Yankees learn the art of winning without hitting
Ever since Aaron Judge went down with a rib injury in early June, it’s no coincidence that the Yankees’ production at the plate has taken a turn for the worse. This should be obvious when you’re missing arguably the best hitter on the planet, but the lineup should be strong enough to compensate for one player’s absence. The key word is “should.”
In practice? Different story.
This past week was really a microcosm of their offensive woes sans Judge. During their past two series against the Phillies and Pirates, the Yankees averaged just 3.5 runs per game and only eclipsed four runs one time (Monday’s 8-3 victory over the Pirates). To put things into perspective, the lowest average runs per game in the majors is the Blue Jays’ 3.92 tally.
You would think with their paltry performances at the dish, the losses would pile up. But that wasn’t the case as they somehow went 4-2 during this stretch. That included winning three consecutives contests by scores of 2-0, 1-0, and 3-1. Per Yankees stats wizard Katie Sharp, it’s the first time in franchise history they’ve won three straight games by scoring a combined six runs or fewer and tallied 15 or fewer hits.
As has been the case for nearly two months, pitching has kept them afloat. The rotation was boosted by the return of Max Fried on Wednesday night. I was worried he would need some time to get back into the groove of things. But he looked like his vintage self against the Pirates, tossing five innings of one-hit ball with seven strikeouts. Cam Schlittler seems to be back to his Cy Young form following a couple less-than-stellar starts. A 7.1-inning, three-hit and 12-strikeout masterclass on Friday against the Phillies seemed to be the remedy. While Gerrit Cole allowed two home runs in his outing against the Pirates, he only allowed three runs while striking out 11, though the hitting once again let him down.
The bullpen has also continued to be the best in baseball. Literally. Their 2.98 ERA tops the charts. Brent Headrick and David Bednar have been lights out all season long. Even Paul Blackburn has looked the part after a horrid 2025 campaign on both sides of the Big Apple. But the biggest surprise was seeing Camilo Doval strike out the side against the Phillies on Sunday.
But about last night… not pretty. Will Warren and Ryan Yarbrough joined forces for a disasterclass on the bump, allowing all 11 runs in their 11-4 loss. It was only a matter of time before the arms would have a bad outing. But even in strong performances, all the minor mistakes are magnified when there’s very little run support.
It’s tough to imagine things will get much better without another one of their best hitters. Cody Bellinger now lands on the 10-day injured list with a left hamstring strain. What stings even more is that he was one of their most in-form hitters as well, batting .353 this past week.
The good news is that all thanks to their pitching, they’ve continued to stay within striking distance of the Rays for the AL East. Technically they did lose a little bit of ground as they fell three games behind, but they couldn’t control Tampa Bay going 6-1 this past week. While you can never complain about winning, it feels like paper over the cracks if they can’t wake up the bats when it matters most in October.
Key position battles in NFL training camp
It’s never too early to talk some football. Now that training camp is officially underway, it’s the perfect time to ramp up those discussions. The Bills, Giants and Jets all had their rookies report to camp last week, and all three teams will see their veterans join the fray tomorrow. Buffalo and Gang Green are holding their camps at their usual digs—St. John Fisher University and Florham Park, respectively. But the G-Men are trying something different this year that would make John Denver proud: a trip to West Virginia. That’s because their facilities in East Rutherford are getting upgraded. Can they upgrade MetLife Stadium while they’re at it and maybe keep the grass from the World Cup? It might help with all those pesky season-ending injuries that consistently occur on that turf.
Anyhow, one of the biggest areas of focus in training camp are on players jockeying for position on the depth chart. For each New York (sigh… New York/New Jersey) team, I’ve identified one key position battle to watch out for over the next two weeks.
Bills: Wide Receiver. Outside of Stefon Diggs, the Bills haven’t really had a true WR1 during the Josh Allen era. Just don’t tell GM Brandon Beane or else he might get frustrated at you for even the slightest pushback on not taking a wideout with a first round draft pick. To his credit, he did trade for DJ Moore as he reunites with Joe Brady. In the two seasons they were together in Carolina with Brady as OC, Moore eclipsed 1,000 yards both times. So the WR1 is settled, and Khalil Shakir will most likely be the WR2 as the longest-tenured Bill in the receiving room. But the rest of the spots are up for grabs. Josh Palmer is looking to bounce back after an underwhelming first season in Buffalo. Is this the year Keon Coleman finally breaks out? After all, Brady said that being promoted to head coach is the best thing that’s happened to Coleman. We’ll see if that comes to fruition. Be sure to keep your eyes peeled on rookie Skyler Bell. I could very well see the fourth-round pick out of UConn swipe that WR3 spot if he impresses enough. And no, I’m not just saying that as an avid Huskies fan.
Giants: Cornerback. I could also easily say to watch out for the wide receiver battle with a hodge-podge of wideouts coming in to support Malik Nabers and Darius Slayton. But for the sake of switching things up, I’ll focus on the secondary. Let’s face it, any position battle on defense will be of the upmost importance given the sheer amount of double-digit leads blown in the fourth quarter last season (five of them to be exact, including that 33-point fourth quarter collapse against the Broncos). Paulson Adebo already has one corner spot locked up, but who will be on the opposite side of the field? Greg Newsome II is the early favorite since he’s previously been a part of some actually good defenses in Cleveland for a couple years. Colton Hood is the new kid on the block as Big Blue’s second round selection in April. Don’t forget about Deonte Banks. He’s had a disappointing first few years in the pros but I’d still give him a shot at securing back up the second corner spot, especially with a new coaching staff at the helm.
Jets: Backup quarterback. It would be easy if I just said every position, but that would be a bit too harsh. I’ll focus in on the second-stringer for Geno Smith. If we’re getting the same version of Smith as we did last year in Las Vegas, then the bench could be calling his name sooner rather than later. While there is a chance (albeit a microscopic one) that he can recreate his respectable performances from his Seattle days, it feels inevitable that we’ll see another QB suit up under center this year. On the surface, the other options seems pretty uninspiring. Bailey Zappe had a couple of decent performances with the Patriots in 2022 before struggling the following year and has thrown more interceptions (14) than touchdowns (12). Still, he’ll be the QB2 favorite with some experience under his belt. Competing against him is rookie Cade Klubnik, who the Jets took in the fourth round. Klubnik dazzled during his junior season at Clemson with 36 touchdowns to six interceptions. But there was clear regression last year, tossing just 16 touchdowns and tallying about 1,000 fewer total yards. If they have something in Klubnik? Great. If not? There’s always Arch Manning or Dante Moore to look forward to in next year’s draft.
How does LeBron to the 76ers impact the Knicks?
By now I’m sure you’re tired of hearing about LeBron James and how he’s dominated the news cycle ever since he announced that he was leaving the Lakers. The speculation of where his next (and final) destination was growing old as time continued to pass. Thankfully, he finally made a decision on Friday, and it was one that surprised many. Instead of returning to Cleveland where it all began, Miami where it finally resulted in a championship, or a new endeavor to Golden State to team up with Steph Curry and Draymond Green, he’s taking his talents to the City of Brotherly Love as the Philadelphia 76ers inked him to a two-year, $8 million deal.
I normally wouldn’t write about LeBron and add fuel to the fire that is a sports media world that seemingly already talks about him on a 24/7 basis. But I make an exception in this case because this move could possibly shake things up in the Eastern Conference. It took only a few minutes since Shams Charania broke the news, but the Sixers’ odds of winning both the East and the Finals shot up. With regards to the Finals, most sportsbooks have them tied with the Knicks for the second-best odds (behind the Spurs and Thunder), and it’s mostly dead-even between Philly and New York on who wins the East.
While sports betting lines are inherently volatile, there’s good reason as to why the Sixers are now the biggest threat to the Knicks to win the conference. You could make the argument that Philly’s starting lineup is slightly more talented than New York’s. A elite-scoring point guard in Tyrese Maxey. A new shooting guard with championship pedigree (and a Finals MVP) in Jaylen Brown. LeBron bleepin’ James, even at 42 years old, has clearly still got it and has one of the highest IQs the league has ever seen. V. J. Edgecombe is coming off a phenomenal rookie campaign. And then there’s Joel Embiid who, if healthy (a gigantic emphasis on the word “if”) is a force to be reckoned with down low.
With all that being said, I still believe the Knicks still have the edge over the Sixers in a few key areas, the most notable of which is their depth. We saw firsthand how New York’s bench played a vital role in ending their 53-year-long playoff drought. We saw what Landry Shamet could do from beyond the arc, in particular in the Eastern Conference Finals against the Cavaliers. We saw how Jose Alvarado added a level of chaos on the defensive end of the floor. We saw how Mitchell Robinson came up clutch on the offensive glass. Even though he shipped up to Boston, Andre Drummond will seamlessly fill in that rebounding role off the bench.
You can’t really say the same when it comes to Philly’s depth. Anfernee Simons and Kelly Oubre Jr. are the most notable names, but there doesn’t seem to be too much outside of that. Their frontcourt depth could be an issue, as Adem Bona and former Knick Ariel Hukporti don’t jump out at you. Given Embiid’s lengthy injury history, they’ll have to lean on them more than they want to.
Speaking of which, that brings me to my next disadvantage for the 76ers: health. Instead of one superstar with injury concerns, Philly now has to worry about that two-fold with LeBron. While he has laughed in the face of Father Time, age has caught up with him to some extent. Remember that he missed the beginning of last season with sciatica. This issue ultimately won’t matter too much as long as they’re both healthy for the postseason, but their potential absences could impact their seeding. They’d prefer not to be a play-in team like they were last year, though that didn’t stop them from rallying back from a 3-1 deficit against the Celtics in the first round. I wonder what happened in the following round?
One final leg up that the Knicks have over the Sixers pertains to ego, or a lack thereof when it comes to New York. Look no further than Jalen Brunson and his $113 million pay cut for the betterment of the team. Even the biggest LeBron fans must admit that he has an ego. Jaylen Brown certainly has one as evidenced by this whole offseason and wanting to get out of Boston to become the number-one option on a team. Instead, he might actually be as low as the fourth option in such a stacked starting five. Either way, it’s gonna be quite the headache for head coach Nick Nurse to deal with if things go south.
So for what feels like umpteenth time this offseason, I still believe that the Knicks are the favorites to repeat as Eastern Conference champions. But one thing’s for sure: A likely playoff matchup against the Sixers should be much more competitive.
Other things that caught my eye:
- Believe it or not, there were a couple positives from a Mets’ perspective this past week. Despite going 2-4 and seeing Juan Soto go on the IL once again, they at the very least got one win over the Dodgers. And in that 8-3 victory on Sunday, it was probably the final time Freddy Peralta took the kind before his impending trade. End of an error, shall we say? Also on Sunday, Carlos Beltran was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown while donning a Mets cap. That of course makes sense given that he enjoyed his best years at Shea Stadium. What would have been amusing was if him or Andruw Jones were inducted in a Yankees cap. Add them to the long list of forgotten players to wear the pinstripes.
- I did not see this next story until after I had written last week’s column, so apologies that I’m repeating old news. But in case you missed it, Rob Pannell became the all-time points leader in professional lacrosse history a couple weekends ago. The 2013 Cornell grad is one of many players who continue to shine in the pros. CJ Kirst is enjoying a sensational second season in the Premier Lacrosse League while Gavin Adler is already one of the league’s top defenders. If you haven’t watch the PLL this season, now’s a great time to with the regular season winding down.
- D3football.com released its preseason top 25 poll, and both local teams made the cut. Kind of. Cortland makes the cut at number 23, while Ithaca landed in the “receiving votes” category with five votes. Both teams will open up the season on September 5 against opponents featured in the poll. The Bombers head to #4 Johns Hopkins while the Red Dragons venture to Grove City (one receiving vote).
- Speaking of Cortland, men’s basketball standout Kendall Arcuri has landed a spot in the pros. He will heads overseas to Portugal to join CP Esgueira.
