About Last Night: Yanks Top Orioles

By Paul Semendinger

September 19, 2025

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I'll approach this game summary a little differently. I had numerous thoughts as I watched the game last night that will make this article read more like one of my "Perspectives" posts.

• The Yankees are playing the softest part of their schedule and winning often. This is how I have expected these games to play out. The Yankees will win a lot down the stretch. As I have been saying for a while, the Yankees will make the playoffs. The only question is where they'll be seeded. I happen to think that they could even win the A.L. East. Crazier things have happened. And it's not crazy to pick up two games in the standings over nine games.

  
  

• I have gotten the sense that some people feel the Yankees' end-of-the-season schedule was too easy. That this somehow wasn't fair. No. No way. If that argument is made, then what is also true was that the schedule to this point was too hard. The Yankees had to play these teams at some point. They got them now. Wins are wins are wins. They all count. It just so happened this year that the Yankees got some of their easiest games at the end.

  
  

• Max Fried was amazing last night. He has been great all year - save for when he had the blister problem. No matter where the Yankees finish, with Max Fried and Carlos Rodon and one of the young pitchers in the rotation, they'll have a great chance in every post season series. Maybe it'll be Fried and Rodon and pray for rain. But I'll stack the Yankees against anyone in any playoff series.

  
  

• Max Fried: 7 inning, 3 hits, 13 strikeouts. He won his 18th game of the season.

  
  

• I'm still a fan of pitcher wins. I know the stat is flawed for a million reasons, but I still like pitcher wins. I especially like 20 win seasons. I hope Max gets there.

  
  

• If the Yankees get a bye and then lose their first playoff series, some fans will say, "They lost because of the bye. It was too much time off." If the Yankees win a wild card series and then lose in the next round, some fans will say, "They lost because they didn't get the bye." It can't be both ways - although some will argue either (or both) sides (depending on what happens). For me, there are no excuses. If they play, they need to win. If they lose, no excuses work.

  
  

• Winners get the job done. Losers make excuses.

  
  

• Aaron Judge is the A.L. MVP. Hands down. It's a no contest. E.J. wrote the other day, that when Judge is playing and hitting well, the Yankees win. That's the textbook definition of valuable. Judge is also head-and-shoulders above Cal Raleigh in virtually every statistical category except homers. There's no way, if the voting is fair and just, that Judge isn't the MVP.

  
  

• Heading into last night, Aaron Judge had a 211 OPS+. Raleigh was at 170. That's not close. At all. Judge was ahead of Raleigh in batting average, on base percentage, slugging, OPS, runs scored, hits, doubles, triples... It's not a question who the MVP is. It's not a contest. At all.

  
  

• FOX put up a stat box last night comparing Anthony Volpe to Jose Caballero. The only problem was the box showed different stats for each player. No, not that they (of course) had different batting averages and the like - the chart showed completely different statistical categories for the players. In a side to side comparison, the stat box made no sense. "Anthony Volpe makes errors, Jose Caballero has some stolen bases." That's not a comparison.

  
  

• There was some poor baserunning last night which a team can get away with against weak competition. Having runners thrown out on the bases is a formula for defeat in the playoffs.

• It was nice to see the Yankees score seven runs with no home runs. That represents good quality at bats and situational hitting. That is what wins post season series.

• The Yankees are 24-11 over their last 35 games. They're like a phoenix. They can rise out of the ashes and be amazing. I don't know how they suddenly turned it around, but they did.

• The series continues tonight at 7:05 p.m. Will Warren pitches for the Yankees.