The Yankees are showing what a “run” looks like in baseball

The Yankees, never mind the Cleveland Indians, have not seen a five-game win streak since who knows when. They’re going a different way, though, grinding it out day after day, game after game. Which way is better?

The Yankees season has been a saga of ups and downs. The highs got higher than high when they ran off a 21-9 eye-opener at the beginning of the 2017 season. But the key to their season is not that high, but their ability to avoid any extended lows.

Consistency and resilience are the tags that belong alongside the team’s logo this season. In July, the team was staggering, looking only to remain above water and playing sub-.500 baseball. The trades came and we all know the positive outcome and effect they’ve had on the team.

But still, as few as two weeks ago, no one, save for the die-hard Yankees fans who put the blinders on, despite what their lying eyes were telling them, the Pinstripes were one big question mark.

Yankees reach a crossroad

Somewhere along the line, though, and I would guess it was that series at Yankee Stadium when they took three of four from the Red Sox, fans of the Pinstripes could feel a change in the air. And more importantly, so could the 25 guys in the clubhouse.

From there, the team has gone on to win four more series, and not so suddenly, the Yankees are fifteen games over .500, with the top Wild Card all but wrapped up and trailing the Red Sox by only three games with thirteen to play.

The Yankees may or may not be the best team entering the playoffs, but they sure are the most dangerous team

And a good barroom debate these days is if the Indians and their 22-game win streak show the way to the promised land or if the Bombers, and their incremental way of doing business, in the end, is the way it needs to be done with the playoffs only a few games away.

We see it all over the media now with the question of whether or not the Indians peaked too early. And did the pressure to continue the streak, despite their insistence it played no part in their play, does that put them in the question mark category, or are they simply a good team getting better.

And what of Boston who, if not for the team in the Bronx and their mid-season slump, would have been buried long ago?

More from Yanks Go Yard

• Should Yankees toss short-term extension at Harrison Bader before 2023?
• Yankees chose worst possible player to ring in New Year on 2023 team calendar
• Yankees State of the Farm System Review: Josh Breaux
• Yankees make upside play, sign former Rangers top prospect outfielder
• MLB insider claims favorite emerging in Bryan Reynolds rumors (not Yankees)

The question, of course, is moot since a look at the AL Standings shows the Red Sox ahead of the Yankees by three games. And whatever the Sox have done to hold off the Yankees, it’s been good enough –  so far.

But that “so far” shouldn’t mean if the team fails to catch Boston, the season is lost or a disappointment.

Yankees roll and we roll with them

Because I happen to like and respect the way the Yankees are winding down the season. They are playing well enough to make themselves a team nobody looks forward to playing. And yet, there’s a question that prevails as to just how good they are.

The guys in the clubhouse, and especially the experienced veterans like Matt Holliday, Brett Gardner, and CC Sabathia know it, and as Yankees fans, we know it too. The team hasn’t peaked, or at least they don’t seem to have. They’re rolling, and the only remaining question is how high can they take themselves when it counts the most.

Next: What if the Yankees and Red Sox tie?

For myself, they may or may not be the best team entering the playoffs, but they sure are the most dangerous team