Yankees dodge bullet after postponement vs Rays gives them schedule advantage

The New York Yankees are, hands down, playing their most inconsistent and frustrating version of baseball so far in 2026. They are 5-11 in their last 16 games and fumbled away eight wins over that span. On Saturday morning, they got a moral victory, which could hopefully help them get back on track.

Saturday's game against the Tampa Bay Rays has been postponed due to inclement weather and has been rescheduled for Sept. 22, when the two teams will partake in a doubleheader. Mother nature and the scheduling gods have come through!

The Yankees are 0-4 against the Rays this year and are dangerously close to losing the tiebreaker for the season series. After getting swept at the Trop back in April and blowing two of those contests, the Yankees dropped Friday's opener in gutting fashion as they wasted Gerrit Cole's highly-anticipated return. He fired six scoreless innings, but only got one run of support. Predictably, the bullpen blew it in what became a 4-2 loss.

Playing their worst baseball in the month of May, the Yankees have only had one off day and have played 21 games in 22 days, so this couldn't be better timing for an offense sucking wind and unable to find themselves in high-leverage moments.

Aaron Judge is enduring one of the worst slumps of his career. The bullpen is like watching a body horror movie. The strikeouts are becoming unbearable: they've whiffed 46 times over the last five games and have gone 6-for-36 with runners in scoring position.

Yankees vs Rays postponement on May 23 gives New York a glimmer of hope

The 34-15 Rays are the second-best team in baseball, and arguably the hottest. They are 16-3 in their last 19 games. Thankfully, the Yankees have kept a solid pace, trailing by just 5.5 games at 30-22, but they can't afford to lose another series to Tampa (or another division opponent, for that matter).

Though Ryan Weathers, who has been excellent, was scheduled to pitch Saturday, the Rays are pummeling left-handed starters in 2026 to the tune of a .291/.356/.418 line. Meanwhile, over the last two weeks, the Yankees as a team are hitting .214 with a .673 OPS. They've had their moments, but for the most part it's been a slog as the rest of the lineup has been tasked to carry the weight with Judge struggling.

It's as simple as this: no matter how you feel about the 2026 Yankees, they are awful right now. All of their problems have collided to essentially negate their impressive 26-12 start. Meanwhile, the Rays are a wagon at the moment. Pushing one of these games to September, when the Yankees play some of their baseball, couldn't have been a luckier occurrence for Aaron Boone's side.

On Sunday it'll be Will Warren vs Shane McClanahan, and a potential series split would almost feel like a sweep given New York's current situation with its roster imbalance and multitude of injuries. Enjoy the Saturday reprieve, even if the weather stinks. There's a positive long-term implication here.

Add us as a preferred source on Google

Follow