroit Tigers, an especially troubling development given the razor-thin margins in the current wild-card race.
The root of the problem is clear: The bullpen has surrendered 19 of Detroit’s 23 runs, all of which came after the fifth inning, across the two games. That stat alone underscores how well the starting rotation has held up, even as the relief corps falters.
Still, manager Aaron Boone isn’t backing down. After Wednesday’s defeat, he addressed the media with a measured but resolute explanation of why he continues to trust his bullpen.
“Track record, stuff, you know, who they are,” he said in a video posted to X by SNY.
This decline in bullpen performance has only complicated an already difficult situation. Entering Thursday, the Yankees have a record of 80 wins and 65 losses and are first in the American League Wild Card standings, but are only four games ahead of the fourth-place Texas Rangers.
However, Boone urged us not to forget the strong performances those same relievers have achieved this season.
“Obviously we got to get a couple guys on track so we create that depth that we can have down there,” he said in the video. “A bullpen ERA in short samples like that can be a lot of fun. You have a handful of games where it really gets away and it gets blown up. I feel like through this stretch of games where over the last month we’ve started winning, we’ve closed out a lot of good games too with guys capable of shutting people down.”
Despite their poor performance in the last two games against the Tigers, the Yankees can’t be said to be in the midst of a completely negative streak. After all, they’ve won five of their last 10 games and 12 of their last 20.
This seems to be enough to give Boone confidence that the bullpen situation can be turned around.
“This is what we have. I have a lot of confidence in their ability and their stuff, but we got to bring it together and we haven’t done that consistently enough yet. Can we do it? That’s, we’re going to find out and that’s what we’re going to need to do if we’re going to make a big run at this.”
The Yankees are looking to recapture the American League title they won in 2024, so they can make another run at winning their 28th World Series, a title that has eluded them since 2009.
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