Yankees Cinderella Run Continues with Seventh Straight Win

The New York Yankees won their seven straight contest Saturday afternoon and enter Sunday just one game out from a postseason berth.

Only one American League contender remains ahead of the New York Yankees in their quest for the second Wild Card spot after their 5-1 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays Saturday. The Yankees are now tied with the Detroit Tigers at one game in back of the struggling Baltimore Orioles, who have played sub-.500 ball the last three months.

It’s no surprise that New York’s latest win was largely on the strength of another superlative pitching performance by Masahiro Tanaka, who is quietly crafting a pretty strong AL Cy Young case this year. The Yankees have won each of Tanaka’s last seven starts and are 22-7 with him on the mound in 2016.

Tanaka struck out 10 in 7.1 innings of work against the Rays, allowing just one earned run on a solo shot to Tampa Bay catcher Bobby Wilson in the eighth inning. The Yankees ace has noticed a change on the club since the team began their youth movement, telling reporters: 

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"Not to (say) that the team atmosphere wasn’t good earlier in the season, but I think we have younger guys up, obviously, and sort of the new guys are providing positive energy into the clubhouse and the team. I think that has a lot to do with it."

Yankees beat writer Ryan Hatch of NJ Advance Media also notes that the team’s clubhouse is a much louder and looser place than it has been in recent years. Winning certainly helps, but it does feel like the new generation of the club is beginning to take shape during this stretch run.

After the game, manager Joe Girardi sounded vastly more upbeat than at any point this season. It seems like the teams rejuvenated spirit had rubbed off on the skipper a little bit:

"The guys feel really good about themselves. We’ve been playing really, really well. We’ve been playing tough teams for a long time, and the focus has been to win series, and we’ve done a pretty good job of that. This home stand has started off great, and we need it to continue, but we’re scoring runs and we’re pitching well and the bullpen has been outstanding, and it’s a great combination."

One of the most encouraging signs of the last few games is that rookie catcher Gary Sanchez is beginning to break out of his first major league slump. He’s homered in the last two games, bringing his season total to 13 in just 32 games since his August 3rd call up. He also managed to hit a key sacrifice fly during an attempted intentional walk, which is exactly the kind of magic we’d grown used to from the youngster during his historic August. The Sanchize is back.

The team’s recent winning streak has brought their FanGraphs’ playoff odds to a robust 18.2%. The reason they remain so low despite their proximity to the race is probably the difficulty of their remaining schedule. The majority of their remaining 21 games come against their AL East rivals, three of whom currently hold playoff spots.

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The good guys will attempt to continue their improbable run by going for their second straight three-game sweep Sunday at 1:05 pm with Luis Cessa taking the ball against Matt Andriese.