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Originally Posted by Westheim
What *is* the biggest lead over a non-playoff spot ever blown in the wild card era?
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CBS Sports has an answer for you in an article titled
How can Yankees snap out of slump? Four things New York needs to avoid historic collapse
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The Yankees, meanwhile, are trying to avoid blowing the largest division lead in baseball history. The "record" is a 13-game blown lead by the 1951 Los Angeles Dodgers. The Yankees led the AL East by 15 1/2 games on July 8. After dropping two of three to the Tampa Bay Rays this past weekend, New York's division lead has been whittled down to only five games.
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"If we don't dig ourselves out, you'll have a great story to write," manager Aaron Boone told reporters.
Take a look at this:
Incidentally, the four things are:
1. Get healthy
2. The veterans must perform
3. The kids must contribute
4. Take advantage of home field
Look, I can take most of the injuries. They happen, and at this level of play, even a toe injury like LeMahieu has can affect his performance. Same thing with Rizzo and his back issues.
What I don't accept are guys who repeatedly injure themselves (Severino, Stanton) or who do so under ridiculous circumstances (Benintendi, breaks a bone swinging a bat; Chapman, suffers a leg infection from a bad tattoo).
Two top relievers out for the season; trade a quality starter for a guy on the DL for months; trade for what you think is a quality starter who looks like a deer in headlights in New York; throw in regular playing time for proven under-achievers (Gallo, Hicks, Donaldson, Torres) and what you have is not only reversion to the mean but revelation of mediocrity or worse.
That Judge is doing what he is doing in the midst of this lineup is truly remarkable. I am surprised that teams are not giving him a free pass four times a game. Yet.