The 5 Most Important Yankees In September

Mandatory Credit: Anthony Gruppuso-USA TODAY Sports

Heading into the weekend, the New York Yankees dropped another vital game that they had to have. It was another wonderfully pitched game by the Yankees’ starter, Michael Pineda, and the team wasted the effort, just as they have all season long. Pineda pitched 7 brilliant innings, allowing only 1 run, which was unearned–another trademark of the 2014 Yankees, and that was all she wrote. A 1-0 win for the Royals. Another pathetic showing by arguably the most overrated Yankees’ team of the last quarter century.

There are 19 games left to make up 4 1/2 games. It’s been done before in recent years. Not by a team as offensively inept and inconsistent as these Yankees, but it’s happened. Derek Jeter‘s career will most likely end on enemy ground, north of New York at Fenway Park, without one final October to try and win his sixth ring. His career will end empty-handed, just as his fellow “Core Four” members, Mariano Rivera and Andy Pettitte.

As Yankees’ Hall of Fame catcher Yogi Berra has been quoted: “It ain’t over ’til it’s over.” Stranger things have happened. For every walk-off win that makes us all think the Yankees have finally turned the corner, and possibly begin a needed winning streak to secure a postseason berth, they instead come out the next night, get three hits, five baserunners, strike out eight times, get shut out, and waste a gem from their starting pitcher. It drives fans crazy. However, until the New York Yankees are mathematically eliminated from that final Wild Card spot, they have a fighter’s chance. For that to happen, the Bombers need a handful of their players to step up and become early legends of the fall. Here are the 5 most important Yankees to the team’s success for the month of September!