The race is on for Yankees and Orioles
With money comes expectation. With money comes victory. And for the 2012 Yankees, money also brings extreme pressure.
Yes, New York is the pressure cauldron of major-league baseball and all of its stars are scrutinised to the full, but this year a lot of their biggest names have found themselves on the disabled list at some point and as of this week they are leading the AL East by just two games.
Closer Mariano Rivera is out for the season while Andy Pettitte, Alex Rodriguez and Mark Teixeira are still trying to heal in time for the playoffs.
The injury problems manager Joe Girardi has had to deal with have only really become apparent as the Yankees division lead gets smaller and smaller. The Orioles took two out of three from Yankee Stadium this weekend, gaining one game on New York and with it a lot of momentum. After the Baltimore series, the Yankees face the Tampa Bay Rays – who trail them by just 3.5 games – before another series against the O’s but this time at Camden Yards.
The road trip to Tampa and Baltimore is seven games; four in Baltimore, and if the standings are the same come Thursday, with a series win the Orioles would be tied with the Yanks atop the AL East.
Preceding the Baltimore match-up, the Yankees lost a home set against the last-place Blue Jays, who coming into the series had lost seven straight and ten out of eleven. With C.C. Sabathia pitching in the rubber game they still failed to win and most unusual for the Yankees – especially with the rival Red Sox not even challenging this year – they seem to be clinging to their division lead as opposed to feeling comfortable.
With a lineup that still boasts some of the best individuals in the game – not many teams can field Derek Jeter, Robinson Cano, Nick Swisher and Curtis Granderson – you would still bet on the Yankees making the postseason, but whether they do it via the division or the less-favoured wild card is a debate now very much legit.
With two teams able to win the wild card this year before a one game winner-takes-all encounter to make it to the division series, the Yankees will not want to push their luck against perhaps Oakland, Tampa Bay or one of the AL Central powerhouses in the White Sox or Tigers.
Girardi will be demanding a division championship and A-Rod is reportedly returning this week after several rehab starts over the last fortnight. But offence has never been a problem for the Bronx Bombers; it has been preventing opposition from scoring runs and keeping guys healthy.
With an already stacked lineup and returning parts helping toward a deep run into October, the Yankees have the added advantage of their fate being very much in their own hands thanks to their AL East dominant remaining schedule.
23 of their final 29 games are against division rivals, including six against the Rays and four against the Orioles.
It’s all to play for in what is the most exciting playoff race we have seen for years, and what makes it better for the neutral is the hated Yankees stumbling when they usually become unbeatable.
