Following a loss to the Angels on June 18, Aaron Judge was asked how hard it is for Yankees hitters to trust their processes when results don’t follow.
“For guys in this room, it’s not hard, because we got some great ballplayers in here who have been through good times, tough times,” the captain replied. “I’ve been through situations like this.”
Then he added, “I think you guys asked us the same questions last June when we were going through it, so guys have been there.”
Indeed, this is familiar territory for the Yankees, who have made June/summer swoons a common occurrence during Aaron Boone’s managerial tenure. While that’s not to say he’s solely responsible for a phenomenon that has become maddening for Yankees fans, the Bombers are coming off a 13-14 month with the calendar flipping to July on Tuesday.
The Yankees ended June by dropping 11 of their last 17 games, and Monday’s sloppy, 5-4 loss in Toronto made them 10-13 against division rivals and 12-17 in one-run games this season.
With their offense inconsistent after previously being one of baseball’s best, the Yankees were also shut out five times in June. They were held to three runs or less on 12 occasions and endured a scoreless stretch that surpassed 30 innings.
“You don’t always get results in the hitting game, but I’m confident that when we look up and the dust settles, that we’ll be one of the game’s really good offenses with hopefully a chance to be even better than that,” Boone said over the weekend before likening his team’s offensive struggles to a batter with a .950 OPS. “You’d say, ‘He’s a pretty good player,’ right? Pretty awesome hitter. And the other thing I’d say to you is, ‘You know what that guy does, a lot? Makes a lot of outs.’ And so it’s just the nature of hitting. It’s a game of failure.”
It’s no surprise that Boone remained even-keeled and confident throughout his team’s losing June, as he has plenty of evidence to support that the month — or an even longer stretch — will not define the Yankees.
In 2024, the club went 15-26 between June 7 and July 26. Still, the Yanks ended the season in first place and went all the way to the World Series.
In 2023, a team with far less talent and an injured Judge went 31-45 from June to August before finishing the season in fourth place and missing the playoffs.
The 2022 squad started off 61-23 — the Bombers even went 22-6 that June — before playing .500 baseball in July and posting a 10-18 record in August. They were a 99-win, first-place team before a banged-up roster was swept by the Astros in the ALCS.
The 2021 Yankees posted a 12-14 record in June but logged winning records in each full ensuing month. That team placed second in the American League East before a Wild Card round exit in the playoffs.
Clearly, the Yankees’ annual summer struggles are not indicative of where they will end up or how good they truly are in the grand scheme of things. That the 2024 team made it to the Fall Classic should offer some solace to the fanbase with the 2025 iteration looking rather sluggish lately.
At the very least, Boone seems to be taking this latest slump in stride after his team played deep into October last year.
In past years, he has pounded tables and snapped in front of cameras amid similar slides. Those moments came after larger samples of poor play, but previous seasons seem to be informing how Boone is handling this new rough patch.
“Every year is different. Every group’s a little bit different. I have a lot of confidence in our team,” he said, adding that the 2025 team will be fine so long as it stays relatively healthy. “There’s been different times where I haven’t been as bullish or as optimistic.
“I’m 52, and I’ve been in this game since I was born. So I know what 162 means, and the challenges of it, the difficulties of it, even in the best of seasons, the ups and downs that you’re going to go through. But I think my life prepares you for that. For a lot of our guys now, their experience prepares. I lead with that in spring training: ‘I know we’re going to be a good team. I’m confident in that. How are we going to handle the ups? But how are we going to handle the moments of adversity? Because they’re coming.’
“And I don’t even know if we’re necessarily that far into anything.”
Boone has contended that the Yankees’ swoons are nothing more than the randomness of the baseball season, and there are some points that support that.
Even the best teams have lulls — “It’s why teams don’t win 110 games, unless it’s historic,” Boone said — and the compositions of the Yankees’ roster has changed each year since 2021.
This current team, for example, has five lineup regulars who are 27 or younger, and there’s enough depth that two good players are on the bench each day. Theoretically, it’s a group that should be able to withstand the dog days of summer.
However, injuries have been a common hurdle. This team lost Gerrit Cole in spring training, hasn’t seen Luis Gil throw a pitch yet and only recently got Giancarlo Stanton back from the injured list. The last day of June brought more injuries and concerns, as Fernando Cruz went on the injured list before it was revealed that Austin Wells has been dealing with a circulation issue in his finger. Trent Grisham then exited the evening’s game with hamstring tightness.
Ugly play has also been a through line, with these Yankees recently repeating the mistakes that their predecessors made in the field and on the bases. It was the former on Monday, with Anthony Volpe making two ill-advised throws during the Blue Jays’ sixth-inning rally.
Of course, many of these issues would be surmountable if the Yankees’ offense performed to its capabilities. The lineup hit just .238 with a .718 OPS in June, and their numbers with runners in scoring position were some of the worst in baseball.
“Just a little inconsistent, and going through it a little bit right now,” DJ LeMahieu recently said. “But obviously, I have all the confidence in the world in our lineup.”
With the Rays only 1.5 games behind them in the AL East entering Tuesday and the Jays two back, now is the time for the Yankees to snap out of it. There’s still time to make this one of their shorter swoons and buck the trends of yesteryear, and the days between now and the July 31 trade deadline should bring reinforcements for a team with championship aspirations.
With a few more games to go in Canada, the Yankees can stack some wins before visiting a Mets team that also endured its fair share of June gloom. If so, perhaps the pinstripers can get back to being the team that went 35-22 between March and May.
“It’s a long season,” LeMahieu said. “I hate saying that because you want to win every game, but I know we’ll be fine. We just gotta keep going, keep getting better.”
