I was having a nice weekend. We celebrated my cohost Austin’s birthday Friday night. Mrs. Broadway Breakdown and I went to our beloved Jersey Shore on Saturday. We didn’t hit traffic on the Parkway, we enjoyed the summer weather with family, hit the boardwalk, had Kohr’s ice cream (orange & vanilla swirl of obviously). We hit the farmers market Sunday morning, had a great dinner that she was kind enough to whip up. It was so nice that I didn’t even let the Yankees loss to the Mets Saturday night bother me. But the key word here is “was”…and then the ninth inning happened on Sunday. Now look at me, pounding out an angry blog at 10 PM, so much for a nice weekend.

Mind you dear reader, this is the first blog about the Yankees this season, so it must have been a bad loss to wrap up the weekend. “Bad” doesn’t even come close to doing what the hell we watched justice. The finale of the Subway Series Part 1 was looking like it was going to be a laugher for the bombers, who were trying to wrap up an ugly road trip on a winning note. They were 2-6 on a swing that saw the Brewers and Orioles frustrate them to no end and ace Max Fried pick up an injury that will sideline him for the foreseeable future. But when they took a 5-1 lead in the 6th inning thanks to a timely Anthony Volpe single and some shotty Mets defense, I’ll readily admit I exhaled a bit. A series win over the crosstown rivals would be nice after all…and then the bullpen door unleashed absolute hell.

The yanks were in complete control with the Met lineup held in check until Ryan Yarbrough decided walking people up by 4 runs was a sound strategy. After putting two men on he was replaced by Jake Bird who let Luis Torrens sneak one down the right field line to cut it to 5-3. The bleeding stopped there and the pen held while the Yankees increased their lead to 6-3. They brought on closer David Bednar for the ninth, to face the top of the Mets lineup, which meant the ever-dangerous Juan Soto was lurking, due up third in the frame. Bednar immediately yielded a single to Carson Benge, followed by another single by the struggling Bo Bichette, bringing Soto up as the tying run.

Of course, Bednar managed to retire Soto on a fielder’s choice and then strike out Mark Vientos, making the Yanks one out away from victory. That brought up Tyrone Taylor, who entered the day hitting under .200 on the year. The simple thing to do in this spot for Bednar and his battery mate Austin Wells, is stick to the fastball, and make a .180 hitter beat your best pitch. The one thing you don’t want to do is get beat on a cement mixer curveball to tie the game. Now, what do you dear reader think they chose to do?

Yep, he chose option two. Taylor hit a towering homer that just stayed fair down the left field line tying the game at 6-6. So, we go to extra’s, where Wells, hitting a cool .173 on the year, banged into an inning ending DP with runners at the corners and one out. This gave way to the Mets walking it off in the bottom half of the inning, dropping the bombers to 2-7 on their nine-game trip. This comeback win was the Mets first in 96 attempts, as they hadn’t won a game in which they trailed after eight innings since Pete Alonso’s miracle homer against the Brewers in the 2024 Wild Card Game.

We have seen losses like this many times over recent years. I’m sure it’s not any more or less than the other clubs around the league, but it certainly feels like the Yankees have a lot of these mind-numbing defeats. This whole road trip featured four such defeats, as Milwaukee walked them off twice, the O’s won a game in which they were being no-hit on a three-run 7th inning blast, and the Met’s pulled some magic out on Sunday. All of this has combined to make the Yankees 3-7 in their last ten contests, an ugly stretch that has left them three games adrift of the Rays in the East. They will try to put a stop to the skid when they return home Monday night against the Blue Jays, a game yours truly will be in the house for.

It’s worth saying that skids like this happen to almost every team over the course of the 162 games. The Yankees are dealing with their fair share of injuries and also adding new faces into the fold that are either returning from injury or have no big-league experience, so sure there are going to be some hiccups. They also started the season brilliantly, going 26-12 through the first 38 games, so a come down of sorts was almost assured to occur. But losses like this are absolutely unacceptable, because they are games you’ll want back when it’s all said and done. And yes, before you ask, it is possible the “June Swoon” we’re accustomed to came early this season, but I’m not prepared to go there yet especially given this team’s starting pitching depth.

If anything, this ten-game stretch has started to bring into scope exactly what needs to be done to improve this squad. Beyond the obviously glaring needs in the bullpen, there are a few positions that must be addressed. Number one amongst them is catcher, where the Yankees are deploying one of the least effective tandems in the league at the moment. Austin Wells and J.C. Escarra combine to not be very good at much of anything right now and to be frank, that was the case for most of last season as well. Brian Cashman needs to find a right-handed hitting option behind the plate ASAP! While we’re in the infield, let’s talk about second, short and third.

Jazz Chisholm is still patrolling second base where his “50-50” contract year isn’t exactly materializing. It’s been a struggle for number 13 pretty much from the get-go this season and that is starting to stir conversation of him being dealt as part of a series of trades the Yankees will make to try and improve their chances of going deep in 2026. The only way around that is for Jazz to get hot offensively and this weekend was a step in the right direction for him, going 5 for 12 with far better at bats against Mets pitching than we have seen in a while. Meanwhile shortstop has become a glaring issue in the absence of Jose Caballero, despite of Anthony Volpe’s two-run single Sunday. Perhaps an even larger issues is third base, where Ryan McMahon continues to scuffle at the plate, still stuck on the interstate. I’d even include center fielder Trent Grisham in this conversation, as he is hurdling back to earth offensively after a stellar 2025.

It’s quite possible that answers to some of these questions lie internally, as Caballero will return to short in the next week and Spencer Jones or Jasson Dominguez may take the center field gig from Grisham. Hell, even the bullpen will likely improve when Ryan Weathers makes his eventual transition to relief work and the Yankees add young flame thrower Carlos Lagrange to the mix from the minors. But that doesn’t mean Cashman and this roster can go where they want without acquiring at least two right-handed relievers, a right-handed hitting catcher and at least one more bat in either the outfield or infield.

This season has to be an all-in season for the Yankees plain and simple. They are a team that boasts a loaded pitching staff and a couple of dynamic offensive players in one of the weakest American League fields in some time. Nothing can be left to chance; no passengers can be carried down the stretch and into the playoffs. I still have plenty of confidence that they’ll catch the Rays and win this division. It’s not even Memorial Day yet folks, so let’s keep our cool and trust that they will get this thing back on track. That’s all well and good…but the losing needs to stop Monday night against Toronto.

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.