2026 Yankees stat that 'does not matter' might matter a little bit, actually

The New York Yankees are not an overmatched disaster because they were swept on the road by the Tampa Bay Rays and Milwaukee Brewers. The New York Yankees did not predict their own future October failures over the weekend in Wisconsin. The New York Yankees did not prove they'll never beat good teams because of two one-run, walk-off losses (annoying, but true!), nor did they confirm their offense will wilt against good pitching in a three-game span (they've already battered good pitching through the majority of the season). Still ... ... ... ... ... this series sucked.

Not winning for Cam Schlittler after he was bruised and in pain after his second straight start involving a liner off his leg was deeply annoying. The bullpen was mismanaged. The Yankees, a team that should be in first place after a month-long surge, aren't because the Rays lose even less. It's worth examining and refining what's going on around the Bombers in order to contextualize their successes and failures.

They're one of the best teams in baseball, but not the best (familiar). The only thing different this time around is they're not being blocked by the usual suspects. So, what is fueling the remarkable rise of the Atlanta Braves and Tampa Bay Rays? What are they succeeding at where the Yankees are flopping?

Despite the protestations here, it is somewhat notable that the Yankees are last in all of baseball in hitting singles, while the Braves and Rays are both top tier in that department.

Yankees' power, rotation prowess can overcome singles deficit ... but it does matter

We've lived in the modern era long enough that Three True Outcomes Baseball has come and gone; the conventional wisdom is now that you'll take that kind of player, but lineup balance usually wins out. Going "all in" in one direction rarely ends in profit.

Still, the home run remains king, and the Yankees lead all of baseball in that department with 63, six ahead of the second place Braves (and 31 ahead of the Rays, who are tied for 25th in baseball and rank just ahead of the Mets and Red Sox). This is a season where Giancarlo Stanton hasn't chipped in much and the lineup was thought to be a pain point. Overall, it is not.

Add in the Yankees rotation's remarkable success (tied with the Braves in staff ERA, Rays rank fifth) and both Gerrit Cole/Carlos Rodón seemingly making full stuff recoveries, and you have a recipe for a season that looks a lot more like the first 38 games and a lot less like the last three.

Mostly, this surface-level analysis tells us that the Braves are as complete a team as you'll see, and are being underrated, if anything, in current prognostications. Still, with such a tiny body of evidence against so-called "good teams," Yankees fans can't help but realize if the team had managed to put just one or two more balls in play at the right time on Saturday night, then we wouldn't have to be flipping through the singles database like a frustrated Tinder user.

When the Rangers and Mariners cross the .500 barrier, the Yankees' record against the league's best will get an automatic boost. Until then, we'll be left wondering why their poor play against top-tier starters is essentially all clustered in chunks against the Brewers and Rays, and whether their record in one-run games will ever normalize to the point where we won't have to blame it on singles-hitting or bad Aaron Boone juju.

For now, I think we can agree on a few things: the 'pen needs two more leverage arms, a few multi-run home runs would've changed everything this weekend (it's been almost a week since the Yankees have hit one) and, yes, a few more singles wouldn't hurt, either.

Also, how are the Rays doing this with no slug? Baffling and bad.

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