From Patrick Donnelly:
It wasn’t a picture-perfect night for baseball at Target Field on Monday night, but these Yankees seem to thrive under imperfect conditions.
José Caballero homered and doubled and Aaron Judge went deep for the first time since his return from the IL as the Yankees rallied to beat the Twins, 8-3.
It’s the third straight season and the eighth time in Aaron Boone’s nine years as manager that the Yankees have reached the postseason.
“Every year you go through a lot, it seems like, but we’ve been through a lot this year with injuries, with adversity,” Boone said. “But credit to them for coming together. Through all the ups and downs, they’ve been a together group. I feel like they’ve developed a lot of grit over the season.”
This really probably IS the best Yankees team since 2024, and I think it might even be better than 2024, as 2026 Schlittler is better than 2024 Cole, 2026 Fried (if healthy) is better than 2024 Rodon, home run derby 2026 Cole is probably still better than 2024 Schmidt, and 2026 Rodon is MUCH better than 2024 Gil. And 2025 Bednar is a better closer than 2024 Weaver. Let’s say the Yankees win the Wild Card round in three games. They’d be “forced” to start Rodon in Game 1 of the ALDS, and that’s not really a big problem at all!
But hey, why concede the division just yet? This win helped make that possibility still seem, well, you know, possible.
Good to see Judge hit a big home run. I gave him the featured image for that, but you could easily say Warren deserved it more. Nice to see Michael Fulmer effective in middle relief. Combined with John Schreiber, the Yankees suddenly have some actual relievers to back up their big three. And Schmidt is about to join the team, and he will almost certainly be REALLY good out of the bullpen.
Sucks that they’ll have to play the Wild Card, and it sucks that they will get dominated by Tolle and Gray.
About the Author
“the best Yankees team since 2024”
It’s now 2026. 2024 the year before last. That’s like say “It’s the best time since the last time they had a team.”
team, not time
There is a surprisingly small amount of overlap between this team and the 2024 team. Most notably, of course, was Juan Soto’s presence.
Yeah. And of course I know what you mean.
I just keep reading this ridiculous phrasing in baseball articles, things like: it’s the first time anyone’s done that since…
three weeks ago. It’s the longest streak like this (something so recent that it doesn’t sound rare and obviously the point isn’t that we haven’t seen this for a long time).
Those are phrases for an impressively long run of something, right? For the “streak” example, you could say: there have been some other good streaks lately, like this. In this case, wouldn’t we just say “this team maybe better than the 2024 team,” without the “since”?
If we were saying “this may be the best team since 1945,” then yes, that’s when that phrasing makes sense..
Is it really necessary to celebrate like you won something just because you’re a WC team?
I’ll hang up and listen.
It is not.
You’re welcome.
The offense is still a problem, and I think maybe worse than 2024, though possibly – possibly – learning to put balls in play more effectively.
By position:
C: Wells is a worse hitter this year.
2B: 2026 Jazz/Volpe are worse than 2024 Gleyber.
3B: McMahon is worse than 2024 Jazz (offensively).
OF: 2026 Judge-Bellinger-Jones is probably worse than 2024 Judge – Soto – Verdugo. (Even despite Verdugo.)
SS: Lombard is a push compared to Volpe.
Only two positions seem definitely better:
1B: Garcia is better than Rizzo.
DH: Rice is better than Stanton.
I think the offense is close to a wash. It’s the pitching where the big improvements are.
I agree with Veggie and in 2024 Judge was Judge. We’ll see if that’s still the same this year.
Judge with a day off after the “clinch” of a “playoff spot”.
Probably pre-planned, and makes sense not to wear him down, but I remember how wrong I turned out to be advocating for him to take a rest day before the playoffs in – was it ’22 or ’24? Anyway, funny and classic Boone lineup construction that Judge gets the day off just as soon as he homers. Hopefully he can get back on track sometime in the next 10 days.
Wells also with an off day, and it’s not unreasonable to rest your “first-string catcher” after “clinching”, but that’s also two guys benched after homering. And why aren’t you trying your darnedest to catch Tampa?
Clinching means nothing. They weren’t “fighting for a playoff spot.” They were going to make the playoffs.
They’re fighting for the division. Every win makes that less unlikely, including yesterday’s win.
I don’t see how it makes even the slightest shred of sense to treat this game as more of a “rest guys” game than any other. On the contrary, they’re fighting down to the wire for the division.
That’s leaving aside Boone’s clinically insane “immediately make any hot hand cool itself on the bench” “philosophy.”
Boone will never do it, but if Cole hasn’t regained his command by the Wild Card series, I’d like to see him kept out of the rotation, and only used as a second-line long man behind Warren, in case both Fried and Rodon get pulled early.
Cole’s had a three-game stretchc with a homer problem. Up until that point he’s been pretty great, this year and for years. It might be a bit early to suddenly move him all the way down in the rankings from Ace A2 to out of the rotation.
And do we trust Cole’s head in the playoffs less than Fried’s?
Ben Rice (L) DH
Cody Bellinger (L) LF
Heliot Ramos (R) RF
Luis García Jr. (L) 1B
Spencer Jones (L) CF
George Lombard Jr. (R) SS
Anthony Volpe (R) 2B
Ali Sánchez (R) C
José Caballero (R) 3B
I hate to say this but Boone did ok this year with this team. Much fewer WTF moves and maybe a calm manager helped the team deal with the injuries.
Cashman on the other hand gave Boone a team with huge holes. C, 3b and SS can’t hit and a CF who can’t hit or field. None of this should have been a surprise to anyone who watched 2025, though maybe you thought the CF was for real after last year, which means you made the same mistake as the Yankee GM.