July 31, 2026

115 thoughts on “Yankees (61-48) @ Cubs (62-47), Friday, July 31, 2026, 2:20 PM EDT”

  4. Curry says he would’ve been safe standing up. If true shouldn’t the 3rd base coach have signaled don’t slide.
    Nevertheless if he doesn’t know how to slide as Binder implied WTF is wrong with the Yankees.

    1. He definitely would have been safe standing up, but in the moment, it’s hard to tell. So I don’t mind him sliding. He just can’t slide SO BADLY.

      It wasn’t like he barely overshot the bag, he slid waaaaaaaaaaaay past it. It was just unbelievably bad.

  9. A Friday day game???

    Controversial opinion: the Yankees should sell. They’re not gonna see Judge, Bellinger, or Stanton again this year.

    1. With pitching this good, no way you sell. Just an AVERAGE offense would make this a very good team.

      Cashman could pick up a few mediocre hitters and improve the team a lot.

  15. Warren has the stuff to be really good as a multi-inning reliever when Rodon gets back, but I don’t know if I would ever trust him in high leverage situations.

    1. Okay, fair enough. Keep doing that, things will start looking better.

  31. How could Goldy have been THAT GOOD… and now THAT BAD (instead of just regressing towards his norm). I mean, SO BAD! So weird.

  37. • 55.4 WAR, OPS 855, OPS+ 123;
    • 62.7 WAR, 823 OPS, OPS+ 111;
    • 70 WAR, OPS 837, OPS+ 119;
    • 66.2 WAR, OPS 878, OPS+ 136.

    The first three were just inducted into the HoF. The fourth one is Paul Goldschmidt.

  43. Wait, did Girardi as manager start that trend?
    “And he’ll take a lot of strike threes, he’s so patient.”
    That’s not patient, Joe, that’s STUPID. Did you come up with the Yankees trademark “not defending the strike zone with two strikes” strategy? DID YOU?????

    2. But you’re the one who always goes on about how he falls to pieces the minute he hits a spot of trouble!

  49. By the way, Brian, I have zero problem with the replay people checking whether they want to challenge. The point isn’t to test their eyesight, and it’s not to make it some gambling game overlayed on the sport. The point is to get the call right. If they look at the replay and DON’T challenge, we’ve wasted less time. If they challenge because they clearly see the call was wrong – that’s what we want, the right call on the field.

    1. It was SUCH a bad bunt. They will improve this team so much by just making sure that Volpe and Cabby aren’t both regular players in the lineup. One is fine. Two is dumb.

    3. I don’t like the bunt with PGold up next. I would rather take two shots to get a hit. And he’s not a great bunter.

    1. I really think we need to take that Antonacci home run out of our equation on Blackburn. That was an EXTREMELY fluky home run. The Murakami home run was legit, but that’s a really good hitter.

    1. Grisham is back to BABIP bad luck. He has something like a .057 BABIP in the second half so far. That’s not even REMOTELY normal. He hit that hard, just right at a dude.

    2. Maybe and he stopped hitting home runs which was his lone offensive value.

    1. Henry Lalane over his last five starts:

      16 Hits
      5 Runs
      5 Earned Runs
      3 Home Runs Allowed
      4 Walks
      40 Strikeouts

      Talk about helping one’s trade value!

  63. And what bugs me is this: after this game, Cabby should be consigned to 10 straight hours of bunting practice. Okay, well, a BIG SESSION of bunting practice. All the time. Until he figures it out.
    How is CABALLERO, of all players, not a great, great bunter?
    But a real team would make sure he fixed that problem. The Yankees have no notion of fixing anything.

    1. I mean, I want someone to ask that: Surely, Mr. Boone, you agree that Cabby has to be a much better bunter given his game. We are all presuming you’re going throw him into a compulsory intensive regime to fix that problem… that’s what you’re going to do, right?
      RIGHT?

  64. Also, given the strikeout rate, I thought the shift to the majors for Jones would be an unmitigated disaster.
    It’s been anything but. I’m liking the guy more than I’d imagined. I really don’t want him to be traded.

    1. They can’t trade him now. Hes probably the best outfielder on this squad. A home run and walk after an 0-2 count. Power and control of the strike zone is something that can be built on.

  65. Let’s not forget phenom made a bad flip that could’ve easily cost the game. His dropped pop up possibly cost us a game Wednesday.

    1. That’s a great post, but that’s basically a defense of Grisham, right?

      That yes, he is genuinely slumping, but he’s also been extremely unlucky for the SECOND big stretch of the season. In other words, his slump should be knocking him down to .750 from .820, ya know?

    2. He hit 34 home runs last year. That was his value. He’s nowhere near on pace to match that.

  68. Jones is not going to be Aaron Judge, and that’s okay. You don’t need to be Aaron Judge to be better than 90% of this team. But you do need to get outside coaching.

  69. Re: Grisham, at some point you are what your OPS and counting stats say you are.
    Or, as a doctor (pediatric oncologist) once told my dad (an actuary), “Probabilities are for spectators. Participants care about outcomes.”

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