Is the Yankees offense back?
· Yahoo Sports
As the Yankee offense wilted throughout the summer, Aaron Boone was asked repeatedly about what he would do to juice the lineup, and about when the club’s bats would turn things around. The team was pretty insistent that the offense would pull through, in spite of night after night of woeful performance, and that the recoveries of Aaron Judge, Cody Bellinger, and Giancarlo Stanton on the horizon promised a return to form for the lineup.
Stanton, of course, failed to even make it back to the team, but Judge and Bellinger are both back in the fold. The playoffs are in sight, with the team in possession of a clinched spot and still gunning for the AL East crown. It’s time to ask: is the Yankee offense back?
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The early returns have been promising in light of Bellinger and Judge’s respective re-entries to the lineup. Judge has only been back a week or so, but the Yankees have averaged nearly six runs a game in that span with a 123 wRC+ (and that’s before they hung another eight runs on Minnesota last night). If we zoom out to Bellinger’s return, the numbers aren’t quite as robust, but still strong, with the Yankees posting a 116 wRC+ since then, sixth in baseball.
That all jives very conveniently with the team’s performance before injuries ravaged the lineup. On May 31st, the day Judge finally went down, the Yankees had a 116 wRC+, best in the American League. In 2025, they posted a 117 wRC+, tops in MLB, and in 2024, you guessed it, a 117 wRC+, once again tops in MLB. In recent years, a reasonably healthy Yankee lineup has been drawn to a wRC+ in the 115-120 range like a moth drawn to a flame, and that’s exactly what they’ve been when anywhere near healthy this year.
So, now that the offense is rolling along basically just as well as it always does, can we confidently say that we’re out of the woods? The depth of this summer’s offensive swoon casts at least a little doubt. Up and down the card, whether it was Ben Rice, Paul Goldschmidt, Austin Wells, Trent Grisham, or Jazz Chisholm Jr., nearly every Yankee bat floundered with Judge, Bellinger, and Stanton gone. You’d be forgiven for worrying that the bounceback over the last few weeks could prove to be a mirage.
But to me, the track record of this offense when not brutally injured is compelling, and the consistency is hard to ignore. That they seemingly need Judge to maintain a respectable level of offense is frustrating, but he’s here now, and the offense is humming again. Have you seen enough to declare the offense back? Is the team going to peak at the right time with October right around the corner?
This morning, with a playoff spot in hand, Josh takes the first swing at analyzing the Yankees’ potential playoff roster. Also, Madison goes through Tuesday’s AL action in today’s Rivalry Roundup, Jeremy’s entry in the Yankee Birthday series features the great Tim Raines, and later, a longtime contributor bids farewell.
Today’s Matchup:New York Yankees at Minnesota Twins
Time: 1:40 p.m. EST
TV: YES Network, Twins.TV
Venue: Target Field, Minneapolis, MN