News/Commentary

Yankees Fall Out Of First As September Home Stretch Begins

September 5, 2024 by CollegeFootballPoll.com Staff

As of today, the Yankees have again fallen behind the Orioles, albeit by just a 1/2-game as midweek series wrap up and the weekend slate gets set to begin.

40-40 is the barometer (home runs-stolen bases), but could we see a 50-50 Shohei Ohtani season? He is on track to potentially become the first MLB player in history to do so.

According to FanDuel.com, today's best MLB bets and player props don't include the Yankees, the Orioles or Ohtani. Instead, they focus on the moneyline play for the Nats at the Pirates, Jorge Soler to swipe two bases and the Braves on the moneyline, and the Angels/Rangers game to go under in 8.5 runs.

Yesterday, the Yankees fell 10-6 at Texas after falling 7-4 on Tuesday. All they can do tonight is try to avoid the sweep. It seems unfathomable that very powerful Yankees are only sitting on 80 wins and not easily over the .600 mark. But here we are in early September with no team on track to record 100 wins or get to the 60% mark.

The last MLB season with a single team hitting 100 wins was 2014 and the Dodgers only missed it by 2 while six teams had 90+ wins. Right now, the Dodgers have the most with 84 while the Phillies have 83. The Yankees are sitting on 80, along with the Guardians, while the Orioles are at 81.

It won't get easier for the Yankees as they start a weekend series with the Chicago Cubs on Friday afternoon at Wrigley. The won 18 games in August and are trying to make a push for at least a wild card spot. When they scored 14 this past Sunday, they reached a total of 99 in 10 games for the biggest franchise outburst since 1930. They cooled off the next two games, losing 5-3 and 5-0 to the Pirates, but got back to their new old ways with a 12-0 win last night.

The Orioles will be home against the Rays who sit just below .500 after a split with the Twins in St. Pete. The Twins are tied with the Royals at 4.5 games behind Cleveland. The Guardians just took 2-of-3 from Minnesota, but now go to the Chavez Ravine while Kansas City and Minnesota will go toe-to-toe to break their tie.

The Astros have a 5-game lead in the AL West as they get set to host the Diamondbacks who sit just 5 back of the Dodgers, and 1 behind San Diego for 2nd in the NL West.

The Padres will try to finish off a sweep of the Tigers tonight and will stay home to take on the Giants who are a distant 16 games out of first and 11 games out of 3rd.

The Phillies are a comfortable 7 games up now on Atlanta as they head to Miami while the Braves host the Blue Jays.

The AL Central-leading Brewers (+9 games on the Cubs) get the Rockies at home.