Yankees: July Run or No Playoffs

In the past couple of years, there were some seasons in the beginning of the second half where the Yankees didn't look like they were gonna go anywhere, but fans and the media still believed they were gonna make run in those years. But for the first time in years, in this beginning to the second half of this 2016 season, the New York Yankees look like a legit non-playoff team.

Through the seasons when the Yankees missed the playoffs, after the all-star no one counted out the Yankees. Because of their history and bevy of playoff appearances, the media and fans and Yankee haters never, ever counted out the Yankees when it came to making the postseason. Even if they were ten games under .500 in the beginning of the second half.

Now it's different. Now everyone, including myself whose the biggest non-believer of selling - I've come to realization that this team needs to become sellers. And to make the decision easier for ourselves, they've really sucked.

BUT...if the Hal Steinbrenner really believe in his team, that they're gonna somehow become a playoff team, well, they need to get it going tonight. Not tomorrow or next or in August, they need to start a historic run tonight.

Yankees start a ten-game home stand, with no off days. Three against the Boston Red Sox, that starts tonight, four against the first place Baltimore Orioles and three with the San Francisco Giants, which is really dumb to me. I hate interleague play after the all-star break, when teams need to face teams in their own division or league. I hate it. Yankees should be playing the Toronto Blue Jays in the last three games, not a national league team from the west. Makes no sense.

After that, they have six road games against the Houston Astros and Tampa Bay Rays. And these six won't count if the Yankees fail the team-game home stand. If they fail in those ten games, the Yankees will be talks with teams about trading Andrew Miller and Aroldis Chapman.

You will know quickly, where the Yankees stand, after this home games. Even if they go 6-3, where their record will be 50-48, that might not be enough to get close to the division or make the wild card.

So the Yankees have a very, very small margin for error. No more losing streaks, if they wanna make the postseason. The only time they can afford a losing streak is if they just got off a five-game win streak.

Is it impossible for the Yankees to make run? Absolutely not. We've seen teams make epic runs; like the Texas Rangers who did a couple of seasons and did again last year. The Rangers were four games under .500 in July 15th and ended up winning the A.L. west.

And with the bullpen the Yankees have, any run is possible. But the big bats have to get going, and it's not that crazy for guys like Alex Rodriguez, Mark Teixeira and Brian McCann to turn it up in the second, because they're due. Carlos Beltran has been excellent all season, but he too has to keep it going, if the Yankees wanna get back in this race.

But if there's no playoffs for the Yankees, that's okay. That's more than okay. Because the Yankees can trade guys like Miller, Chapman, Beltran and even McCann, then the Yankees can bring up top prospects like Aaron Judge and Gary Sanchez.

If the Yankees missing the playoffs mean we'll get to see Judge and Sanchez play everyday, this will be the first time in my life I'll be excited to watch a non-playoff Yankee team in September.