The Yankees are in a total tailspin.
As recently as June 17, they were riding high. They were 45-27 with a 3 ½-game lead for the best record in the American League. They were only 1 ½ games back of having the best record in baseball. Since then, it's been a disaster. They even lost two of three to the Twins over the weekend; they had previously won or split 12 of their last 13 series against Minnesota.
In their last 17 games, the Yankees have lost 13. They've been outscored 91-47. They are now trailing the Rays by five games in the AL East.
A big part of the problem is obviously the injuries. Aaron Judge going down has significant impact. Giancarlo Stanton is often injured, sure, but when he's out, there's a major power loss. In the rotation, ace Max Fried has been down since May 15 and Carlos Rodón just landed on the IL as well.
The players in the lineup aren't producing much either, of course. Ben Rice and Paul Goldschmidt have slumped. Jazz Chisholm Jr. is having a rough season and has been worse since our admittedly arbitrary date of June 17. Jasson Domínguez and Spencer Jones haven't yet broken through at the big-league level. Cody Bellinger has fallen apart. They are getting nothing from behind the plate.
On the mound, they haven't been awful, but haven't been dominant either.
It mostly comes down to the offense struggling right now, and with Judge and Stanton remaining absent, some of the names above need to step up if the Yankees are to end this funk. Trent Grisham, Bellinger, Rice, Goldschmidt and Chisholm are capable of keeping them afloat, especially if the pitchers throw to their ability.
It's just not working out right now and the Bronx Bombers aren't worthy of that moniker. They are tumbling and fast while the Rays continue to play excellent baseball -- they recently won nine in a row. If there's only one power in the AL East, it's the one playing its home games in St. Petersburg. That's the team in the top five, while the Yankees are only holding on due to the dearth of great teams this season.
Biggest Movers 8 Tigers 6 Athletics RkTeams ChgRcrd 1
Dodgers Man, when they flip a switch it's just ridiculous. The champs have won 36 of their last 50. -- 59-32 2 
Brewers Perhaps the most insane stat this season? Aaron Ashby is 12-1. He's a reliever and it's July 6. Just ridiculous! -- 55-33 3 
Rays They lost the series in Houston, but now the Rays come back to the friendly confines of The Trop, where they are 31-12 this season. -- 52-35 4 
Braves The Braves won three of four through Saturday and didn't look totally incompetent, so maybe there's hope they are turning things around? 1 52-36 5 
Cubs How could the Cubs best summarize this season in two games? By winning 23-3 and then losing 17-1 in back-to-back games. That's how. Just a perfect encapsulation. 2 50-40 6 
Phillies This past week, I handed out MLB awards for the halfway point of the season. My National League Manager of the Year was Don Mattingly. Remember, he wasn't the manager to start the season. How many times has a manager taken over during a season and won this award? Three! Jack McKeon with the 2003 Marlins, Jim Tracy with the 2009 Rockies and Rob Thomson with the 2022 Phillies -- the man who Mattingly replaced. 2 50-40 7 
Marlins Incredible outing from Eury Pérez on Sunday. He was perfect through seven innings. And then removed. And then the Baseball Gods smote (smited?) the Marlins for the move and made them give up five runs before recording an out. 1 49-42 8 
Cardinals Jordan Walker has joined Albert Pujols as the only Cardinals in history with 20+ home runs and 10+ stolen bases before the All-Star break. Pujols did it in 2009. 3 47-40 9 
White Sox A 4-3 road trip that included a split in Cleveland was a great step forward for this bunch. And Munetaka Murakami will be back off the IL soon. -- 47-42 10 
Yankees With Aaron Judge: 36-23. Without Aaron Judge: 13-17. He's out for a while, too. 4 49-40 11 
Mariners Every time they've gotten hot this season, I've wondered if maybe they were breaking through and would take over the AL West with a commanding lead. Well, they just went 5-1 at home. Of course, now they head out on a tough road trip in Miami and St. Pete (who thought we'd be saying that in March?). 5 47-44 12 
Guardians Australian-born Travis Bazzana has made the All-Star team as a rookie. Good for him. He's the fourth player born in Australia to make an All-Star team after Dave Nilsson (once), Grant Balfour (once) and a favorite of power rankings: Liam Hendriks (three times). 2 47-44 13 
Pirates The Paul Skenes losing streak is becoming the story of the season in Pittsburgh. The Pirates have now lost nine straight Skenes starts. There was a five-game stretch in there where he had a 2.57 ERA, too. He has, however, been bad in his last two outings. -- 46-45 14 
Nationals Youngster Dylan Crews might be putting things together. In his last 15 games, he's hitting .310/.385/.466. 2 46-45 15 
Rangers The Rangers haven't been more than three games over .500 nor more than six games under .500 all year. They sit at exactly .500 right now through 90 games. They are the definition of average. 1 45-45 16 
Twins The Twins won a series in Yankee Stadium for the first time since 2014. 4 44-47 17 
Astros The Astros got as many as 11 games under .500, but they are now only one game out of playoff position. -- 45-47 18 
Diamondbacks This is good and fun: Eduardo Rodríguez debuted in 2015. He had an ERA north of 5.00 each of the past two seasons, but this year he's headed to his first All-Star Game. Good for him. 3 44-45 19 
Tigers That's a 5-1 week and the Tigers are 18-12 since that disastrous 6-22 May. 8 40-50 20 
Padres The win Sunday stopped an eight-game losing streak. This team is a total mess and has four players signed through 2033. 5 44-45 21 
Blue Jays The defending American League champs are now on pace to go 76-86. It's no longer early. And yet, they are still only three games out of playoff position. Let's hope MLB doesn't add more playoff teams anytime soon. The AL race this season argues that we already have too many. 1 42-48 22 
Orioles Given the trajectory of Adley Rutschman's career, how Gunnar Henderson is hitting this season and the lackluster returns from the likes of Jackson Holliday and Coby Mayo -- among others -- it seems fair to question how well this organization develops its talent. Those farm system rankings from a few years ago aren't World Series rings. 1 42-49 23 
Reds What a bittersweet Fourth. Reds fans had to be so excited to see Hunter Greene on the mound for the first time this season, but then he got crushed for eight runs in less than four innings. That's how things have been going for the Reds in general since the end of April, huh? 4 41-48 24 
Athletics The A's have now lost 11 of their last 14 games. 6 41-49 25 
Red Sox Boy, times have changed, huh? Sonny Gray is 10-1 and didn't make the All-Star team. 1 40-48 26 
Mets Sunday was a "what could have been" game for the Mets, in that it was what this season was supposed to look like. Francisco Lindor, Juan Soto and Bo Bichette combined for six hits, six RBI and five runs. (Of course, they also allowed seven runs in the ninth to nearly blow an eight-run lead). 3 37-53 27 
Rockies The Rox have won four of five and no longer have the worst record in baseball! Let's give them a bump, knowing that they'll probably be back at No. 30 soon enough. 3 37-54 28 
Giants Rafael Devers has been on a tear in general, but did you see his home run on Sunday? Holy smokes. He hit it into the highest deck at Coors Field. It was his 10th home run in his last 25 games. 2 37-52 29 
Angels John Mozeliak said publicly that the Angels will not trade Mike Trout. Things can change, though ... 4 36-55 30 
Royals They've lost eight of 10 and it's shaping up to be a seller's market at the trade deadline. They might as well unload Michael Wacha and Seth Lugo, both of whom are signed through next season. 2 36-54 Add CBS Sports on Google Join the Conversation comments 
