Yankees Finish Gauntlet With Series Win in Boston

By Sal Maiorana

September 15, 2025

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Sal Maiorana shares his thoughts on the Yankees. Here is an edited version of Sal's latest article.

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If I had told you the Yankees would have gone 7-5 in what has been widely referred to as “The Gauntlet” over the past two weeks, you would have signed up for that in a nanosecond.

The way the Yankees had been scuffling along for the better part of three months, it felt like a big ask to win more games than they lost against the Astros, Blue Jays, Tigers, and Red Sox, four teams that are almost certainly going to be joining the Yankees in the postseason.

Going into this critical stretch they were 7-19 against those teams, having lost six of the seven series including one sweep each at the hands of Boston and Toronto. Now they’re 14-24 which is still pretty bad. The Yankees have earned a reputation as a team that can bully the bums - they’re 39-19 against the 12 teams who currently sit fourth and fifth in the respective divisions - but then wimp out and turtle when they are challenged by another bully.

But Aaron Boone, who told us ad nauseum that he knew this was in his team and that it was “all right in front of us” contrary to all the evidence that it certainly was not, has been proven right. At least for now.

You can count me as someone who is still skeptical about what this team can ultimately become because we’ve seen the Yankees go on nice little runs like this in the past, and then it’s followed by stretches where you wonder how any of them ever made it to the major leagues.

Jazz Chisholm - who depending on the day is either a spectacular player or one of the most maddeningly players in MLB - is certainly consistent in his dealings with the media. The guy is a character and he loves popping off with reporters before and after games which is fine by me because as a sports writer, I love guys like that who don’t just mumble a bunch of worthless, soulless cliches when they speak to the media. However, you also have to consider the source sometimes with Chisholm.

Saturday, after the Yankees had won the first two games at Fenway Park and clinched the series, during which he gave us the full spectrum of his wonder - he was 5-for-9 with a homer, three RBIs and two stolen bases but also got thrown out twice on the bases and made another throwing error - Chisholm was feeling his oats in the clubhouse.

When asked what kind of statement the Yankees made in the first two games, he said, “That we’re the best team in the league. I feel like any team that thinks they’re better than us, they should know when we step on the field that we’re coming with relentlessness. We’re coming to step on necks. We’re not here to play around. We’re going to do the job and get the job done.”

Maybe a tap on the brakes is needed here, Jazz. We’ll see about that in these last two weeks as they try to lock down the top wildcard spot - folks, they’re not catching the ever-annoying Blue Jays - but more importantly, we’ll see in October.

The Yankees certainly have the starting pitching to make a deep run. Since Sept. 2 when “The Gauntlet” began with Max Fried shutting down the Astros through Saturday before Will Warren got clobbered Sunday night, New York had a starting pitcher ERA of 2.76 which was second-best in MLB behind only the Guardians’ 2.31. Thanks to Warren, now it’s seventh at 3.36.

Fried and Carlos Rodon are a solid, seemingly reliable 1-2 punch, and then Boone might actually have a tough decision to make on the next two - you only need three starters for the first two rounds and then four for the ALCS and World Series - as Luis Gil, Cam Schlittler and Warren have all pitched well, though Warren may have knocked himself out of contention.

“Probably as much as anything, (the rotation) has helped fuel us through this last month where we’ve kind of got it turned around a little bit,” Boone said. “It starts with the starting pitchers because, you know, if they’re routinely giving you quality outings into the fifth and sixth and even the seventh, whatever it may be, now all of a sudden you’re in better position to close out games. The pen’s able to protect one another, you’re not overextending guys. Love seeing it. We’ve got to keep doing it.”

However, unless the starters can pitch eight innings and turn a lead over to David Bednar in the ninth (which we know is not happening, ever), no game will ever be safe with this Yankees bullpen. It was certainly better in Boston, but thus far in September it has a collective 7.62 ERA, better only than the lowly Twins who the Yankees will visit this week. And dating back to the Aug. 1 trade deadline when they supposedly may key upgrades, the ERA is 5.32, better only than the Twins and Rockies.

And while the season numbers for the offense are tremendous as the Yankees lead MLB with 774 runs, 254 home runs, 578 walks and an OPS of .784, there has been a downturn in September while they’ve been playing these postseason-worthy opponents.

Since September began, in these games against the four soon-to-be playoff teams, the Yankees’ 21 home runs are tied for second, but they are striking out 27.8% of the time which is fourth-worst, their .308 on-base percentage is 19th, their .743 OPS is 11th, and their 55 runs scored is 20th.

They are going to be playing lower scoring games in October, and I still wonder what happens when they don’t hit home runs. Can this team manufacture enough runs, particularly with their bullpen capable of lighting any lead on fire and blowing it up?

“We’ve said it all year long that we’ve been playing to everybody else’s level instead of our own level,” said Chisholm. “We’ve been letting games go. We’ve been losing games ourselves, making errors, having poor at-bats and stuff like that. At the end of the day, we finally looked ourselves in the mirror and realized we’re the team to beat. That’s how we’ve been stepping on the field for the last two weeks.”

I know Jazz isn’t worried, but I am, and I’m guessing you are as well.