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New York Yankees Editorial: Yankees Need to Beat Below Average Teams

By Kat Frye

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There are many clichés in the sports world, but one of the most common ones is that you “should win the games you are supposed win.” In a 162-game season, teams that have success generally have to beat the really good teams some of the time, the mediocre teams most of the time, but they are supposed to beat the bad teams pretty much all of the time.

So far, in 2015 this has not been the case for the 2015 New York Yankees.

The Yankees record, after losing to the Los Angeles Angels (40-37) on Monday night, is 41-36. Looking league-wide, this places them in the middle of the pack. Currently, in second place in the AL East behind the Tampa Bay Rays (42-36) and Baltimore Orioles (41-35).

The first place teams in other divisions in baseball, Kansas City Royals (44-29) , Houston Astros (45-34), Washington Nationals (42-34), Los Angeles Dodgers (43-25), and St. Louis Cardinals (51-24)all have more wins than the AL East leaders. Only the Cardinals have pulled away from the rest of baseball with an impressive 51 wins thus far. While it may be too early to think about playoff positioning, it is important to note that currently the AL East would not produce a wildcard team, so winning the division becomes paramount.

Mandatory Credit: Reinhold Matay-USA TODAY Sports

The Yankees are above .500, and while it is still early in the season it does seem as if they are positioned to make a run for a playoff spot. The key to success for this team may be in the way they have been playing up, and perhaps down, to their competition. In other words, if they want to be in the playoffs then they need to beat the teams that are below .500.

The Yankees have had successes against good teams, and some very hot teams that have since cooled off. They beat the New York Mets (40-37) and Detroit Tigers (39-36) when those teams were playing arguably their best baseball in this young 2015 season.  They have had success against two first place teams, the Rays and Royals, already this season and just split a series with AL best Astros (44-23).

The Yankees are 30-26 against teams with winning records. But, and this is where the Yankees need to improve, they are only 11-9 against teams with records below .500. No team is going to win every game, but if the Yankees had won those 9 games against struggling teams like the worst team in baseball the Philadelphia Phillies (27-51), the AL East last place Boston Red Sox (35-43), and the disappointing Oakland A’s  (35-44) they would not be in the middle of the pack, instead they would be fighting the Cardinals for the best record in baseball.

Manager Joe Girardi does not think this is necessarily a team that is playing to the level of their competition. However he does acknowledge that this team does need to play more evenly. Girardi said, “The one thing we need to do is become more consistent.” In this case, it isn’t a stretch to imagine that consistent would be mean playing as well against the bad teams as they do against the good ones.

The Yankees face two teams that are above .500 this week, the Angels and Rays. Tuesday’s game is in Anaheim and features Ivan Nova (1-0, 0.00) who is making his second start back from elbow ligament replacement surgery and Andrew Heaney (0-0, 1.50 ERA) in his second start for the Angels,  it is scheduled for a 10pm EST start time.

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