AL East Update: Yankees Surging, Blue Jays & Red Sox Struggle

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00:00I want to talk about the American League East real quick, because Toronto, while they have

00:04been magical, is stalling out a little bit right now.

00:07They dropped two in a row over the weekend on Saturday and Sunday.

00:10They've won five and lost five over their last 10.

00:13Meanwhile, Yankees are playing good ball, in large part because the Yankees just took

00:18a series at home against the Blue Jays over the weekend.

00:21Boston sputtered a little bit.

00:23They dropped two or three in Arizona over the weekend, and the Red Sox are three and

00:26a half back as it stands right now.

00:28Toronto is 82 and 61.

00:30Yankees are 80 and 63.

00:32They're two back, and the Red Sox 79 and 65.

00:35Again, they're three and a half back.

00:36How do you feel like this thing shakes up?

00:38Do you feel like the Yankees are in a position to push and maybe bunny hop Toronto?

00:42I think they're in a position to push Toronto and kind of separate themselves from the Red

00:47Sox, and it's just unfortunate for Boston.

00:49We talked about it on the show a couple times, but I just think Roman is, Roman Anthony just

00:54was such a ridiculous dynamic to add to the top of your lineup.

00:57Other than the trade deadline, and you imagine how expensive would it be to add a bat that

01:04can get on base at the clip that Roman was getting on, hit the ball as hard as he is,

01:08play solid defense.

01:09I mean, Roman was the prototypical modern leadoff hitter that I think added this layer to their

01:15lineup that they were missing.

01:17You compound that with William Abreu, just not quite coming around here on this injury

01:22rehab.

01:22They put him on the IL, I think, retroactively, so it won't be as long, but they're focused

01:27on getting him back for the playoffs.

01:29So all of a sudden, I think this team, this outfield depth is a little bit thin, and I

01:34think you're seeing the Yankees separate themselves a little bit there.

01:38I thought overall, the way that they played against Houston was a fun series.

01:42We felt like you were getting a little bit of taste of what postseason baseball could

01:45look like, but I think the Jays, they're going to hit, and they're going to defend,

01:49and they're going to do their thing, but they do look like they're hitting a little bit

01:52of a wall here.

01:52And the Yankees, I don't know, where are you at after the last series or so with them

01:57where all of a sudden, I look at the roster, I look at the box score, and I'm like, this

02:01is still a really good team.

02:04When you're watching these games, all of a sudden, you say, okay, well, I can talk myself

02:08into it when they're all clicking, and when Jazz is swinging the bat like he is.

02:11Giancarlo's come down to earth a little bit, but then still had a big homer the other day,

02:15and Judge is fully back.

02:17And I think that's the biggest layer in this thing, too.

02:19Like, Judge is getting that OPS back up over 1,000.

02:21Yeah, I think the way that I took in this weekend is, number one, I take Jazz Chisholm

02:27for granted, and I should stop taking him for granted.

02:29We talked about it on the last episode of the Just Baseball Show.

02:32Jazz is pushing to become the third Yankee in the 30-30 club.

02:38Alfonso Soriano did it twice.

02:40Bobby Bonds did it once.

02:42Alfonso Soriano, Bobby Bonds, and Jazz Chisholm, this is the Yankees that we're talking about.

02:47And Jazz could be the third to have a 30-30 campaign.

02:50Obviously, the game has changed.

02:52It's probably a little bit easier when your focus is on hitting the ball to the ballpark

02:55and stealing bases.

02:56But Jazz is trying to do something that Mantle never did, like DiMaggio never did,

03:01which is crazy to think about in the history of the Yankees franchise.

03:05But I take Jazz for granted, or I took him for granted.

03:08I won't moving forward.

03:10And honestly, I thought Schlittler was throwing the ball better than really anybody else

03:14in that Yankee rotation, and he was the one that coughed up a game on Friday

03:17against Toronto.

03:18So for me, I look at this starting rotation right now, and I say,

03:22okay, it's at least on par with the Blue Jays at the moment.

03:27And obviously, Bieber's presence is huge, but it's not like Barrios is throwing the heck

03:31out of the ball right now.

03:32Gaussman has been very good, but it's not like Bassett has been great.

03:35And the bullpen has plenty of concerns.

03:37The Yankee bullpen, it's been well-documented, their struggles.

03:40But at the end of the day, you bet on the Bednars and the Dovols, and I guess the Devins and

03:46the Luke Weavers.

03:47You bet on that.

03:48I feel like on paper, the rest of the way, this just skews the way of the Yankees.

03:53Yeah, I just think of the last two series, maybe it's a little bit of recency bias, but

03:57this is a gauntlet stretch, and I'm interested to see how they handle the Tigers series as

04:03well.

04:04Because when you take two out of three from the Astros and really beat them up in two

04:07of the three wins, and then it was kind of a back-and-forth battle in the middle game.

04:11And then you mentioned just kind of getting your teeth kicked in a little bit with your

04:14young pitcher on the first game of the series against the Jays, but then bouncing back for

04:18two hard-fought wins.

04:19It just seems like they're locking in here at the right time, and that could make things

04:24really interesting.

04:25And then you look at the schedule.

04:26The Jays have three against the Astros in the Orioles, four in Tampa, three in KC, three

04:33in Boston, and then three at home to wrap up against Tampa again.

04:36So it's not necessarily a KC because, you know, Tampa's going to push it all the way

04:40down to the finish line, and they'll probably be mathematically alive up until maybe that

04:44last series.

04:45And then with the Yankees, they kind of got through, I think, some of the toughest part

04:49of their remaining schedule here.

04:51They'll have the three against the Tigers, but then it's three at Boston, three in

04:54Minnesota, three at Baltimore, three against the White Sox, and then three at home against

04:59the Orioles again.

05:00So it is, I mean, I'm sure the Orioles would love to play spoiler, and they have plenty of

05:04talent, but I know which of those two schedules I'm taking.

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