Five-game leads are good.

"Seven … Six … Five … ?

The best major league team in July is suddenly in a funk that has eaten into the Yankees’ AL East lead, which was seven games this past Wednesday."

The Yankees are in a funk?

They lost one in a row. They are 5-4 on their current road trip, which included a 21-5 win, a 13-6 win, and the best win of the season.


"Saturday night’s 8-2 loss to the White Sox at U.S. Cellular Field coupled with the Orioles’ victory sliced the Yankees’ advantage over the second-place Birds to five games and was the Yankees third in four games."

They lost three out of four. Not much of a slide.


"The most alarming sign during the mini-slide is the shape of the Yankees’ rotation. Michael Pineda is on the DL and nobody knows when he surfaces. CC Sabathia provided hope with two strong outings but his last two haven’t been good. Masahiro Tanaka’s last start was pedestrian and resulted in a loss. Ivan Nova, Sunday’s starter, left his last gig with fatigue in the right arm, which is coming back from Tommy John surgery."

I am not convinced the Yankees will make the playoffs. I'm still not even convinced the Yankees will finish the season over .500. I think the starting rotation will perform better in the final couple of months, though I could be wrong, of course.

Just as relevant when analyzing the Yankees' chances of making the playoffs? The starting rotations of the Orioles and Blue Jays.

David Price is good ... he isn't that good. All he'd have to do is put on a Yankees uniform and George A. King III would find 100 reasons to be alarmed.


"The Yankees made up for a pedestrian rotation by hitting home runs in the first four months and having a powerful back end of the bullpen. They passed on adding a front-line starter at Friday’s trade deadline.

Seven … Six … Five.

When leads begin to slip away, it’s up to a starter to halt it. Do the Yankees have that starter?"

Or they can win with a strong bullpen and hitting a lot of home runs.

Am I missing something?

Did MLB change the rules of baseball overnight?