Yankees Power Rankings: NYY still favored to make playoffs?

As always seems to be the case these days, more often than not, the Yankees did something incredibly cool at the Field of Dreams Game. They almost entirely stole a baseball game from the “home” Chicago White Sox at the very last second.

Then, they had to toe the rubber in the bottom of the ninth. And the second Zack Britton lost the backup catcher after having him in an 0-2 hole, you knew this was done.

So how do we assess this battered and bruised Yankees team this week? How do you properly rank a strong team that seems to have almost won at least 10 games more than they’ve actually won?

It’s a tough job, but MLB’s various power-ranking experts had to do it.

Truth be told, this week’s MLB.com power rankings didn’t make a ton of sense.

The Yankees are right where they should be — the No. 9 spot — but the Red Sox, who’ve fallen so far so fast — are still in the top 10 ahead of them at No. 8? After getting embarrassed by the Blue Jays, who aren’t even up here?

Yankees Power Rankings recap for Week 18

We’re not even mad for us. We’re mad for Toronto, who earned it.

And don’t use the standings as justification; the A’s remained ahead of the Yankees when this was released on Aug. 9, and they’ve been on fire, too.

ESPN did a more reasonable job assessing the situation, placing the Yankees in 11th, the Red Sox all the way down in 10th (down three spots from the previous week), and the Jays in the nine hole. Because that’s, uh, what happens when you win head-to-head matchups.

The A’s sit in eighth, FWIW. Also earned.

ESPN rightly claims the Yankees have been a bit rejuvenated lately, and even showed that explosiveness that had been dormant for so long in their Field of Dreams loss. Per the Worldwide Leader, keep an eye on Luis Gil. I know you are, but maybe the rest of baseball needs to refocus.

Yankees Power Rankings: Yankees Playoff Odds

The Yankees are heavy underdogs to take the AL East crown, as the Rays threaten to run away and hide a bit; you can grab the Bombers, per our friends at WynnBET, at +800 (bet $100 to win $800).

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A “Will the Yankees make the playoffs?” bet is far more difficult to handicap right now; “Yes” is -105, with “No” at -116. There’s a narrow margin for you.

If you believe in the Bombers making it out of the American League to the World Series, they’re the sixth-most-likely team to do so at +850, behind all the usual suspects except the resurgent Blue Jays.

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New York Yankees fans will be pleased that Boston Red Sox president Sam Kennedy is taking shots at their trade deadline, for some reason.