On Monday morning I asked a Yankees player this simple question: "If I were just to say to you 'what the f--- is happening,' what’s the first answer that comes to mind?"
"I would probably answer with, 'I don’t know, what the f--- is happening?'" the player said.
All over the clubhouse, dugout and field on Labor Day morning, with the Yankees back from a 4-6 road trip that felt worse and allowed thoughts of the 2007 Mets (but worse! A 15.5 game lead!) to creep in, the chatter was the same. Is this team going to be OK? Are they really in the midst of an historic collapse?
Multiple defeats against the dregs of the league in Oakland and Anaheim, followed by a series loss in Tampa over the weekend -- which ended in a win that was hardly comforting, Clay Holmes 90 feet from blowing a save -- left Yankeeland in a state of dazed confusion. This after a 10-18 August, the second worst record in all of baseball.
Monday’s game provided a measure of relief, bringing Aaron Judge’s 54th home run, five solid innings from Jameson Taillon and four shutdown frames from the bullpen. This was important. But no single game can wash the muck off a troubling second half for the team -- especially one that might yet again cost the team Giancarlo Stanton.
The Yankees will almost certainly reach the postseason, likely as winners of the American League East. But the way the year began, anything short of a World Series appearance would feel like a letdown.
For months, this seemed like an historic team, ready to join a list with the 1927, ‘61 and ‘98 Yankees. Baseball is so weird that the ‘22 Yanks can still feasibly win a World Series -- now, though, this is a situation of white-knuckle survival rather than dominance.
Here are a few of the points and theories we encountered in talking to people on and around the team: