The kid who saved the Yankees
Sanchez’s arrival sparks Yankees into unlikely wild-card showdown vs. O’s
The arrival of Gary Sanchez was made with the Yankees’ future in mind.
But the future could get here faster than even the Yankees could have anticipated thanks to their upcoming schedule.
After winning a pair of series on the road — largely on the back of Sanchez’s home-run surge — the Yankees are still in fourth place in the AL East, but within striking distance — five games back — of the Orioles in the wild-card race.
“I think our guys believe,” manager Joe Girardi said after the Yankees took two of three from the Mariners in Seattle this week. “Because when you think about it, we’re [playing a lot of games] in our division — and those are … a lot of the teams that we’re chasing.”
The Yankees are set to host the Orioles for three games beginning Friday before visiting the Royals — another team in the wild-card chase — for three. Then they head to Baltimore for three more.
It sets off what could be an eventful final month for a Yankees team in transition, especially because 30 of their remaining 36 games will come against AL East foes.
“The opportunity is there,” Girardi said.
But with opportunity comes challenges.
Chief among them is the fact that because the Yankees are indeed facing several of the teams they need to pass in order to make an unlikely postseason bid, they’re going to have to beat some pretty good teams.
As play began Thursday, all but six of the games they have left are against teams with winning records.
That fact, coupled with the games within their division, doesn’t bode well for the Yankees. Why? Because they are 38-39 against teams over . 500 and are just 19-27 versus the rest of the AL East, which is why Baseball Prospectus has the Yankees’ odds of making the playoffs at just 4.3 percent.
If the Yankees are going to reverse those trends, Sanchez had better keep hitting homers.
The 23-year-old catcher’s phenomenal start has played a role in why the Yankees have been able to stick around, but they can also thank their competition’s inability to put them away.
For all of Sanchez’s success, the Yankees are 10-8 in the 18 games Sanchez has played since his Aug. 3 call-up, and at 65-61, they will try for the fifth time this season to get to five games over .500.
It’s hard to envision the Yankees remaining in the postseason conversation if they can’t put a lengthy winning streak together.
But at least they — and Sanchez — have made it interesting. He enters Friday as one of just five players in MLB history to hit nine homers in his first 21 career games.
Sanchez, though, tried to keep the attention on getting the team to the playoffs.
“The focus is not about me,” Sanchez said through an interpreter. “It’s about winning games here. That’s where my focus is. Go out there, play hard and win some games.”
He has caught the eye of everyone else, though.
“Normally, they don’t hatch out of the egg like this,” general manager Brian Cashman said. “It’s been a remarkable few weeks.”
If it’s going to continue, the Yankees have to figure out a way to get by the Orioles — and plenty of others.
And that makes their attempt at making a run for the wild card for a second straight season even more daunting.
Boston and Toronto are also ahead of them in the division, and the Yankees will also have to get by the Tigers, Astros and Mariners — while also battling with Kansas City.