Using the “Streaks Analyzer” at Baseball-Reference.com, I decided to look at the Yankees season – prior to this three game set that they just played against the Boston Red Sox – to see how the Yankees have played (in terms of wins, losses, runs scored and allowed) in blocks of ten games.

By this, I mean, I wanted to see the Yankees results in Games 1 through 10 of this season, and then during Games 11 through 20, etc., continuing in ten game snapshots right through Game #130 – which was the last game that the Yankees played before this Boston series. Here’s the breakdown:

G # S	G # F	W	L	WP	RS	RA	Delta
1	10	5	5	.500	31	39	-8
11	20	5	5	.500	54	54	0
21	30	4	6	.400	44	48	-4
31	40	5	5	.500	40	32	8
41	50	6	4	.600	53	50	3
51	60	5	5	.500	50	58	-8
61	70	7	3	.700	55	34	21
71	80	6	4	.600	54	44	10
81	90	5	5	.500	41	35	6
91	100	7	3	.700	47	29	18
101	110	5	5	.500	55	51	4
111	120	4	6	.400	54	64	-10
121	130	6	4	.600	54	47	7

So, here, you have 13 blocks/streaks of ten games. Note that in 8 of the 13 ten game blocks, the Yankees only played .500 ball or worse. And, in 3 of the 13 blocks of ten games they played .600 ball. Lastly, in just 2 of the 13 blocks did they play .700 ball. This explains why the Yankees overall record is what it is this season.

Check out those five blocks (out of 13) where New York played winning baseball:

G # S	G # F	W	L	WP	RS	RA	Delta
41	50	6	4	.600	53	50	3
61	70	7	3	.700	55	34	21
71	80	6	4	.600	54	44	10
91	100	7	3	.700	47	29	18
121	130	6	4	.600	54	47	7

In each of these ten game blocks/streaks, the Yankees scored more runs than they allowed – and that, obviously, helped the Yankees win more games here than they lost.

Now, look at those 8 blocks (out of 13) where New York was just .500 or less:

G # S	G # F	W	L	WP	RS	RA	Delta
1	10	5	5	.500	31	39	-8
11	20	5	5	.500	54	54	0
21	30	4	6	.400	44	48	-4
31	40	5	5	.500	40	32	8
51	60	5	5	.500	50	58	-8
81	90	5	5	.500	41	35	6
101	110	5	5	.500	55	51	4
111	120	4	6	.400	54	64	-10

Note that in three of these eight blocks of ten games played, the Yankees actually scored more runs than they allowed. So, in reality, the only ten game streaks where the Yankees offense was an issue this season (again, prior to the Boston series) were the following:

G # S	G # F	W	L	WP	RS	RA	Delta
1	10	5	5	.500	31	39	-8
11	20	5	5	.500	54	54	0
21	30	4	6	.400	44	48	-4
51	60	5	5	.500	50	58	-8
111	120	4	6	.400	54	64	-10

That’s 5 blocks out of 13 – or, 50 out of 130 games. That’s roughly 39% of the time.

Granted, this is just one way to slice the pie. But, it’s an interesting pattern to use. And, it may just suggest that a lack of offense may not have been the Yankees big problem this season.

In any event, when you look at the Yankees W-L results, spread out in this manner, you do see this:

In their first 60 games this season New York’s record was: 30-30
In their next 40 games of the season, New York’s record was: 25-15
And, in their next 30 games of the season, New York’s record was 15-15.

So, outside of that run during Games 61 through 100, the Yankees have played a lot of .500 ball this year – leading into this Red Sox series.