It’s tough being a New York Yankees fan in recent times. There are times when the team does things so mesmerizing it makes one remember the golden 90s. But then come days like yesterday, when one wonders if it was all a mirage. The Bronx Bombers are standing on quicksand and it’s taking them in. The Subway Series was yet another evidence of it as they got swept by the Mets. While Aaron Judge keeps rising, the Yankees are falling and he has noticed it.

Almost two weeks ago, the New York Yankees entered Fenway Park as undisputed kings of baseball. They were on a high and were almost unstoppable. But then, the Boston Red Sox showed the world that even the Yankees can bleed. Ever since then, the Pinstripes have been crawling more than running, and that has led to 4 straight series losses. That is a huge number, especially because the Yankees started the season by winning 19 of their 22 series. Naturally, Aaron Judge was asked about this recent downturn in his team’s form.

Instead of a fiery speech, All Rise turned philosophical. In his usual calm and relaxed manner, the Yankees captain shared how this is common in baseball. So how can the Yankees turn their struggles around? “Show up tomorrow and get a win. It’s baseball, you play 162 of these things,” Aaron Judge said. “It happens throughout the season, good times, bad times. But we gotta just keep showing up, keep working.” But it isn’t that easy.

The rain may have drenched much of the Subway Series’ game 2 but it was the Yankees who drowned. A 12-2 defeat against a frankly not-so-great (though highly impressive) Mets team isn’t something one expects from the world beaters that the Yankees claim themselves to be. But then this is a trend that has been there for a long time. The Pinstripes just can’t sustain momentum for a long time.

The worrying sign is that apart from Juan Soto and Aaron Judge, the Yankees’ hitting lineup isn’t contributing much to the team’s success. That is an unsustainable situation and the results of it are beginning to show.

Aaron Judge remains good but the Yankees can’t sustain

The recently concluded Subway Series highlights the Yankees’ heavy reliance on Aaron Judge once again. The team scored 9 runs in the series, with Judge driving in 7 of those runs. His grand slam homer in game 1 and a 2-run homer in game 2 were among the few bright spots for the Bronx Bombers. Apart from Judge, the Yankees’ hitters struggled significantly in RISP situations.

If one excludes Judge and Juan Soto from the mix, the Yankees hitters averaged a mere .145 against the Mets. That isn’t the sign of a World Series-winning team. Gleyber Torres remains in a rut, Giancarlo Stanton is out for about 4 weeks, and Alex Verdugo is going through a bad run. Additionally, the once-feared pitching staff is currently under immense fire.

The Yankees have a scary 7.24 ERA in their last 10 games. It seems the whole team has collapsed unspeakably. Perhaps that’s why Aaron Judge has turned philosophical. Maybe that’s the only way to take the spirits back up in the New York Yankees clubhouse.