During the trade deadline the New York Yankees were sellers for the first time in years and by sellers I mean they had a for sale sign on almost everyone. During that process, Yankees fans started thinking towards 2017, but someone forgot to drop that memo off the guys in the clubhouse.
With the retirement of Alex Rodriguez, the lesser role of Mark Teixeira, the trade of Aroldis Chapman it was as if the front office saw the writing on the wall and started looking towards the future. But when Nathan Eovaldi went down with a season-ending injury, that was the last straw. But what happened since then was not supposed to happen until 2017. The Yankees came together and fought their way back into the Wild Card hunt and with a little more than 30 games left in the season they find themselves less than four games back.
When looking at the teams in front of them, it may seem as if their chances are slim but look again. The Yankees are mostly division heavy going forward after their series against the Kansas City Royals and the Los Angeles Dodges later on.
The Yankees must leapfrog a declining Tigers team and a Mariners team that has played above their heads. They must keep their eye on the surging Astros and Royals but if the Yankees can continue their newfound success in the next three games against KC, all changes.
Of the remaining series the Yanks have left, Toronto poses the biggest problem as they are an abysmal 3-9 with only 32 runs scored in 11 games. The Yanks will need to find their offense against them if they are to make the postseason. The Yanks have poured it on as of late with the hot hitting of Gary Sanchez and steady pitching from a depleted staff, but this is standard Yankee baseball as they hit the stretch run.
A month ago, all was lost, but now there is a renewed admiration for the Yanks. They were supposedly left for dead, had given up on the season but somehow they are where they belong. This is the time for the young guys like Aaron Judge, Sanchez, Starlin Castro and Didi Gregorius to make a name for themselves. If they can somehow lead this Yankee team into the postseason, they will forever go down in Yankee lore.