Who Wants to Win?

Who's going to win the American League Eastern Division? With 77 percent of the regular season played, it's down to 2 teams: The Yankees and the Baltimore Orioles. It looks like neither of them wants to win.

The Yankees began the week by playing away to the Chicago White Sox, who are having one of the worst seasons in Major League Baseball history. They were on a pace to surpass the 1962 Mets' 1900-onward record of 120 losses in a season.

And what happened on Monday night? Luis Gil allowed 4 runs in the 1st 4 innings. At the 7th inning stretch, it was 5-2 South Siders. And then Aaron Boone brought Enyel de los Santos in to pitch -- after Tim Hill already got the 1st out in the inning. Why would you replace a pitcher who just got an out, unless he's actually hurt?

de los Santos. The name means "of the saints," and he was born on Christmas Day, 1995. But the Dominican righthander, acquired from the San Diego Padres on July 30, left coal in every Yankee Fan's stocking: He allowed double, double, single, single, single, home run, before finally getting the last 2 outs of the inning. He allowed 6 runs, without his defense hurting him with any errors.

And Boone left him in for the rest of the game! He must have figured, "This game's already lost, why tire out any of my other relievers?" The Yankees lost, 12-2, to the worst baseball team since at least the 119-loss 2003 Detroit Tigers. The season had bottomed out... for the moment.

de los Santos made 5 appearances for the Yankees, with an ERA of 14.21, and a WHIP of 2.526. He was placed on waivers.. and picked up by the White Sox, the very team that torched him!

Fortunately, on Tuesday night, Nestor Cortés pitched his best game of the season, going 7 shutout innings, allowing 3 hits, and no walks, striking out 9. He threw 104 pitches, so Boone took him out, and Mark Leither Jr. blew the shutout. But not the game, because Juan Soto hit not 1, not 2, but 3 home runs, driving in all the Yankees' runs in a 4-1 victory.

Then, on Wednesday night, the Yankees did to the White Sox what the White Sox did to them on Monday night. Will Warren had easily his best game as a Yankee, allowing 2 runs over 5 innings, and then the bullpen was trusted. It was 2-1 Pale Hose after 6 innings, the Yankee run coming on another homer by Soto.

Then the Yankees scored 3 runs in the 7th, and 6 in the 8th, including the 300th career home run for Aaron Judge, and another homer by Austin Wells. Yankees 10, White Sox 2. Hill was the winning pitcher.

*

On to the Motor City, to face the Detroit Tigers. How many Yankees does it take to pitch a 5-hit shutout? If they're managed by Brian Cashman, with Aaron Boone carrying out his orders, apparently, the answer is 4: Gerrit Cole, 4 hits over 6 innings; Luke Weaver, 1 hit in the 7th; Tommy Kahnle, a perfect 8th; and Clay Holmes, a perfect 9th. Pitches thrown: Cole, 95; Weaver, 5; Kahnle and Holmes, 3 each; total, 143. Remember when 1 pitcher throwing 143 pitches in 1 game was no big deal? I do.

But you need runs, too. Judge hit his 44th home run of the season, and Oswald Peraza hit his 1st. Yankees 3, Tigers 0.

That result was reversed on Saturday afternoon. Carlos Rodón didn't get out of the 4th inning, and the Tigers coasted from there. Oswaldo Cabrera got 2 hits, Judge and Anthony Volpe 1 each, and that was it. Tigers 4, Yankees 0.

Then it was off to Williamsport, Pennsylvania, home of the Little League World Series, which is in progress. Since 2017, MLB has run the MLB Little League Classic at tiny Bowman Field -- home of the town's minor-league team, with major-league dimensions, not Howard J. Lamade Stadium, home of the actual LLWS. Next year, the Mets will play the Seattle Mariners there.

In front of 2,352 people -- the participants in the Little League World Series and their coaches and support staff -- but before a national audience on ESPN, the Yankees got 8 innings of shutout ball, the 1st 6 by Marcus Stroman, a nice bounce-back performance from him. But they only got 1 run, in the 6th, when Gleyber Torres scored on a wild pitch by Tarik Skubal. Still, they led 1-0 going into the bottom of the 9th.

Holmes got a strikeout. Then he allowed a double. Then he got a strikeout. Then he allowed a game-tying single. Extra innings. I hate extra innings: If you're gonna lose, do it in 9, and don't waste my time.

The Yankees did score in the top of the 10th, with DJ LeMahieu singling Volpe home. But in the bottom of the 10th, Leiter allowed a game-tying single, a stolen base, and a game-winning single. Tigers 3, Yankees 2.

The Yankees only got 5 hits in the 1st 9 innings, and the stupid "ghost runner" rule didn't help. But Clay Holmes is not a closer. He became the 1st Yankee to blow 10 save opportunities in a season in 37 years, and we're still in mid-August.

*

There are 37 games left. The Yankees and the Orioles are tied for 1st in the AL East. The Boston Red Sox are 7 games behind, the Tampa Bay Rays 10, and the Toronto Blue Jays 14 1/2.

The Yankees are getting healthier: Last night marked the return of Jasson Domínguez. But the hitting is still inconsistent, the rotation even more so, and there is no closer.

The Orioles have not made a run, either. The other potential Playoff teams in the American League -- the Houston Astros, the Seattle Mariners, the Cleveland Guardians, the Minnesota Twins and the Kansas City Royals -- do not appear to be afraid of either team.

The Yankees have today off. Then the Guardians come into Yankee Stadium for 3 days. I don't see this potential Playoff matchup inspiring much confidence in the Bronx Bombers. Then, the Colorado Rockies, including Old-Timers Day on Saturday. Maybe seeing actual winners will inspire the current team, but that usually doesn't happen, either.

It's a long season. And it hasn't ended well in 15 years. I see no sign that it will end well this time.