SHOCKER: New York Yankees TIED for AL East Lead | Can They CLINCH Division in Final Games?

SHOCKER: New York Yankees TIED for AL East Lead | Can They CLINCH Division in Final Games?

[Music] You are Locked on Yankees, your daily New York Yankees podcast, part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. Welcome to Locked On Yankees, which is part of the Locked on Podcast Network, your team every day. Thank you for making us your first listen every day. I’m Stacy Gatsulius. He’s Brian McKen. We’ve been hosting the show together for a year and a half. We’re only what, four games away from the end of the regular season. Can you believe that, Brian? The postseason is creeping closer and closer, and nothing in the standings is decided. No. No. On today’s show, we’re going to preview the finale with the White Socks. There’s been a change to the rotation, which we’ll discuss later in the show. But first, let’s discuss the second game against the White Sox, which the Yankees won. And what did that do? Coupled with a Toronto loss. The Yankees are now tied with Toronto at the top of the AL standings. Now, if the season ended today, the Yankees would be the wild card. Toronto would win the division because Toronto obviously owns the tiebreaker because Toronto basically owned the Yankees all season. But if the Yankees can keep doing what they’re doing and if Toronto keeps falling apart, you may see the Yankees get a buy in the playoffs. Yeah, they there’s so many things that are going to be afterthoughts when it comes to this game because of what this game meant to their season and this team. Uh this was their 90th win of the season. Um they they now have the lead in the they have they are tied in the top of the American League East. They are tied at the top of the American League. Think about how we spoke about this team throughout the entire year. They could very well finish with the best record in the American League. It kind of does make you want to sit back for a second and think about how spoiled we are as Yankee fans that we thought everything was unacceptable going throughout the entire season and they wound up they could wind up having the best record in the American League. It’s wild. Well, let’s say those two months where they played absolutely putrid baseball were unacceptable. It’s fine if a team goes into a lull, you know, because all teams go through lulls. It’s a six-monthl long season, but you can’t go from performing really well to being one of the worst teams in the league, which is what they were for two months. So, we had every right to complain about how the Yankees were playing in those two months, but they have really turned it around. And yes, they’re doing this against the White Sox. We realize this, but these are the teams you’re supposed to beat, and they’re beating them. Yeah. You can only play who’s available on your schedule. So I don’t want and all these other teams too played the White Socks earlier in the year as well, but they all play the same teams the same amount of times now. So doesn’t really affect that. Um Max Freed got his 19th win of the season. That’s a really cool stat to see. Um he pitched unbelievable in this game. Uh gave them absolutely everything they needed. By the way, we kind of discussed this and uh alluded to it on last night’s show. There was a very large possibility the Yankees could have come into this game really really sluggish and potentially a little hung over and we would have been annoyed the two of us but we also wouldn’t have been able to totally blame them after the celebration and stuff coming in. We well we could have blamed them just we would have we would have we would have had an explanation for why they would have came out flat today and they didn’t. Before we Well, before we get into that because I do have a stat there that’s kind of funny. Most games with seven or more innings and one run or fewer allowed this season. Tark Scubble 11, Garrett Crochet 11, Max Freed 10. He may wind up being third in the American League SI Young Chase. Yeah, Max Freed when it all said and done. Not sure the order there because it’s Scoo Crochet Freed. It could be either way with the top two, but he should definitely finish I would think he would finish third. Yeah, I I don’t know who’s going to win that. Garrick Cro Garrick Crochet got to his 250th strikeout earlier tonight. So I actually think he will I think school’s last start didn’t really help him. Plus it kind of good point and their collapse that it made them be tied with Cleveland and now Cleveland has pulled ahead because Detroit has completely lost the plot. They have lost the plot. So wait, this is what I wanted to talk about because you were talking about the Yankees coming out slug sluggish. That’s how you say that word. The bottom of the first inning, we’ve talked about this before. The Yankees had a noble tiger. That means no outs, bases loaded, ending with team incapable of getting easy run because it started with three walks, Gisham, Judge Bellinger. Then Stanton flyed out to right, Rice struck out swinging and Goldmid struck out swinging. And all I saw on social media was, “Oh, they’re hung over. This is going to be a pro. They’re going to lose this game. This is a problem.” And then of course the Yankees made up for it immediately in the bottom of the second and the third. That level of patience uh to start a game is also really impressive because uh to to lo you load the bases like that in a postseason game, the pitcher nerves start acting up a little bit more than they normally would. So um I do love that level of patience. So we get all Max Freed stuff. We discussed all that and how good he’s been. Now let’s discuss the other impressive uh guy in this game. Uh Aaron Judge. Stacey gets to number 50, adds on number 51 later on in this game. I I mean, it is the truth. At this point, we have both and everybody that covers the Yankees has pretty much run out of words to how to describe this guy. Um, let’s go over some of these numbers of of of the company that he’s in right now. So, it ties the MLB record with his fourth 50 or more home run season. Babe Ruth did it 1920, 1921, 1927, 1928. Mark Magcguire did it 96 through 99, which is crazy. Every year Sammy Sosa did it uh 1998 through 2001, also crazy. And then Judge 2017, 2022, obviously that’s when he broke the record, and then 2024, and 2025 back to back. Uh he’s the first person to do it four times in his first 10 seasons. And and I mean, let’s be real, he could easily have two other seasons of 50 plus home runs without the injuries. Is that one year where he hit 38 home runs and he missed he he only played in like 90 games. Can we say he’d probably have 60 if he didn’t have the elbow injury? Yeah, because he probably would. Yeah. It’s it’s it’s it’s just it’s insane. year and then and he he’s easily I mean I’d say right now he’d be favored to break this this record and do it for a fifth season because I mean he’s got years of his prime still left. It’s just it is it’s unbelievable Stacy. I mean you sometimes we got to sit back and think we are watching legitimately one of the all-time great players playing in his prime at the moment. I saw a really funny post on Reddit. Someone wrote that Aaron Judge is, you know, like the best right-handed hitter that they’ve seen. And then a Dodger fan said he’s the best hitter with two hands that I’ve seen. And I thought that was so funny because I thought, wow, a Dodger fan actually said that. But I thought that was actually hilarious. One more stat about Judge. He’s the second player ever in consecutive seasons to have a 300 average, 50 home runs, and 100 walks in a season and or consecutive seasons. The other Babe Ruth. So, he keeps pretty good company good company with all of these incredible stats. I just I he’s amazing. And uh the other thing that amazed me, aside from Trent Gisham hitting his 34th home run, because who the hell could have predicted that this season, Ben Rice has four triples. Yeah, that one’s weird, too. Especially in Yankee Stadium, which isn’t usually a triples park, right? There’s no triples alley in Yankee Stadium. Unless you’re like Brett Gardner and you’re running the bases like Well, yeah, but I don’t think anyone’s confusing anyone No one’s confusing Ben Rice for a speed demon out there. Well, that’s my point cuz that had to have been a very pingpongy not ping pongying uh pinball kind of ball to have that happen. These judge stats are historic and great and wonderful. There is that that element missing. There just is. It’s it’s it’s the playoff success. It’s the World Series championship that that is still missing. And I am very happy that he is hitting home runs like this right now as the season is winding up. Hopefully, he continues this stretch into the postseason. It would be really nice. Yes, I would like for him to I would just like for him to get the monkey off his back and hit a home run in the first game of the playoffs, wherever they’re playing, whether it be the wild card series or the division series, kind of like how he did against the A’s in the 2018 wild card game. I just want him to get it done, do it in the beginning, and get that monkey off his back and then maybe that will relax him. So, let’s quickly go through some numbers before we talk about the next thing. Devin Williams last seven games, seven innings pitched, three hits, one walk, 10ks. His last 16 games, 16 innings pitched, eight hits, five earned earned runs, five walks, 32 strikeouts. So he has a 52.5% strikeout rate in that. I still it I still do feel like Devin Williams is the ex-girlfriend that all of your friends are like, “Please be careful around her. Please be careful around her.” Like I’m starting to believe I’m starting to believe that she’s really changed this time. Yeah. Yeah. But God, I’m there. I’m I’m still a little afraid to get hurt. Yeah. So, let’s talk about the other thing that helped the Yankees reach the top of the AL standings again. The Blue Jays are clearly falling apart because the Yankees in their last seven are six and one. The Blue Jays are one and six in their last seven. And Wednesday night was not a good game for them. Um Vlad Jr. got thrown out for arguing balls and strikes. Bereos actually stepped off the mound to accuse Romy Gonzalez of relaying signs from second base because we know how uh Toronto is very touchy about people relaying signs and if they look off to the side, they accuse them of cheating because they didn’t only do it to Aaron Judge a couple of seasons ago. Apparently, they did it to Cal Raleigh earlier in the season as well. So, they’re really I think that comes from the manager because John Schneider is the guy that does that sort of thing where he will kind of step in it when he’s talking about certain teams and it’s just rubbing off on the rest of the squad. Also, Max Scherzer in his last two starts, he can’t start a playoff game if he’s going to pitch like that. No. No. It is funny. Uh it’s very middle school of them. Anyone who’s just playing well is cheating. Yeah. Yeah. It’s it’s it’s incredible, right? Like the comment for Buck Martinez where, oh, the Yankees only do well against good teams, uh, bad teams because they have to cheat to beat good teams. Fish rots from the head. Manager goes to the play-by-play guys. It goes to the guys on the field. By the way, Buck, I hope you enjoyed calling that 20 to1 game against Kansas City last week. Yes. Nice and long. Yeah. So on Tuesday, I didn’t even know about this until earlier today. I think it was earlier today. I saw it on Instagram. The J the Jays. Okay, let’s give them this. They have had some bad calls against them in the last few days. There was a catch that was ruled a non-catch, but it was clearly a catch and I don’t know how the umpires missed it live and I don’t know how they missed it on the replay, but and then George Springer after a foul ball was called or a fair ball was called fouled. I think that’s what happened, right? And he got really angry and then he ended up striking out or flying like he got out so he didn’t get a hit. He went to the dugout, was yelling at the umps and basically accuse them of wanting the Yankees to win the division. He thinks the umpires are in cahoots to let the Yankees win the division. You know, it’s funny. I’ll acknowledge this, too. I could totally if he went out there in a press conference and had the guts to accuse Major League Baseball and Rob Manford of wanting the Yankees to win. I could totally I don’t think that would be true. I could understand the narrative. I could see why Major League Baseball would think it’s good for the Yankees to win the World Series this year. So like I get it if it were him doing that to a Why would the umpires give a bleep about the Yankees winning? What do they care? And the Yankees are going they’re going to the postseason anyway. So, if anything, Major League Baseball wants the Yankees to actually be in the wild card game because that’s more prime time games the New York Yankees are playing in, right? So, if anything, they want the Yankees to make the wild card round. So, I This is a weird This team is falling apart, it seems. Also, if you guys didn’t see the end of Wednesday’s game, the game ended on a 93 put out. The ball was hit to right field. The right fielder threw it to first base and threw Alejandro Kirk out. And that’s how the game ended. Toronto really didn’t have a chance of coming back. It was 7-1, but what a way for a game to end. Yeah, that’s a kick in the cubes to end a game. Let’s let’s face it, that that’s a hard one. Uh let’s just let’s just say it like it is. You guys are watching this on Thursday morning. This is Thursday’s episode of Locked on Yankees. As of last Wednesday, one week ago, the Blue Jays had a 5 and a half game lead in the American League East. And we sat here on the show and basically told you we thought the division was over. Stacy, since then the Blue Jays are 1 and six and the Yankees are six and one. The division’s tied, baby. Feels so good. Yeah. Also, one last note. George Springer, you were on the 2017 Astros. Why are you even accusing anyone of doing anything nefarious? Yeah, maybe this one out. Sit this one out and be quiet. My goodness. All right. Don’t forget, subscribe to the channel. Hit the like button on our videos. Hit the notifications so you know when our videos go up. You can also join the locked on Yankees insiders club. The link is in the description, both on the audio side and video side. You’ll get texts from us. You can text us questions, comments, reactions to trades and signings. You also get top priority on fan mail Friday, which is our show tomorrow. So, be sure to tune in for that. We send out lineups during the season, roster moves, and breaking news, so you don’t have to check social media. We also have a private Discord where you can commiserate about the games. There’s a 14-day free trial. Coming up, there’s been a change to the rotation. It affects the playoffs. We’re going to talk about it next. The NFL season is here and FanDuel is making sure that you’re ready for kickoff with a can’tmiss offer. Right now, new customers can bet just $5 and if your bet wins, you’ll get $300 in bonus bets to use across the app. And I love using FanDuel because it fits however I like to bet whenever I want to bet. I can get in on player props, building a same game parlay or even jumping in live as all the action unfolds. It makes every game more exciting. Whether you’re watching your team or just keeping an eye on the fantasy lineup, it is the best way to watch football. It’s quick, it’s easy, and it’s the best way to add a little more energy to my Sundays. So, are you ready to play? Download the FanDuel app now by visiting fanuel.com to get started. That’s fuel.com to place your first $5 bet. So, as I mentioned, Fam Mail Friday is tomorrow. So, if you watch us on YouTube, we have a way for you to send us questions. Go to our channel’s page, click on the post tab, you will see the latest post where I tell you where to leave the questions and what time you need to leave them by. It’ll be later today, 5:00 PM Eastern Daylight Time. So, get them in. Stacy, uh, good news, I guess. I like the Yankees are doing this move. Yankees announced on I guess Aaron Boon’s press conference on Wednesday morning or afternoon that Aaron that uh Carlos Rodon would move up in the rotation and instead of starting game one of the Baltimore Orioles series on Friday night, he would be starting game three of the Chicago White Socks series on Thursday night. Now, why is this significant? It puts Carlos Rodon on normal rest for potential game two of the American League Wildcard Series. Um, this is a big move. It’s a significant move, I think, for multiple reasons. This puts the pressure on the Toronto Blue Jays. It’s putting the importance on game three. The Yankees don’t want to settle for two out of three with the White Socks. They want to sweep the White Socks. And Carlos Rodon winning that game for them, which gives them the best chance to win, puts the extra amount of added pressure onto the Toronto Blues, which is what they want to do. So, I think that is key. They’re expressing that they, hey, we want to win the division. We’re here to win the division. We’re here to make sure that the American League playoffs goes through the Bronx, not through Toronto, not through anywhere else. So, I do like that they’re doing that. The only concern that I have is if you wind up in the wildard series, and again, they’re they’re kind of putting their chips all in the middle here and trying to make sure they’re not in the wild card series by starting Rodon on game three against the White Socks. if they somehow wind up in that wild card series because remember even though they’re tied Toronto still has by a technicality a oneame lead on the Yankees because they are they do own the tiebreaker. So if the Yankees and Blue Jays each finish the year two and two they will go to the post the Blue Jays will win the American League East and the Yankees will just be in the wild card. By doing this that means you’re starting Max Freeden game one of the wild card series. You’re starting Carlos Ryan game two of the wild card series and then if it needs to go to a game three you’re starting Luis Heel, Cam Schlitler, Will Warren. Probably not. But you get what I’m saying. Yeah. I don’t love the idea of starting either one of those guys. A very inexperienced arm in a do or die game in game three. That is the only place where I think you leave yourself a little bit of uh scariness there. That’s why they need to win the division because then they’ll be in the division series and it’s a fivegame series. So if you win the first two and lose the middle game, you still have two games to win. Yeah, I would feel more comfortable. But but I understand why they’re doing what they’re doing. Now question here. Uh there is that little bit of a notion that teams that get that go into the postseason playing really well and then get time off before the division series wind up being very flat in the divisional series because of that time off and you kind of want to keep playing. That a scare for you at all? Is that a concern for you at all that if they make the division series, they’re going to have that? It’s it’s kind of a rock and a hard place situation, right? Because the Yankees had the buy last year and they made it through the and it didn’t affect them. Agreed. Agreed. And the Dodgers did too and it didn’t affect them. So, I get what you’re saying. It it is kind of a moot point sometimes, but there are times when teams come out flat, when they get into the postseason playing really well, that off time kind of staggers you and freezes you a little bit. It’s much more common in the NFL, teams that get the first round buy, just come out in the divisional round and look lost. Um, it’s like they forgot how to play. Yeah. Yeah. Um, I just I I agree with you. I think at this point they’re going for the division. They want the division. They want the rest. And they want to be able to line their guys up. So, I agree with you. I agree with this move in moving Rodon up. Yeah, I think it’s the right move. And I think again, you win that game three with Rodon on the mound and the Blue Jays lose to the Red Sox and get swept, all of the pressure is on Toronto. All of it’s on Toronto to to sweep the sweep the uh Rays in their last series. And it is funny because Will Warren let everyone know that he was pitching on Friday night, but none of the lists were changed. Yeah. Yeah, because I mentioned it on the show yesterday, but then I realized that when we were doing the preview for the remaining two games of the series, I was like, “Oh, Rodon, Rodon is still listed.” So, I cut that part out of the episode because I didn’t want people yelling at me saying, “Well, you know, uh, Warren’s pitching on Thursday, not Rodon.” So, they kind of leaked it because Warren was like, “Yeah, I’m pitching on f I’m starting Friday.” And he said that on Tuesday, but they didn’t say that Rodon was pitching Thursday. Yeah. And I wonder if the Yankees didn’t ne I wonder if they had a speaking to with Warren saying, “Hey, when we tell you when you’re starting and it’s not your normal day, don’t say anything publicly because I think the Yankees wanted to kind of catch the White Socks by or not even the White Sox, the Blue Jays by surprise by starting Rodon on Thursday.” So, I I kind of think they they might have had a speaking to with Lil Lauren saying, “Hey, uh, let’s not let’s not start telling everybody and your mother that you’re start tell everybody in the world because I think that’s what happened.” But yeah, I’ll admit you. I’ll pull the curtain back when I was editing the episode last night. I was like, “Oo, you know what? I think I’m going to cut this part out because I don’t want to be wrong about this because, you know, maybe I misheard the Warren thing, but then I went back and saw what was said. I was like, “No, that’s what he said.” So, yeah, it is. I I like the move. I think it’s a good move. I think it’s a smart move. It puts the pressure on Toronto and it’s showing that, hey, they’re here to win the division. They don’t they don’t want the wild card, which I agree. The wild card is much more of a roll of the dice. It is going to the fiveame series is much more of a short thing than than a threeame series. Yeah, it’s so it’s, you know, and the five game series used to be the one that used to Well, it still scares me. generally like the five game because you really like there’s absolutely no room for error in the wild card. There’s and there really isn’t that much in a fivegame series either because you know there’s more. But I agree with you. But really like there’s one bad game and your team gets thrown off and then you could be either swept in three or lose in four and it’s just over. I don’t I don’t like the wild card series. I I liked the wild card game better. I I’ll be honest. I thought it was a better thing to start. I like the idea of starting the postseason off with a game seven, right? Or or like essentially a game 163 because they got rid of that with all the tiebreaker nonsense because the 163 games were fantastic. And I love the wild card game when the Yankees aren’t involved, but when they’re in there, I obviously I It’s the absolute correct quote there. The wild card game is terrific when your team’s not playing in it. Yeah. Yeah. It’s great when your team’s not in it. love watching the wild card games or loved watching the wild card games when the Yankees weren’t involved. But yeah, they get scary when your team’s involved. But we don’t have that anymore because baseball’s going to make the playoffs, you know, five rounds. Yeah. In in five years it’ll be five rounds and the regular season only be a 150 games and there’s going to be 16 teams in the playoffs and it’s going to be like a bracket like Rob Manfred’s doing everything imaginable to leave as many imprints as possible on the board. Yeah. Yeah. All right. Well, coming up, we’ll preview that game between Rodon and the White Sox starter, whose name escapes me right now, but we have it written in the rundown. So, we’ll tell you that in the next segment, and we’ll also tell you about some news from around the league. What do you get when you have a bald eagle standing on top of a silverback gorilla riding a T-Rex? Confidence. Pure confidence. And if you’re looking for something beyond the usual pill, it’s time to meet Rouiet Golong. That’s exactly where Rouette’s Golong comes in. This isn’t just another ED pill. It’s a total game changer for confidence. Golong combines two doctor trusted medications and in one dualaction formula. So you get hard and go the distance. The effects can last up to 36 hours. That’s confidence all day, all night, and even into the next day. The process is simple. Connect with a boardcertified doctor, 100% online. And if prescribed, your treatment ships discreetly right to your door. Ready to level up your confidence in the bedroom? Head to rouette.com and use promo code locked on MLB for 15% off your order. That’s rugg.com, promo code one word, locked on MLB. Make sure to use our code so they know that we sent you. Stacy, everyone, good news, great news, because not only do we cover your team every single day, but we’re also giving you instant episodes after every single game. Check out the Locked on Yankees postcast. It’s hosted by Jay Berman and it appears right here on the Locked On Yankees podcast feed. It also streams on our YouTube channel. Get rapid reaction moments throughout the entire postseason with the Locked on Yankees postcast. and Stacy, speaking of that Locked on Yankees postcast, uh you can hear us uh talking to you guys after they’re live and when they’re off all postseason because we will be with you live through most of the postseason after the Yankees playoff games, too. So, uh look out for that. Plenty of Yankees content all across locked on uh after the Yankees play their games in the postseason. Today, a series preview with the White Socks. Uh game three, last game of the series. Another yes game 705. Davis Martin 7 and 10 with a 403 RA. We’ll go up against Carlos Rodon who we mentioned earlier. They moved up to he’s uh record is 17-9 with a 304 ERA. Look at the numbers. Uh 7 and 10 403 17 and 9 304. Yeah. 403 and 304. Very interesting. Yeah, that is the way your brain works. It it does. It does. I you you find the symmetry in that and think it’s the most amazing thing in the world. I do. I’m such a geek in that way. Like you know I can’t help it. Crazy stuff in the night is some results have already happened in Major League Baseball. The Cleveland Guardians again beat the Detroit Tigers. So the Tigers have just not winning games anymore. The Guardians have a one-ame lead in the American League Central are on their way to winning the division somehow someway. Who the heck saw that coming? What’s crazy though is the Tigers could be standings watching thinking that they are slowly but surely falling out of the wild card and then they see Houston losing one- nothing to the Athletics. As we currently record this, it’s the fifth inning and the A’s just took a one- nothing lead over the Astros. So, the Astros have now lost five in a row on their way to the sixth in a row keeping Detroit in the postseason picture. So, it is it is wild what’s going on throughout all of baseball. Stacy, yeah, also wild. I’ll tell the story. So, I was down in my kitchen in the afternoon and my brother starts laughing and I’m I’m looking at the TV. I’m like, “Are you watching the Braves in the Nationals?” He’s like, “Yeah, it’s on.” And he said, “CBuckner just blew a call at first.” I was like, “Of course he did.” Shocking. So, I continue what I’m doing in the kitchen and my brother goes, “He did it again.” And I said, “What do you mean?” He’s like, “He just blew another call.” So, this is what happened. It was the ninth inning. One guy was clearly safe and called out and the other was clearly out but called safe. And when the second call was reversed, it ended the game. This man cannot be near a playoff series. He can’t be within a 500 mile radius of a playoff series. I don’t understand how this guy Well, I do because it’s a Union thing, but how this reminded me of Angel Hernandez. Yeah. In the 2018 Division Series at first base, but he had like what, three calls overturned. Now, it’s remarkable. It’s remarkable how bad these guys are at their job. It It really is a plate thing. This is a him staring at first base, looking at the hearing the sound of the ball hitting the glove and looking at the foot hit the base and getting it wrong twice in a row. It can’t happen. It’s so It’s so pathetic and so bad. It’s It’s I have no words for how bad that guy is at his job. It’s just unbelievable. And thankfully, Angel Hernandez is nowhere to be found anymore. But we got to get rid of some of these other guys who are just they’ve been there too long and they’re not good at their job. Sometimes unions aren’t the greatest things. Right. Right. Um, speaking of which too, uh, just to to throw in this little tidbit, too, uh, helping out the Yankees tonight and potentially keeping the Houston Astros out of the postseason, do you know who’s starting for the Athletics? Severino. Severino throwing an absolute gem, scoreless in the fifth inning, which he doesn’t do at home. He really struggles in that ballpark in Sacramento. So, yeah, thank you, Luis Severino. And by the way, also thank you to Carlos Narvz. He was one of the guys who hit a home run against Toronto for the Blue Jays. For the Blue Jays for the Red Sox against the Blue Jays, former Yankee. So, thank you. I actually I’ll tell you guys this. I got a text from the locked on MLB host Sully who’s a big Red Sox fan. If you don’t know that, he is. And uh I got it while Brian was doing his live read and it said because Sully is Sully, do you love that dirty water? No, I don’t. But I am I am appreciative of the Red Sox helping out the Yankees right now, 100%. Um, other news around the league too, Stacy, the New York Mets had a legitimate opportunity because the Cincinnati Reds don’t want to win games. They got the Cincinnati Reds get a three-game series against the Pirates and can’t beat the Pirates. They lose four to three to Pittsburgh at extra after they swept the Cubs in four games. Like, how do you do that? Crazy. So, the Mets had an opportunity to get themselves back into the playoff race into the postseason by playing the Cubs and they lose 10-3 to the Cubs. So, no one seems to be wanting to win at this point. The Diamondbacks have a chance now to leaprog the Mets and um leaprog the um the Mets and the Reds tonight if they win. They are currently playing the Dodgers and they are losing three to one in the sixth inning. So, it is a mess right now. None of these teams want to seem to be able to take uh hold of the of the actual race they’re in. It’s crazy. It is crazy. So, as we stand right now, the Yankees have a five-game lead over the for the first uh spot in the wild card, tied with the Blue Jays. The Red Sox are second with a two-game lead. The which is all essentially I mean really would be hard to blow that in four games, but it could happen. The Tigers are in third place currently, still sitting there. The Astros are a half game back in that fourth place role. And then in the in the National League, the Cubs have clinched with an eightgame lead. The Padres’s have clinched with a they are three games back of the Cubs. So likely that series is going to be played in Wrigley Field. Um and then the Mets currently are in that last wildard spot, but the Diamondbacks are tied with them. And if the Diamondbacks beat the Dodgers and come back tonight, they will be ahead of the Mets for that last wild card spot. Well, if they keep it to 3-1 and get to the bullpen, they could very well beat the Dodgers because the Dodgers bullpen has been having issues lately. Awful. It’s insane. Whether it’s the amount of money they spent, whether it’s Tanner Scott or Blake Trident, they’re just I don’t know what’s going on with that. Think about how much money they spent uh this off season and getting all those guys in their bullpen. It’s crazy how bad their bullpen is. By the way, just for just for uh uh bleeps and giggles, the Cardinals and Marlins are still technically alive. Yeah. Again, the Cardinals are three games out, which is crazy how they say they’ve stayed in it. Yeah. Yeah. They weren’t as bad this year as they were last year, right? The Rockies The Rockies 37 and a half out of a wild card spot. Yeah. And the Rockies run differential is what, like minus 300 something? No, minus 405. What? They pass 400. Wow. I actually, just for nerdy sports taking me, I actually hope it stays there. Wow. Like I hope I hope in their last four games they don’t get it to back in the 300s. I want it to be in the 400s. That is wild. That’s definitely a record, right? Because that’s the next worst is the in baseball is the Angels at minus 152. Incredible. It’s insane. That’s incredible. Wow. So bad. That’s a hundred more than double, right? Because 152 plus 152 would be around 304 and then it’s 405. So it’s like Wow. And the Yankees is plus 152. Like, just put that into perspective. It’s It’s crazy. Crazy. Baseball is baseballing this week. And we love it because the Yankees are doing well. So, we’re having a fun time watching everyone else having a rough time. Every game means too much. Yeah, it’s But this is what baseball wanted and this is what baseball got. I don’t think that like they wanted this to happen. I don’t think they it was going to happen. I don’t think anyone thought that some of this was going to happen because so many so many teams are like, “I don’t want the wild card. You take the wild card.” No, I don’t want the You take the wild card. Someone It is so much fun. Yeah, it is. All right. Well, thank you for making Locked on Yankees your first list today. For your second listen, find the allnew Locked on MLB Game Night. Every game, every night, until a World Series champion is crowned. Get local analysis on a national scale. You can find MLB Game Night on Locked on MLB on YouTube or wherever you listen to your podcasts. So, that’ll do it for this edition of Locked on Yankees. And don’t forget, tomorrow’s episode is Fail Friday. I’m Stacy Gatsulius and I’m Brian McCann. We’ll catch you tomorrow. [Music]

The New York Yankees are tied with Toronto atop the AL East after a crucial win against the White Sox, with Aaron Judge hitting his 50th and 51st home runs of the season. Carlos Rodón’s rotation move signals the Yankees’ push for the division title and playoff positioning. Locked On Yankees breaks down the latest standings, playoff scenarios, and key performances from Judge, Trent Grisham, and Ben Rice.

Join the LOY Insiders Club via subtext! https://joinsubtext.com/lockedonyankees
What is the Insiders Club? https://youtu.be/BItWi-kbIJY?t=1468

Follow & Subscribe on all Podcast platforms…
🎧 https://lockedonpodcasts.com/podcasts/locked-on-yankees/

Locked On MLB League-Wide: Every Team, Prospects & More
🎧 https://lockedonpodcasts.com/leagues/mlb/

Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!

5-Hour ENERGY
Enough with boring, flavorless caffeine, it’s time to give your caffeine a flavor upgrade with 5-hour ENERGY®️ shots. Get the favorites you love or be bold and try something new in-store and online at https://www.5hourENERGY.com or Amazon today.

Nutrafol
See thicker, stronger hair with less shedding in just 3–6 months with Nutrafol. For a limited time, get $10 off your first month’s subscription and free shipping when you go to https://Nutrafol.com and enter the promo code LOCKEDONMLB.

Zippix
Go to https://ZippixToothpicks.com and use promo code LOCKEDON for 10% off your first order. Zippix Toothpicks—energy and focus, anytime you need it.

Rugiet
Ready to level up your confidence ? Head to https://rugiet.com and use promo code LOCKEDONMLB for 15% off your first order.

Monarch Money
Take control of your finances with Monarch Money. Use code LOCKEDONMLB at https://monarchmoney.com/lockedonmlb for 50% off your first year.

Gametime
Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONMLB for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Download Gametime today. What time is it? Gametime.

FanDuel
Today’s episode is brought to you by FanDuel. Football season is around the corner, visit the FanDuel App today and start planning your futures bets now.

FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN)