Media by Associated Press – New York Yankees’ Andrew Benintendi, left, Marwin Gonzalez, center, and Aaron Hicks celebrate their win after a baseball game against the Toronto Blue Jays, Sunday, Aug. 21, 2022, in New York. (AP Photo/Corey Sipkin)
With the trade deadline in the past and MLB speeding toward September, the playoff race is starting to take shape. The AL West and NL West races aren’t close, but the AL East is suddenly back in play, and the NL Central has seen a flip flop in leaders and favorites.
Yankees Struggling Toward September
What has been a forgone conclusion since April that the New York Yankees were winning the AL East appears to be in some peril with just over 40 games remaining. They have been dreadful since the All-Star break and even worse in August. Since the break, the Yankees are 9-20 while Toronto is 15-11, and Tampa Bay is 13-14.
With those results, the Yankees’ lead in the division has dropped from as high as 15.5 games on July 8th to just seven games on August 21st. Losing six of seven in the division didn’t help at all, and dropping three straight to the Blue Jays sent the Yankees reeling.
The Yankees’ struggles over the last month have been team-wide. Anthony Rizzo is batting .163, and Gleyber Torres is hitting .183 in August. Aaron Judge has cooled off with the homers, hitting four in his last 17 games with 12 RBI.
The pitching has also gone away, with starters going 2-8 in August. Gerrit Cole is 0-3 this month, while new acquisition Frankie Montas is 0-1 with a 9.00 ERA in three starts. Jameson Taillon is also 1-2 with a 5.32 ERA in his last three starts, and reliever Clay Holmes has a 10.80 ERA with two blown saves in August.
As a result, the division odds are back on the market with the Yankees at -1500, Toronto at +850, and Tampa Bay at +3000. They have been passed by Houston in total wins and in odds to win the AL Pennant and World Series. Once the favorites, the Yankees are now +200 to win the AL with Houston at +170, and the Yankees are +475 to win it all, trailing both the Astros and LA Dodgers.
Cardinals Streaking
On the opposite side of the Yankees are the St. Louis Cardinals, who lead the Majors in batting average and home runs since the All-Star break. They were 3.5 games behind Milwaukee on July 9th, and five weeks later, they are leading the Brewers by five games.
St. Louis is 14-3 in August, including a sweep of the Yankees and a series win against Milwaukee. Meanwhile, the Brewers are 6-11 in August and traded closer Josh Hader to San Diego.
While MVP favorite Paul Goldschmidt continues to produce, future Hall of Famer Albert Pujols has seen a resurgence. With two homers on Saturday, Pujols moved into second on the all-time baseball total bases list and is now just eight homers away from 700 career. Pujols is batting .452 with six homers in August, and he is slugging .938 since the All-Star game.
The Cardinals starting pitchers are 8-1 in August. The two pitchers acquired at the deadline, Jordan Montgomery and Jose Quintana, are a combined 4-0 in St. Louis with six runs allowed in six starts.
The second-half run is similar to what the Cardinals did in 2021 when they won 17 games in a row in September just to make the Wild Card game. This year they are looking for a division title, and the August run has them as the favorites, betting at -475 with Milwaukee at +350. St. Louis has also improved their NL pennant odds to +1000 and their World Series odds to +3000.
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