The Yankees Have Been Streaking
The combination of the 18-game stretch is starting on April 19th without a day off, coupled with playing ten in a row against the best of the rest of the AL while going on a West Coast road trip, was described as a test of the Yankees mettle.
The team has gone 15-2 with one to still to play. Safe to say they passed the test.
And they were even better against better competition. They swept the Angels, bearded the Astros in their den three games to one, and have already won the series with Cleveland. That adds up to an 8-1 record in those nine games.
The Yanks didn’t just beat these teams; they beat them down.
Even a loss on Sunday would make them 8-2 against three of the teams they are most likely to face in October. When the trip started, both Anaheim and Houston had better records than the Yankees; now they both have worse ones. It turns out it wasn’t the Yankees mettle that was being tested; it was the other teams’.
That was on full display in the way these teams lost. From California to Texas and back to New York, we saw All-Star position players gacking up games sometimes two errors at a time. And All-Star relievers with their heads hung low.
The Yankees, on the other hand, have the temperament, talent and will to prevail with the game on the line. And tattoos that read, “If you want to win today, you’ll have to kill me.”
Some of their opponents, meanwhile, are so afraid to lose that their fear has caused them to.
And that is what can make a special team.