Will October Be A Horse Of Another Color For Yanks?
Yesterday, I mentioned how well things are going for the Yankees in the last ten weeks or so. In fact, since June 24th, when Brian Cashman went to visit the team in Atlanta, the Yankees have gone 43-16 – which is an incredible winning percentage of .729.
Below is a chart which shows the Yankees record, by opponent, during this run – with the opponent’s overall winning percentage (to date) at the far right:
Team W L Opp W%* Blue Jays 7 2 .457 Red Sox 6 1 .581 A's 5 2 .442 Mariners 5 2 .523 Tigers 3 0 .531 Orioles 3 0 .408 Twins 3 0 .496 Mets 3 0 .446 White Sox 3 3 .492 Braves 2 0 .527 Rays 2 1 .547 Rangers 1 2 .563 Angels 0 3 .594 43 16 *Through August 29th
As you can see, the Yankees, in putting together this run, have beaten up on some sub-.500 teams. As mentioned here before, New York has gotten somewhat fat playing against the Blue Jays, A’s, Orioles, Twins and Mets during this streak – going 21-4 against those weak teams (as the above chart shows).
In fact, I just noticed this morning, looking at the standings over at Baseball-Reference.com, that the Yankees are 33-30 this season, to date, when playing a team with a winning percentage =>.500 and they are 48-18, to date, when playing a team with a winning percentage <.500 (this year).
Now, I know that many like to say, in response to this type of inspection, that "You're supposed to beat the tar out of the weak teams and break even against the tough ones - that's how you end up finishing in first place." And, I get that - I really do get it...
...but, I'm thinking ahead to the post-season, for the Yankees. And, there will be no Blue Jays, A's, Orioles, Twins or Mets for the Yankees to play in October. Most likely, New York will have to deal with Detroit or Texas in the ALDS and then face someone like the Angels, Red Sox or Rays in the ALCS (should the Yankees advance past the ALDS for the first time since 2004). And, that’s a horse of another color, no? Do the Yankees have what it takes to beat a good team in the post-season? What do you think?
I think they do have what it takes – the best record in the bigs qualifies them for being a good team in the post season. But to complete your analysis I think you’d need to know the winning percentage of the Tigers, Angels, Red Sox and Rangers against teams with better than .500 records. I’m not a stat guy, but my guess is they’d be pretty close to what the Yanks show, which would explain why, once in the playoffs, it’s a matter of who steps up and what team is hot.
The only team to get the better of us since the turnaround is the Angels. This team is set up for a run but again, we have to wait and see.
More important than who we play, it will come down to starting pitching (both for and against us). Especially in the 5-game ALDS. Two great starts for any team will mean a lot.
But if the pitching is ordinary, or even good but not lights-out, then the Yanks stand a very good chance of going deep into the playoffs.
OK…so lemme see if I got this right.
So now…the Rangers are GOOD, and the White Sox are BAD.
Got it.
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Well, no, not really. They’ve ‘gotten fat’ against everybody, because they’ve gone 19-9 against the teams in that list that are over .500.
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By the way, they’re 4-3 vs. the White Sox in this stretch, not 3-3.
@ Evan3457:
This was posted before the game today against the White Sox.
Steve Lombardi wrote:
Sorry for the nitpick; no time stamp on the post, and I didn’t see it until after the game.