It’s been a month to forget thus far for the Yankees, coming into today with a record of 10-10 in June. But the rest of the month has them playing lesser competition, representing a great opportunity to finish strong in June, and get some momentum going into July.
First up, the Cincinnati Reds and their superstar shortstop, Elly De La Cruz. Surprisingly, the strength of the Reds has been their pitching. As it stands today, the Yankees will miss out on seeing the Reds’ two best starting pitchers, Hunter Greene and Andrew Abbott. However, the Reds have an intriguing pitching prospect, Chase Burns, set to make his MLB debut on Tuesday night.
I’ve always felt that pitchers who make their debut have an advantage because other teams just haven’t seen enough of them to formulate a plan of attack. Burns isn’t a nobody, though, as he was the #2 overall pick in the 2024 draft, and he’s rocketed through the minor leagues. He might be nervous making his debut, and hopefully the Yankees can take advantage.
After that quick trip to Cincinnati, the Yankees come back home to the Bronx, to face the lowly Athletics for three games, and then they head to Toronto to take on the Blue Jays for a four game set. These are all winnable games, and I think the Yankees need to finish this month strong, because the end of the first half of the season will provide a tougher challenge.
Starting on Friday, July 4th, the Yankees and Mets face off in a holiday weekend subway series at Citi Field. Then, the Yankees have a tough six game home stand to wrap up the first half of the season, against the Mariners and Cubs. This stretch of nine games before the All-Star break could be vital in determining what decisions the front office will make looking ahead to the trade deadline.
In my opinion, the All-Star break is the ideal time to start making more definitive evaluations of a team’s performance. By that point, teams have played close to 100 games, and the sample size is large enough to draw some real conclusions. As things stand right now, I’m confident that the poor start to June for the Yankees has been a blip on the radar, rather than an indicator of something more serious. But the rest of the month will be telling.