The Yankees can make history on Tuesday night in the Bronx if just one player can put a ball over the wall for a home run.
Last night, Aaron Hicks made it 27 straight games that a Yankee hit a homer, which tied an MLB record set by the 2002 Rangers. And Hicks speaks for the team when he says they know what's on the line tonight.
"We're aware of it," Hicks told The Post's Ken Davidoff. "It's kind of what we do. We hit home runs here. It's how we score runs."
Giancarlo Stanton, who sent a moon shot into the night to left-center last night, added: "Cool, we need one more."
It's expected for this Yankees lineup full of brute strength from top to bottom to launch homers at a whim. Only a season ago, they reset the league's total home run record with 267 on the season.
But this year's Yankees have been doing more than flexing their muscle. Home runs was their main source of run production last season, but they have been capitalizing with runners in scoring position this season. After going 4-for-9 in that category last night (which included the two homers), the Yanks now slash .296/.370/.514 with runners in scoring position.
One of the players that needs to be highlighted when talking about this new approach at the plate is DJ LeMahieu. He is hitting a whopping .478 with 42 RBI with runners in scoring position, and he has only 10 homers on the season thus far. And he's even helped the streak's cause with a homer off Justin Verlander the other day.
LeMahieu isn't the only one contributing, though. Gleyber Torres (.361), Luke Voit (.322), and fellow newcomer Gio Urshela (.373) are among those coming through with runners in scoring position. Add that to the Yanks' tendency to go deep, and you can understand why they've totaled 50 wins already this season.
"It's just, 'Keep on grinding away,' " Aaron Boone said. "That's kind of the focus. It's a little bit 'pass the baton' if necessary. But I feel like our guys are really, from a game-plan standpoint -- [Hitting coach] Marcus [Thames] and [assistant hitting coach] P.J. [Pilittere] have done a really good job of getting them ready every night, and they're going out and really locked in on having a quality at-bat."
For Boone, the streak is something he didn't necessarily believe his club would achieve. Now that it's here, though, he isn't the least bit surprised.
"I wouldn't have set out to predict that they'd break that record," he said. "That's kind of an obscure one. But now that it's happened, with our group, it doesn't surprise me. We have a lot of guys capable of hitting the ball out of the ballpark, and I think they help strengthen each other just because, collectively, they're able to wear down pitchers. That eventually leads to more mistakes at different points in the night."
The Yankees have a great chance to break the record tonight with Blue Jays LHP Clayton Richard on the mound. In his six starts this season, he owns a 7.46 ERA with five homers allowed.
So will it be Stanton? Hicks? Voit? Maybe Aaron Judge hits his first homer since coming off the IL.
No matter who it is -- or if they reach the feat to begin with -- the Yankees will continue to show off the depth in their lineup in more ways than one.