It’s Thursday and the Yankees are headed to the Southside of Chicago to take on the White Sox. They do so off the back of a three game sweep of the Nationals in the Bronx, pushing their winning streak to four straight. They sit 4.5 games behind the first place Blue Jays and occupy the second wild card place in the AL at 73-60. They have a handful of head to heads left with the teams they’re trying to catch, while also have a host of soft opponents to rack up wins against before seasons end. All of this sounds very good…doesn’t it? It should fill you with excitement as a fan.

And yet, I feel empty and unexcited about this team and the road ahead of it. Why? Because this team, this organization, never changes from the group of pretenders that they are. Bludgeoning the lowly Nationals should not drown out how poorly they played against their arch rivals from Boston over the weekend. They sandwiched that clunker of a series in between their demolition of DC and crushing the Twins, Cardinals, and Rays. Which is a habit years in the making for a team that is incapable of standing up for itself against quality opponents.

They dropped three out of four to Boston in front of packed houses each day because they allergic to playing the game correctly. I was in the house Thursday for the 6-3 loss in which they made four errors (that led to three runs), their pitchers walked nine Boston batters, and they went two for ten with runners in scoring position (stranding 13 runners). They followed that up by making Brayan Bello look like Pedro Martinez on Friday, wasting Max Fried’s best start in months to lose 1-0. And to top it off, Saturday was an abject disaster, falling 12-1 after the nightmare inning you just watched above. They managed to win the finale but tried their hardest to give that game away too. The only conclusion you can have is that when the chips are down, this team is flat out bad.

Sure there are some positives of late, I’d be remiss if I didn’t highlight those performances, as the players involved deserve the praise. Giancarlo Stanton has arguably been the MVP for this team since being activated. Number 27 is unconscious at the plate and continues to get big hit after big hit, going four for five this season as a pinch hitter. Ben Rice is becoming quite the impressive hitter, even if he doesn’t have a natural positional fit, his lefty power is worth continuing to develop. Trent Grisham has continued his impressive year at the dish and in the field along with Cody Bellinger who needs an extension to his contract ASAP. Perhaps best of all has been young righty Cam Schlittler who has the goods on the mound. He and young Will Warren are already earning jobs in next year’s rotation with their performances.

But despite all that good work I referenced, this team’s problem cases remain the same. They have no catcher on the roster as Austin Wells and Ben Rice cannot throw out a runner and Wells is ineffective at the dish. Jazz Chisholm, for all his immense talent, loves to make an ugly mental mistake or error. Jasson Dominguez is apparently not a thing anymore, and frankly that’s fine. And then, there is Anthony Volpe. Look, I don’t want to pile on, as Volpe is clearly dealing the weight of New York sports world. But what else is there to say at this point. He is mired in a one for thirty eight stretch at the plate, and continues to make error after error in the field. I know it’s only year three but it’s hard to picture him improving by a lot going forward and the fan base has had it with him. Part of me, and I’m sure I’m not alone in this, feels it’s just time to move on here this offseason. Regardless of that, Jose Caballero should play the majority of the remaining games at short.

The overworked bullpen is not nearly as effective as it once was, even if Fernando Cruz can stay healthy. Devin Williams has been inconsistent at best all year, Camilo Doval has not adjusted well to his new surroundings, and Mark Leiter hasn’t comeback from the IL looking his best. Sure Weaver continues to for the most part given this team quality innings and David Bednar has been an upgrade at closer, but this unit feels shaky at best. And let’s not even go there with situational hitting, this team’s worst trait of all. While some of this could change, I don’t expect it to be enough against the better teams they’ll have to beat in October.

Highlight of the Week

Our highlight of the week is not on the field, but rather from the media, as Joel Sherman continues to be one of the only members of the press who gets on this Yankee organization for what they are. The clip above is a little taste of what his podcast and his column with the New York Post is typically like. The Yankees and their unending hubris is usually emboldened by stretches where they bash bad teams, so frankly I give Sherman added credit for going there anyway. I would highly recommend listening to the full episode and reading Joel’s column if you want to start living in reality. If I am going to be fair, I will give out a highlight of the week to Giancarlo Stanton, who remains a beast.

What’s Next

Next up for the Yankees is a four-game set against the White Sox, before they enter their next “prove it” stretch. That stretch is a 12-game run against the Astros, Blue Jays, Tigers, and Red Sox, six at home and six on the road. These are teams they have struggled to beat all year and this stretch will either make of break the remainder of the season. The chance to win the AL East is in the balance, as is their playoff seeding. Some of you are probably made at my doubting approach to this team, but all I can say to that is “prove me wrong.” They have their chance to do it, now let’s see if they can take it, because no one should care that you pounded the Nats and the pale hose in the same week.

On twitter you can find Mike @Mike_Sheerin, Tyler @TMon_19 and Sean @SeanMartinNFL. Subscribe to the site by hitting the follow button in the bottom right corner and entering your email address. Check out our Instagram feed @thebroadwaybreakdownsports for special gameday and promotional content. Our podcasts are available on Spotify. Visit the Rangers Ed Shop by clicking the link on our homepage. Check out our mailbag page to join the conversation here on the site and on our partners show, The Rangers Ed Podcast! We’ll be back with more soon.