beyond the back page No team in baseball has a wider range of outcomes than these Yankees By Zach Braziller Published Aug. 17, 2026, 7:40 a.m. ET Jose Caballero gets caught in a rundown during the Yankees' 4-3 win over the Blue Jays on Aug. 16, 2026. Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press via AP It is realistic to imagine Cody Bellinger, Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton getting healthy in time for October, and the Yankees riding their power and their elite starting pitching to a second World Series appearance in three years.
It is, however, also possible that the issues that have contributed to the Yankees’ malaise since Judge was lost to a fractured rib add up to an early October exit, and that Judge and Stanton’s return doesn’t fix the problems in this offensive lineup.
October is an unpredictable month and the Yankees are an unpredictable team. An argument can be made that no team has a wider variance.
The big three of Max Fried, Gerrit Cole and Cam Schlittler are dynamite, and may not have an equal. But that trio has performed at a high level for a while now, and the Yankees just went 0-3 in their last turn in the rotation despite them allowing a combined three earned runs across three starts against the Mariners and Blue Jays. But the anemic offense made it not matter, the Yankees managing two total runs in those contests.
