With the division in sight, Yankees reach their best moment of the year

Aaron Judge and Juan Soto.

EL NUEVO DIARIO, NEW YORK.- It’s possible that this will be one of those seasons in which the Yankees have once again saved their best baseball for last — as they did before — and are finally ready to return to the World Series, and maybe even win it. That would mean that the third and final act of their campaign actually turns out to be their best.

Two years ago, the Yankees went 64-28, became a .500 team the rest of the year and were swept by the Astros — they are 0-4 against Houston in the postseason over the past decade — in the ALCS. A year ago, Aaron Judge crashed into a fence on the Dodger Stadium outfield when it looked like the Bombers were ready to go full steam ahead in June, and New York didn’t even make the postseason.

How about this year? The Yankees went 50-22 in mid-June and looked like the best team in baseball at that point, but then they went through a 10-23 stretch; they looked even worse than the team that finished out of contention last season.

But things could turn out differently now in September and October. The Yankees have turned a corner before the end, and now return home after a 5-1 road trip against the Mariners and A’s with a chance to clinch the AL East during their three-game homestand against the Orioles at Yankee Stadium. At the same time, they could secure the best record in the AL and continue a September that has seen them go 13-7 and take their largest lead over the Orioles in their division.

“A lot of things have come together to work out,” manager Aaron Boone said in Seattle last week as the Yankees clinched a playoff berth.

This week, they get a chance to celebrate the AL East title at home. They had played at their best almost up until the official midpoint of the season. Then they had their worst possible performance in the 10-23 stretch, when everything that could go wrong did. And the fact is, they’re still a .500 team exactly since they went 50-22, winning 42 and losing 42.

Still, at the best and most important moment of their season, with so much at stake for the simple reason that they could see the departure of Dominican Juan Soto via free agency when the season ends, the Yankees have begun to look like the guys they were in mid-June before everything fell apart.

Judge, after a brief home run drought, hit several last weekend in Oakland, moving up to 55. Soto now has 40, meaning he and Judge join Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig, plus Roger Maris and Mickey Mantle, as the only players to hit 40 or more homers in a single year. Gerrit Cole, who started the season on the disabled list, has again looked like the guy who won the 2023 Cy Young Award — not counting that bizarre game against the Red Sox when he intentionally walked Rafael Devers with no one on base in the second inning that ruined his outing.

Carlos Rodon, who was brought in to complement Cole, has quietly gone 16-9. With all of Clay Holmes’ blown saves, Luke Weaver has gotten some saves recently, four in five opportunities. The Yankees’ bullpen, which featured unfamiliar faces at times over a long season, seems to make sense again. And the club is in the best health it’s been in a while. Anthony Rizzo is back in action, Jasson Dominguez is back in the fold. They’ve had Jon Berti, a valuable and versatile infielder who missed much of the year with a sore left calf.

Boone noted “better overall health” as the Bombers made the playoffs, before adding:

“We weren’t a great team last year, and this year we have a chance to do something special.”

Their club went 82-80 in 2023, and was hanging on by a thread at this point in September. But this squad didn’t give up. Despite how they looked in the second half of June and into July, they finally managed to bounce back in August.

He once again has Cole as his ace, followed by Rodón and Luis Gil — also healthy and at the level that took him to the All-Star Game. Judge and Soto have a total of 95 homers and 242 RBIs. Gleyber Torres, also in his last year under contract, has settled into the leadoff role ahead of Soto.

Yankees fans aren’t thinking about the championship parade just yet. They’ve seen this team fall short of the World Series several times since 2009. For now, though, the Yankees are back atop their division and the American League. We’re about to find out over the next month whether they’re here to stay. Their magic number in the East is one. But the club’s fans aren’t thinking about that. They want another World Series title.

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