September 28, 2021
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This week we presented the following to our writers:
The Yankees swept the Red Sox. The Yankees’ fate is in their own hands. Predict how the final week of the season plays out.
(Do the Yankees keep rolling, does it fall apart? Who comes up big? Who doesn’t?)
Here are their responses:
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Patrick Gunn – It’s impossible to predict what will happen with the 2021 Yankees from week-to-week. They needed to go 6-0 last week just to return to the playoff discussion. Toronto poses New York its biggest threat because of the Blue Jays’ urgency. I think the Yankees escape Toronto with one win because the Jays lineup carries the team. The Rays are tuning up for the playoffs, so I think the Yankees take care of business and take two of three. So, the Yankees finish off the season with a 3-3 week and a 92-70 record. That will be barely enough to secure the second AL Wild Card.
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Cary Green – The Yankees go 5-1 in the last six games , annexing their season and earning the home-field-advantage in the Wild Card game. Because the 2021 Yankees like to create drama, they will open the Toronto series by getting squashed like a September pumpkin that fell off someone’s porch and landed on the sidewalk, in the opening game of the series. Toronto will gain a false sense of confidence and then, they will face Gerrit Cole and Corey Kluber and they’ll learn that the Yankees still have better pitching than they do. The Yankees will suppress the combustible Blue Jay offense and they will pound a few clutch home runs and exploit the Toronto bullpen, mashing and pulping the Blue Jays October hopes and dreams in the process.
The Yankees will earn the right to host the Red Sox in a one game, winner take all Wild-Card Armageddon, featuring Gerrit Cole, who is sporting a dreadful 4.61 ERA this month against Chris Sale, who owns a 2.75 ERA for the month of September.
(For a more detailed answer see the upcoming 1:00 p.m. post.)
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Andy Singer – The Yanks are clicking on all cylinders, and it won’t stop now. They’re healthier than they’ve been all season, and they’re playing more like how I expected them to play. The good times roll, as they’ll take two from the Jays and two more from the Rays. The Yanks get a home game for an incredibly stressful Wild Card round.
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Mike Whiteman – I see the Yanks winning four more games this week, clinching the first Wild Card on the last game of the season.
I predict Gleyber Torres comes up big in the last week of the season, sealing his place with the 2022 team, never to be moved away from second base the rest of his Yankee tenure.
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Paul Semendinger – I never thought the Yankees would sweep the Red Sox. I thought we’d be in a different place right now as fans, watching the team barely hanging on…
The Yankees are playing well. They have a chance to bury the Blue Jays…and they will! I think the Yankees take at least two of three from the Jays, but they might sweep, and after winning the first game against Tampa, it all becomes moot as by then they will have secured first place in the Wild Card standings.
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Tim Kabel – As much as I would like to see the Yankees sweep the next six games and win the first wild card position, I don’t think it will happen. The primary reason for this is Aaron Boone is still the manager. On Sunday night, he tried to give the game back to the Red Sox by removing first, Jordan Montgomery and then Clay Holmes, too early. He’s like a baker making a cake fall by opening the oven too soon for no reason. I think they will take two games from the Blue Jays and two games from the Rays. As much as I would like to see them win the top position, they have been so streaky that it is hard to imagine they won’t give us one more gut punch. If Boone can simply stay out of the way, they will make the playoffs, as the visitors at Fenway Park.
