How Far Can the Yankees Go?

How Far Can the Yankees Go?

Just wanted to talk that’s all. How’s it going everybody? Welcome back. Welcome back. It is hard to believe that we have reached the final week of the regular season and this has got a chance to be an extremely crazy week. We’ve got a couple of teams that are on the verge of just astonishing collapses. is the Detroit Tigers, who looked like the best train team in baseball for a while, and the Mets, which you know, don’t [ __ ] bet. You can’t win. Uh, the Mets taking on water. And if they miss the playoffs, it’s going to be funny to me. But we are here to talk about the Yankees, right? The big brother always and forever in New York City. Uh the Yankees don’t necessarily control their own destiny, but they have six games left against pretty bad teams. And if they go 6-0, and the Blue Jays go three and three, play 500 ball, it’s pretty simple. The Yankees will complete the comeback and be American League Eastern Division champions. And we got some calls about that. I don’t expect it to happen. I think it’s unlikely. First of all, I expect Aaron Boon to probably put out some punt lineups this week, no question about it, as he tries to to value rest uh over potentially winning the East. Uh but Armad Lori C is right. There isn’t really one outstanding team this season. Get in and you can win. 100% correct. He is riding by the stadium at this exact moment. Nice. Uh, personally, I I’m not excited about the prospect of facing a Garrett Cole or sorry, a Garrett Crochet or a Tariq in a wildcard round in a best of three. Uh, so I I want the Yankees to come back and win the division, but I do agree that it is important to get some guys rested and also to get some guys redot going into the playoffs if possible. Derek Jeter always said, and I I believe this 100%. That it’s not necessarily the best team that wins in the playoffs. It’s the hottest. So to answer the question, how far can the Yankees go? Can they win at all? That is entirely dependent on who gets hot at the right time. And we saw some really promising signs over the past several days. Aaron Judge starting to heat up. Got 49 home runs. Now, I was updating his numbers for a segment that we’re doing later on in the show. And the last time that I had his profile up, I had all his stats up and when I was going through and updating him, I’m like, “Wow, his average went up, his home runs went up, his OPS, he’s been playing well.” John Carlos Stanton hit home run number 450. He had been scuffling a little bit, so it’s good to get him going. We really got to get him locked in going into the playoffs. And you wonder how he’s feeling, right? I mean, he was redot when he came back, but this is a guy who did have double tennis elbow and he played through it at the end of last season. He’s somebody I could see the Yankees giving a couple of days off to this week just to make sure that he is 100% healthy, ready going into the playoffs. But you also got to get him locked in. You’re starting to see some really positive signs from Ben Rice really starting to clobber the baseball. Four hits yesterday, including a humongous grand slam. And by the way, two great calls on that grand slam. Michael K and Dave Sims, both of them just knocked it out of the park to borrow a uh a baseball parlance. Rob AM says, “Did Deon turn a corner?” I guess we’ll find out. They’re going to him more and more. I don’t know, but we will see. Cody Bellinger is somebody I would like to see get hot this week. You know, he’s a guy who can have extended hot streaks. Right now, he’s not been redot. He’s been kind of scuffling a little bit. I feel like he’s kind of pressing to get to 30 home runs before his free agent year. You know, up his war as much as possible. He’s probably wanting to finish strong, but he’s a differencemaker when he’s redot and I like him in a playoff game in a big spot because he’s good at avoiding the strikeout, right? He’ll he’ll put the ball in play. How many times over the last couple of years have we needed that big run in the playoffs? If only the guy could just put it in play and we end up striking out. Bellinger is somebody who will not strike out that often and that’s big. Jason Dominguez uh probably going to get a little bit of playing time this week as they rest guys up for the playoffs. Be interested to see if he finishes strong and what role he plays in the playoffs at if any. He’s probably going to be pinch running a lot, but probably not for Stanton early in the game because you want to get as many at bats as you can out of him. Jazz Chisum hit a couple of home runs this weekend. He’s got 31 now. His confidence is at an all-time high. He is definitely going to try and get paid. Uh so a big postseason run will will go well towards his next contract. And I want to see the Yankees try and extend him. I don’t know what it’s going to take. I have no idea what he’s asking for. But if I’m his agent, I’m asking for 200 million. I mean, he’s a 4040 guy over the last 162 games. Be interested to see how high the Yankees are willing to go. They do have some money coming off the books. You got Stanton coming off the books in a couple of years. You know, I mean, even Garrick Cole’s only got four years left. I could see the Yankees backloading a contract maybe and signing Jazz Chisum to a seven, eight year deal. I could see that. And he’s also a guy that talked a lot of smack last October. He talked the talk, but he didn’t necessarily walk the walk. I want to see him make up for that this year. Have a big October, but be nice to see him heat up going into October. As far as the pitching goes, I mean, that’s that’s the number one reason you win or lose in the playoffs, 100%. Carlos Rhdon and Max Freed have both been throwing the ball well. They’ve both been pitching well. No question about it. And there’s no question about Luis Hill stuff. Just two starts ago, six shut out innings or six no hit innings against the Red Sox. The question is whether or not he can put the ball where he wants to enough in the playoffs, right? If you get into a big spot in the postseason and you’re walking guys, the crowd gets either antsy in your home ballpark or they go nuts in a visiting ballpark. And then that’s when the big hit happens or the big error or whatever when the crowd starts to get ruckus. You really got to get a way to get this guy throwing more strikes and ASAP. If I’m Garrett Cole, since I can’t pitch in this postseason, that’s going to be my contrib contribution to this playoffs. Work with Luis Heel on the side daily. To me, Cam Schlitler could play a big role. I mean, he throws strikes. He’s got a 100 mph fast ball that plays in October. He’s healthy. How will he respond to the big lights in October? Will he even get a chance? He doesn’t seem like a guy who’s going to be phased. He’s got poise for sure. Ice cold, killer. I was on foul territory before the trade deadline and they asked me what I would focus on for the Yankees to make a deep run in the playoffs if I were Brian Kman and I said the bullpen. The bullpen and that’s pretty much what he did. Camilo Duval, David Bedar, Jake Bird, who already got demoted to Triple A and has been terrible. Devin Williams was unreliable for most of the season, but he has been better lately. I still have premonitions about him folding in a huge spot in the postseason, but hey, we’re at the point where the bullpen has struggled so much and so often that there’s no doubt they’re going to have to go to him in a big spot. There is no doubt whatsoever it’s going to happen. And it worries me, but maybe he’ll surprise us and come through. Two big question marks are the bullpen and whether or not the Yankees can play fundamental baseball. If you get to a tie game and go to extra innings, can you get that run across in the top of the tenth or the top of the 11th? Can you get that run in so that you’re not facing a do or die? There is no Manfred runner in the postseason. So, we don’t have to deal with that nonsense, but can you manufacture a run? you know, maybe their home run or nothing tendency or their ability to hit home runs in bunches gives them advantages in the playoffs because, you know, teams won’t be able to get that cheap run in, right? You’re going to have to beat the Yankees and and they can drop a home run on you at any time in the playoffs and especially as the bullpen gets thinned out later and later you get into the game. 14th, 15th inning, I can see the Yankees having big innings like they did against Baltimore yesterday. Will you be able to get a bunt down when you need to? They have struggled with that this year. Either way, these next 10 to 30 days are going to be extremely exciting. Lorie C says, “Can you please not kick the ball around the infield?” And we got a few comments here. Rob A says, “The lefties, Jazz, Belly, Rice, Gisham, all made up for Sodto.” You’re absolutely right. Absolutely. And um Gisham, a guy who stepped up and had a monster season, 33 home runs or something right now, big year. Uh let’s reflect on 2025 a little bit. The Yankees do lead the league in home runs and runs. Freed Rodon both been terrific. Judge fighting for his third MVP award. I want to know what your favorite and and low points are of this season because we got just six games left in the schedule. Just six games. We got an MVP caliber year from Judge. Again, we’ll talk more about him in depth in a few minutes. John Carlos Stanton, even though he’s missed half the year, has been the best we’ve seen him as a Yankee. Max Freed has been worth every penny. He’s got a chance to win 19 games with a sub3 RA. Not easy to do. Jazz Chisum went 3030 and did it after missing a month of the season. He’s been so impressive. We’re running the bases again. Cabayro stealing. You know, even Judge has been stealing bags. Dominguez gets on bases. He’s gets on base. He’s trouble. Ben Rice has emerged as a Statcast darling who I believe is going to hit 35 to 40 home runs next year. And if he gets hot, watch out for him in the playoffs. Watch out. Cody Bellinger has been an absolute steal. Remember, they got him for Cody Potit, who later got released by the Cubs. It was basically a salary dump, and now he’s been basically our best all-around player. Jason Dominguez, solid year, although he’s lost some playing time down the stretch. Not a great outfielder. I think he had a solid rookie year. He showed some improvement in the outfield. Not a ton. Offensively, he’s been okay. He had a three home run game. He hasn’t hit for the power that we thought, but he’s hit for a higher average than some guys who are a bit older, more experienced. Vulpi, Wells. Vibe and Wells have been bad. Right. We’re going into the playoffs and we got a chance to win 90 plus games. I think they will win 90 plus games. I mean, if they go six and0, they’re going to win 94 games. I think more realistically five- one. So, let’s say 93 games, 92, 93. And we’re doing that without Garrick Cole who has not thrown a pitch all season. That’s amazing. You add a healthy Garrick Cole to what Freed and Rodon have done. There’s no question the Yankees would have been the favorites in the American League. No question. Vulpi has been under scrutiny all year because he’s quite frankly been terrible. How will he do in the postseason? He’s been hitting better since his break. Austin Wells, barely a 200 hitter this year. Didn’t have his customary two hot months, but a threat for the long ball at any moment. So, you know, this is going to be a very interesting last stretch of games. I’m very excited to see what could happen. It does worry me a little bit, you know, that the the bullpen is beat down. We had some good moments this year. We had the Dominguez three-run home run or three homer game and the walk-off. Judge hitting .400 for two months. We had the gauntlet, 12game gauntlet where almost every game was exciting minus a couple of blowouts. Cody Bellinger almost hitting four home runs in a game. They had a few guys with three homer games this year. Judge had one. Dominguez had one. Bellinger had one. The first series at home against the Mets when the Yankees took the series and Sodto looked extremely unhappy. That was fun. By the way, he has turned his season around. We got to give credit where credit’s due. career-high in home runs. But when I look back on the 2025 season, I’m going to think of this as the year of bullpen meltdowns because the the bullpen has been the cause of a lot of pain this year. A lot of pain. We’ll see how it works out in the playoffs. We got uh Judge with a nine war now. a nine war hitting 326 49 home runs 451 on base percentage 209 OPS+ and I get that Cow Rowi’s had a good year and I’m going to pull up him on baseball reference but Judge beats him in almost everything except home runs including war which is increasingly something that the voters look at. Let me just go ahead and pull that up real quick so we can take a look. Standby. 6.9 war for Cal Raleigh. 6.9. He does have 58 home runs, but he’s hitting 247. So what? 70 points lower. He’s got more home more RBI’s. Own base percentage is way lower. OPS is lower. OPS plus is lower. Yes. what he’s done is historic. He’s probably going to hit 60 home runs as a catcher, but to me, the clear-cut MVP, and it might not be unanimous this year, but the clear-cut MVP in terms of the numbers is Aaron Judge. Without Aaron Judge, Yankees don’t make the playoffs. Forget having a shot at the division. And probably the same can be said for Cal Raleigh, but I mean, those numbers are ridiculous. 326 for this guy. Remember when he came up when we were saying if he could just hit 230, 240, yada yada yada. He’s turned himself into a legitimate amazing hitter. John says only if Judge could hit in the playoffs. Well, we’re going to see. We’re going to find out this year. No excuses. He’s looked better. He’s looked healthy over the last week or so. He’s rounding into form. We’ll see if they pitch to him. We’ll see if they challenge him in the playoffs. But he’s got that cloud hanging over him for his career. Unfortunately, he’s got a chance this year. And I have a feeling no matter what he does, you know, if the Yankees don’t win the World Series on his back, people are still going to give him a hard time. He might hit five home runs in a threeame series that the Yankees get swept and people are going to be like, “Judge sucks. He’s the reason they lost over there.” That’s what they’re going to say. And it would be an idiotic take. But Judge is probably going to win the MVP. We’ll see how it it shakes out in the playoffs. It’s just a reaction. Couple of voicemails here. Here’s Josh. Hey Derek, this is Josh from Connecticut. And call me crazy, but I think the Yankees have a very good shot to still win the division. I am not giving up yet. If we go 6-0 over the next six games and the Red Sox go three and three, we win. If we go 5- one and the Blue Jays go two and four, we win. And I think that’s a very realistic possibility because they’re playing the Red Sox and the Red Sox are going to be clawing tooth to nail to just make the playoffs and the Rays are their final series and the Rays took two out of four against them in Tampa. I think it’s very possible the Blue Jays do not win both of those series and if the Yankees continue to win, the division is there, baby. Yeah, it’s going to be a fun week. Let’s hope the Yankees just don’t punt against the White Socks or something. Just two games back, but you It’s really three because you’ve got to you win the division by a game over the uh Blue Jays. Like I said, six and0. Blue Jays go three and three. I think that’s reasonable. I think that’s the Yankees best chance. They went out. I mean, I can see the the the Blue Jays losing three games. We’ll see. Here’s Eric from Baltimore. Hey, Derek. Uh, great show. I love your show. Wish it was longer. Hey, uh, this is Eric from Baltimore. Love the weekend of baseball here. Listen, you got to have the belt go to the actual winner. You got to give that belt to the winner. What do you think about that? Actually physically give a belt to a physical winner at the end of the season. Okay. So, so first of all, there is an actual belt and it’s circulated throughout the clubhouse. And that’s where this came from. This idea of giving giving out the belt each game. Also, I don’t know these guys. I can’t just like go to Max Freed’s house and be like, “Here, I present you with a belt.” Like, it I appreciate it, but it’s not realistic. Uh, we got a comment here. Rob AM says, “Derek, we may lose Gish and Belly for our outfield next year. Will be Martian, Jones, and Judge.” I’m not sold on Jones with his 37% strikeout rate in in TripleA. I wouldn’t guarantee him a spot. I do think that the Martian and Judge will be there, but I think that one of Gisham or Bellinger will be back. I suspect it will be Cody Bellinger. There’s a chance they bring back both and then Deal Jones. If the Yankees decided to resign Gisham to put him in center field and sign Bellinger to play first base and make Ben Rice your catcher, well, Austin Wells loses his job in that situation. and he becomes the backup. But you’re adding, you know, two power bats that are combining for 60 plus home runs this year back into your lineup for next year. That’s a lot of heavy lifting and losing that would be difficult. So, I’d have no problem with that. And then if if that scenario occurs, then you trade Jones and you try and get some pitching for him. Uh here’s a quick word from DraftKings and we’ll be back to wrap it up. One week to go. Your season, your shot. The NFL season is rolling and every touchdown can bring you closer to a payout with DraftKings Sportsbook, an official sports betting partner of the NFL. Download the DraftKing Sportsbook app and use code foul. That’s code foul to get $200 in bonus bets instantly when you place your first $5 bet, plus over $200 off NFL Sunday Ticket from YouTube and YouTube TV in partnership with DraftKings. The crown is yours. Gambling problem? Call 1800 gambler. In New York, call 8778Y or text open 467-369. In Connecticut, help is available for problem gambling. Call 888-789-77777 or visit ccpg.org. Please play responsibly on behalf of Boothill Casino and Resort in Kansas. Fees may apply in Illinois. 21 and over. Age and eligibility varies by jurisdiction. Void in Ontario. Bonus bets expire 7 days after issuance. See sportsbookked. DraftKings.com/promos. NFL Sunday ticket offer for new subscribers only and autorenews until canceled. Digital games and commercial use excluded. Restrictions apply. Additional NFL Sunday Ticket terms at youtube.com/go/nflundaytick/terms. Limited time offer. All right, so we got a couple of comments here from throughout the show. Rob AM says, “Judge lost a 100 potential home runs from 2018 to 2020 due to injuries and co.” You’re 100% right. I mean, he’d be I mean, how many does he have for his career now? 300 and some odd home runs. I’m going to find out. I know he just passed uh I think he’s got 363 or something like that. 364. Yeah. So, I mean, he’d be pushing close to 500. He’d be he’d probably be getting to 500 next year as a 34 year old, which would be just absurd. Zachary Bass says, “Look forward to more Stanton in October.” 100%. Me, too. This guy is a wrecking machine. Dom D says, “Belly will be back.” I agree with you 100%. I think he’s coming back. And then Edward NG says, “Qualifying offer for Gisham. Qualifying offer this year is $22 million.” That’d be a nice raise for him. I think I think he would consider taking it. Uh but ladies and gentlemen, thanks for watching. We’ll be back after the game tomorrow. White Socks in town. Six games remaining. Reminder to like and subscribe. Tip of the victory hat. And we’ll see you next time. If you enjoyed this content, please hit that like button and subscribe. Check out nydesigns.shop for some great merch. Support our sponsors. It helps keep the show going. And you can find us on all major audio platforms, so be sure to subscribe there, too. But most importantly, come back again soon. We’ll see you

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In this episode, a discussion of the Yankees chances in the postseason.