Winning close games should serve Yankees well down the stretch
The Yankees' Giancarlo Stanton, right celebrates with Joey Gallo and another player after the Yankees defeated Atlanta on Tuesday in Atlanta. Credit: AP/John Bazemore
OAKLAND, Calif. — The Yankees sweated out yet another close one Tuesday night, beating Atlanta, 5-4, for their 11th straight victory, one secured only after Wandy Peralta escaped the bases-loaded, two-out mess Aroldis Chapman left for him.
But those kind of nail-biters, while typically providing more than a few heart palpitations among the fan base — seemingly on a nightly basis of late, even as the team victory total marches upward — have become old hat for the Yankees.
It's something they believe could benefit them if they reach the postseason (they currently own the first wild card, three games ahead of Boston and 4 1/2 games ahead of Oakland, and trail AL East-leading Tampa Bay by 4 1/2 games.)
The Yankees, who will begin a four-game series against the Athletics on Thursday night, are 21-12 in one-run games.
"We’ve played so many of these, I think more than anyone in the league, certainly," Aaron Boone said. "And the one thing I’ve said is I feel like our guys are very comfortable in these close games. Whether we pull it out, whether we lose one, whatever it may be, I know we’re comfortable in them.
"That's a good feeling to have when you know guys are confident in their ability to execute at the most important part of the game when the pressure is high," Boone said. "When that’s the case, you live with the results."
The results have been there, even before the 11-game winning streak, though that’s a good place to start. The streak began after the Yankees lost a 9-8 decision to the White Sox on Tim Anderson’s walk-off two-run homer off Zack Britton in the Field of Dreams game in Dyersville, Iowa, on Aug. 12.
It was the latest "gut punch" taken by the Yankees — a phrase Boone began using early in the season to label some of his club’s roughest losses, of which there’s been no shortage — but the Yankees responded by winning the next two games in Chicago. Neither was a one-run game, but both were two-run margins, each coming down to a reliever escaping with runners on in the final inning.
"[In] October, you're not going to have those games where it’s 11-3 or 10-2. It’s going to be a 5-4 ballgame, a 3-2 ballgame," Aaron Judge said. "I feel like 90% of the games we play are one-run games."
Success in such games, of course, guarantees nothing when it comes to the randomness of October baseball. The Yankees, for example, went 18-19 in one-run games in 2019 but advanced to Game 6 of the ALCS before being eliminated (by a run) on Jose Altuve’s walk-off homer against Aroldis Chapman. In 2018, the Yankees went 23-17 in one-run games, beat Oakland in the wild-card game, then lost in four games to the Red Sox in the Division Series. In 2017, the mark was 18-26, but the Yankees clobbered Minnesota in the wild-card round, upset Cleveland in the Division Series, then took a 3-2 lead in the ALCS before losing Games 6 and 7 to the Astros in Houston.
Last year, during the COVID-19- shortened 60-game season, the Yankees were 6-7 in one-run games, hardly enough of a sample size from which to draw any conclusions. They lost Game 5 of the ALDS to the Rays, 2-1, after sweeping Cleveland in the best-of-three wild-card series.
Still, while there’s nothing predictive about what it could mean come the postseason, experiencing success in a slew of close games certainly has to beat the alternative.
"There’s no panic [with us], even when stuff starts hitting the fan or things aren’t going our way in the eighth or ninth inning," Judge said. "Guys have no panic, and the next man steps up to make a play."
Erik Boland started in Newsday's sports department in 2002. He covered high school and college sports, then shifted to the Jets beat. He has covered the Yankees since 2009.
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