Yankees Need to Follow the Formula If They Want to Play Post-Season Baseball
If you look around at the American League, you see no breakout teams. A view of Major League Baseball in 2025 shows that there are no dominant clubs. Baseball is screaming for someone to grab the bull by the horns and make a run at the championship. The New York Yankees’ talent suggests they can be that team. However, their collective body of work suggests otherwise. If the Yankees have any desire to make the postseason, they will have to follow the formula that brought New York early success at the beginning of the 2025 season. It starts with returning to the philosophy of winning born out of the team construction post-Juan Soto. The Yankees would focus on starting pitching, a reinforced bullpen, and defense. This was called Plan B.
It started well enough with the acquisition of Max Fried, who gave the team depth at the top of the rotation. The loss of Gerritt Cole for the season moved Fried into the ace role with Carlos Rodon as his powerful sidekick. The emergence of Will Warren and a surprise addition in lefty Ryan Yarbrough gave the Yankees innings and length, saving the bullpen and allowing them to use only their top guns as the Yankees collected wins. The defense and a more balanced offense were collected to replace Soto, who left for the largest contract in MLB. The Yankees focused on the plan and were the better for it on both sides of the field. Jazz Chisholm Jr. is playing well at third and is excellent at second while providing speed and power. The acquisition of free agent Paul Goldschmidt, who manned first, would rope many potential errors and hit over .300 to start the year. The trade for Cody Bellinger brought a professional who plays the game at a high level, hitting for power and average, and situationally, the best player on the team. He reinforced all three outside positions and, along with Trent Grisham, also added defensive gems throughout the year.
The formula is simple. The Yankees need to get back to this basic baseball common sense and play the best players no matter the matchups, and that means top prospects Jasson Dominguez and Ben Rice must play as often as possible. The lineup must be consistent so players can develop consistent habits. The Yankees need to trust youth more often. The return of the defending AL Rookie of the Year, Luis Gil, and the impressive development of Cam Schlittler have added depth back to the starting five. This allowed the Yankees to release players like Marcus Stroman and Carlos Carrasco.
The trade deadline brought Ryan McMahon, who has made third base his position with his defense, which has proven to be superior to his predecessors. There were also more additions defensively with Jose Caballero from the Rays and Amed Rosario bringing smart play and an attitude towards winning. The addition of bullpen closers Camilo Doval from the San Francisco Giants and David Bednar of the Pittsburgh Pirates has brought depth and caused a reshuffling of the bullpen deck. Devin Williams ' leverage days have ended. Luke Weaver is the setup man now and can close occasionally. David Bednar made it clear that he is the answer at closer. His bulldog mentality and overpowering arm have filled a major hole at the end of games. Doval can set up or close and bring a delivery that is difficult to master. If you add a returning Fernando Cruz, they now have multiple options for the middle innings. Ryan Yarbrough can be added to the pen to give the option of having another lefty to pair with Tim Hill for key duels.
These are the areas to focus their best efforts to simplify some of these games. The fewer players you need to trot to the mound, the variables to victory. A return to having ground ball pitchers backed by mistake-proof fielding. In addition, pitchers who miss bats have now been added, but must be utilized correctly. Finally, keep a regular lineup and watch how a starting nine properly placed regularly can keep the Yankees from slumping and dropping games they no longer can afford to lose.
