Few Things Worth Having Are Easy

There are 3 weeks left in the Major League Baseball season. Despite all the ups and downs, we can be pretty sure who the 6 Playoff teams will be in the American League: The New York Yankees, the Baltimore Orioles, the Cleveland Guardians, the Kansas City Royals, the Minnesota Twins and the Houston Astros.

These 6 teams are within 6 games of each other. The next-best 3 teams -- the Boston Red Sox, the Detroit Tigers and the Seattle Mariners -- are 4 games in the loss column behind the Twins, the team that currently stands to be the 6th seed. It's just a matter of where the seeds fall.

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Last Monday, Labor Day, the Yankees began a series away to the Texas Rangers, at Globe Life Field in the Dallas suburb of Arlington, Texas. Gerrit Cole pitched 6 strong innings, to outpitch Jack Leiter, son of Al Leiter, nephew of Mark Leiter Sr., and 1st cousin of current Yankee Mark Leiter Jr. Giancarlo Stanton hit a home run, Gleyber Torres went 3-for-5 with 2 RBIs, and the Yankees won, 8-4.

The rest of the series was bad. How bad was it? The Tuesday night game was bad enough to stick in our minds if we end up losing the Division by 1 game. Carlos Rodón was brilliant, allowing only 1 hit in 6 innings, a home run by Josh Hung. He walked only 2, and struck out 11.

But because Brian Cashman cares more about pitch counts than winning, and Rodón had thrown 99 pitches, he was taken out. Tommy Kahnle allowed a run in the 7th. Jake Cousins was shaky in the 8th, allowed a run, and had to be bailed out by Tim Hill. The Yankees still took a 4-3 lead into the bottom of the 9th, with RBIs coming on a groundout by Jose Trevino, a single by Alex Trevino, and 2 on a single by Anthony Volpe.

Cashman could have told Aaron Boone to leave Hill in to pitch the 9th. Instead, Clay Holmes, officially the closer, was brought in. He got Travis Jankowski to ground out. Then he allowed a single to Carson Kelly, walked Josh Smith, walked Marcus Semien to load the bases, and gave up a grand slam to Wyatt Langford. Rangers 7, Yankees 4.

It was Holmes' 11th blown save of the season. Right now, he is the top reason the Yankees aren't a sure bet to win the AL East.

On Wednesday night, for the 1st of 2 times in the week, the Yankees faced a pitcher that Cashman let get away. Nathan Eovaldi limited the Yankees to 2 runs over 7 innings. In contrast, Marcus Stroman didn't get out of the 4th inning. Three Rangers -- Langford, Nathaniel Lowe and Ezequiel Durán -- each got 3 hits. Juan Soto and Trent Grisham hit home runs, but the Rangers won, 10-6.

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So the Yankees' roadtrip went on, with an Interleague series against the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field. Luis Gil came off the Injured List, and allowed 1 hit over 6 innings on Friday afternoon. (Despite having had lights since 1988, the Cubs still play mostly day games at home.) A double by Aaron Judge and a single by Austin Wells, both in the 3rd, accounted for all the runs in the game, and the Yankees won, 3-0.

Clarke Schmidt also came off the Injured List, and he started the Saturday game. He allowed 4 hits in 4 2/3rds innings. Nestor Cortés wasn't happy about being the odd man out in the rotation, but he pitched the rest of the way, allowing only 1 walk and keeping the 4-hit shutout. The Yankees only got 4 hits themselves, but Wells had an RBI on a groundout, and another run scored on an error. Yankees 2, Cubs 0.

Sunday was Cole's 34th birthday, and his turn in the rotation. He had a shaky 1st inning, and an error by Torres didn't help. But the story of the day was another pitcher that Cashman let get away, Jameson Taillon, who limited the Yankees to 1 run over 6 innings. Cubs 2, Yankees 1.

It was the 1st series in 10 years in which the Yankees' pitchers allowed no home runs. The 2 teams combined for 8 runs in 3 games. The wind must have been blowing in at Wrigley.

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The Yankees are 82-61, the Orioles 81-61. So the Orioles are half a game back, but -- Cliché Alert: -- a full game back in the all-important loss column. The Boston Red Sox trail by 10 games, the Tampa Bay Rays by 11, and the Toronto Blue Jays by 14 1/2.

The Yankees have 19 games left, the Orioles 20, including 3 against each other, at Yankee Stadium II, on September 24, 25 and 26, with each team then beginning its final series of the regular season. The Magic Number is 19: Any combined number of Yankee wins and Oriole losses, the rest of the way, adding up to 19, and the Yankees win the Division.

Tonight, the Yankees come home, and begin a series against the Royals, who trail the Guardians by 2 1/2 games in the AL Central. These will not be easy games.

Few things worth having are easy.