Yankees End Streak, but Remain in Good Position for Postseason Run

The New York Yankees snapped their seven-game win streak Sunday with a 4-2 loss to the Tampa Bay Rays, but remain just two games back in the playoff hunt.

With the Baltimore Orioles facing off against the Detroit Tigers and the Boston Red Sox playing the Toronto Blue Jays this weekend, the New York Yankees were going to lose ground in the playoff race every time they dropped a game during this series against the Tampa Bay Rays.

After taking the first three games of the four game set and seven straight contests overall, the Yankees lost 4-2 to the AL East cellar-dwellers Sunday. Rookie starting pitcher Luis Cessa continued to look strong on the whole, but allowed three home runs during his 5.2 innings of work. He didn’t issue any free passes and struck out five opposing batters, but the long-ball continues to be his Achilles heel in his young MLB career.

Cessa has now given up eight homers in his last four starts. Before Sunday, the Yankees hadn’t lost one of Cessa’s starts this season, but it was only a matter of time before his homer tendencies caught up with him. His 4.07 ERA looked acceptable for a back-end starter, but that 5.93 FIP suggests he’s been the victim of some good luck and was due to regress.

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Of course the blame doesn’t fall entirely on Cessa’s shoulders. New York’s offense didn’t offer the young hurler much to work with. A solo home run by Chase Headley in the fifth inning and an RBI single by Brett Gardner was the extent of the damage. Gardy did have a nice three-hit day, but the majority of the Yankee bats were quiet.

While the loss has to take the wind out of the sails of this young team slightly, they remain very well situated to make a playoff push. New York has 20 games remaining in the 2016 regular season, and 14 of them come against three of the teams ahead of them in the division and Wild Card races.

It’s worth noting that all three of these clubs would currently make the playoffs if the season ended today, so this is a tough way to finish the season by any measure. However, the Yankees have been the hottest team in the American League since the trade deadline.

For his part, the veteran Chase Headley didn’t sound too beaten up over the loss, telling Brendan Kuty of NJ Advance Media following the game:

"We’re playing great baseball. You’re not going to win every game that you play. We didn’t give them the game. We didn’t kick the ball around. We didn’t walk a bunch of guys. They just beat us today. In baseball, you’re not just going to win every game. You’re going to have a nice run and then you’re going to have a little step back and then hopefully we’ll get on another run tomorrow. I love the way we’re playing and I love the way the guys are competing. We’re getting contributions from everybody. Of course it would have been great to keep it going but we just have to start a new one tomorrow."

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To earn a postseason berth, the Yankees will likely have to win around 14 of their remaining 20 contests. That’s not completely crazy given how this team has looked over the past month-plus. It starts with New York’s last non-AL East series of the season against their old foes the Los Angeles Dodgers Monday. Let’s do this.