{"id":988243,"date":"2026-08-08T04:44:43","date_gmt":"2026-08-08T04:44:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/988243\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T04:44:43","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T04:44:43","slug":"yankees-need-to-get-our-s-t-together-with-red-sox-right-on-our-ass-in-al-east","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/988243\/","title":{"rendered":"Yankees need to ‘get our s\u2013t together’ with Red Sox ‘right on our ass’ in AL East"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Yankees welcomed one of the hottest teams in the majors to The Bronx on Friday night in the Braves.<\/p>\n

The hottest team has been flying into their rearview mirror in the division, and is just as close as it appears.<\/p>\n

What once might have seemed laughable six weeks ago \u2014 that the Red Sox, after firing Alex Cora in late April<\/a> and later diving 14 games under .500, would soon be breathing down the Yankees\u2019 neck \u2014 is no longer a laughing matter.<\/p>\n

After a ridiculous 13-inning win on Thursday night, the Red Sox entered Friday just a half-game back of the Yankees for second place in the AL East, on torrid stretches of 26-3 and 31-5 that suddenly put Aaron Boone\u2019s club at risk of falling into third place and the second AL wild card with less than two months left in the regular season.<\/p>\n

\"BostonBoston Red Sox center fielder Ceddanne Rafaela (3) celebrates with second baseman Nick Sogard (20) after hitting a two-run home run during the seventh inning against the Los Angeles Dodgers at Dodger Stadium on Friday, July 31, 2026, in Los Angeles, California. Kiyoshi Mio-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re right on our ass. We got to pick it up,\u201d Cam Schlittler told The Post on Friday afternoon. \u201cI don\u2019t know how that doesn\u2019t motivate us a little bit, just with the position Tampa\u2019s in [leading the division by 4 \u00b9\/\u2082 games], Boston\u2019s right there. I think [we] got to play better baseball if [we] want to solidify ourselves for a playoff spot and try to go win the division.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe got to get our s\u2013t together a little bit if we want to \u2014 things were comfortable for a little bit, now they\u2019re not. Things have been up and down. We got to play better, consistent baseball and obviously when I\u2019m out there, that starts with me on the mound.\u201d<\/p>\n

The last time the Yankees saw their archrivals in person, they arrived at Fenway Park on June 25 in first place at 48-31, leading the Rays by three games and the Red Sox by 15 \u00b9\/\u2082.<\/p>\n

The Red Sox were 32-46, seemingly an afterthought in the basement of the AL with the second-worst record in the majors.<\/p>\n

Schlittler took the mound for the series opener against his hometown team and gave up four unearned runs, the start of what became a four-game sweep by the Red Sox that breathed life back into their season.<\/p>\n

Since the start of that series, the Red Sox entered Friday 31-5. The Yankees were 16-20.<\/p>\n

\"NewNew York Yankees pitcher Cam Schlittler reacts on the mound during the third inning at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx, New York, Monday, August 3, 2026. JASON SZENES FOR THE NEW YORK POST<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat a run, man,\u201d manager Aaron Boone said. \u201cI was in that camp even when they were struggling, going, \u2018That\u2019s a really good team.\u2019 But anytime you got on 26-3, 31-5, that\u2019s some pretty amazing baseball, doing it against some really good teams, too. Impressive. They\u2019ve obviously put themselves right in the middle of the playoff picture now.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Red Sox are not dissimilar to the Yankees, in that their pitching staff has been the backbone of their success. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n

But while the Yankees have struggled mightily offensively in Aaron Judge\u2019s absence, the Red Sox have found a way to thrive with a gritty lineup that is not exactly loaded with big names or contracts.<\/p>\n

Soon, they will also add Adley Rutschman to the mix after out-bidding the Yankees and acquiring the All-Star catcher<\/a> (currently on the injured list with wrist inflammation) from the Orioles at the trade deadline.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen he comes back, I expect them to probably be in an even better position,\u201d said Schlittler, who got to know Rutschman a bit at the All-Star Game. \u201cThey got a great team, I\u2019ve been saying that all season. They just had to find their rhythm a little bit and I knew once they did, they\u2019d get clicking. So I\u2019m really happy for the guys over there that I know. So yeah, now they\u2019re in a position to talk.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tYankees Merch Shop\t\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tNew York Post receives revenue from affiliate and advertising partnerships for sharing this content and when you make a purchase.\t\t<\/p>\n

The Yankees will see the Red Sox again near the end of August for four games in three days in The Bronx. <\/p>\n

Perhaps they will have one or both of Cody Bellinger and Giancarlo Stanton back by then, though the Red Sox are surviving their respective key injuries in Garrett Crochet and Roman Anthony. <\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\tGo beyond the box score with the Bombers\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSign up for Inside the Yankees by Greg Joyce, exclusively on Sports+.\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\tThank you\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

But before they can worry about beating them head-to-head \u2014 they are 4-5 against them this season \u2014 the Yankees are desperately trying to find a way to snap out of their own funk and get hot themselves.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe talk about all year long, a lot of smart people overreact all season,\u201d Boone said. \u201cYou realize how long of a season it is. It\u2019s just a forever season, and you make these assumptions on teams and write teams off or crown teams or crown players, \u2018This guy\u2019s the MVP after three weeks.\u2019 It\u2019s so long, and the beauty of that long season is it does weed out good from great and good from OK.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Yankees welcomed one of the hottest teams in the majors to The Bronx on Friday night in…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":988244,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5122],"tags":[2226,40929,5229,1281,1266,405,403,2228,5226,5225,5228,5227,62,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":["post-988243","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-aaron-boone","tag-al-east","tag-america","tag-boston-red-sox","tag-mlb","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-new-york-yankees","tag-newyork","tag-newyorkcity","tag-ny","tag-nyc","tag-sports","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/117058069456514773","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/988243","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=988243"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/988243\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/988244"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=988243"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=988243"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=988243"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}