With the All-Star festivities behind them, it’s almost time for Aaron Judge, Juan Soto, Clay Holmes and Pete Alonso to get back to work.
Tuesday night’s 2024 MLB All-Star Game marked the first time Soto and Judge played together at the annual exhibition as Yankees teammates, starting in right and center field, respectively, while batting third and fourth.
A night earlier, Alonso competed in his fifth Home Run Derby, though a first-round elimination meant the two-time champion has now come up short in the event three years in a row.
The invitations to Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas, offered national recognition of Judge, Soto and Holmes’ contributions to the Yankees and Alonso’s production for the Mets.
But once the regular season resumes Friday night, all of that will be in the past.
The Yankees are 58-40 and atop the American League Wild-Card standings, though a ninth-inning collapse in Baltimore on Sunday denied them a chance to enter the All-Star break in first place in the AL East.
They’ve lost 18 of their last 26 games, a dreary stretch in which their once-excellent starting pitching has faltered; Anthony Rizzo and Giancarlo Stanton went down with injuries; and many in the lineup beyond Judge and Soto have struggled.
“Everybody in our clubhouse has had the faith in us, and … whatever our record is right now, if you would’ve asked us out of spring training if we would’ve taken that, I think a lot of people would have signed up for that, plus more,” Judge said Monday in Arlington.
“We’re a great ball club. We’re in a great position to go out and do our thing in the second half.”
That pursuit begins with a homestand in the Bronx, where the Yankees are first set to welcome the Rays for a four-game series that wraps around the weekend.
At 48-48, the Rays represent the easiest opponent left on the Yankees’ schedule this month, though Tampa Bay just took two of three during the teams’ meeting in Tampa last week.
Gerrit Cole, who is starting to round into his superstar form after missing most of the first half with elbow inflammation, is scheduled to start Friday.
The reigning AL Cy Young Award winner owns an uncharacteristic 5.40 ERA through five starts but is fresh off of a season-best six-inning outing in Baltimore in which he struck out seven and held the power-hitting Orioles to one run.
Also encouraging is the recent rebound of breakout rookie Luis Gil, who posted a 2.03 ERA through his first 14 starts; a 14.90 ERA over his next three; and entered the break on the high of back-to-back outings with at least six innings and seven strikeouts while allowing one run in both.
Less encouraging is an offense that, since June 15, ranks 28th in the majors with a .224 team batting average, 26th with a .387 slugging percentage, and last with only one stolen base.
Second-year shortstop Anthony Volpe is hitting .174 with a .217 on-base percentage and a .239 slugging percentage over that stretch and has been dropped from the leadoff spot. Alex Verdugo is slashing .158/.220/.228 in that same timeframe. DJ LeMahieu hasn’t been much better at .187/.271/.227.
With the July 30 trade deadline two weeks away, the Yankees could explore help on offense, especially if an impact infielder becomes available at their price point.
They’re also expected to be in the market for bullpen help — particularly relievers with swing-and-miss stuff. After posing a 0.00 ERA in his first 20 games, the sinker-heavy Holmes is 0-4 with a 5.68 ERA over his last 20 appearances. He’s blown five of his last 13 save opportunities, including Sunday’s.
Even with their annual championship-or-bust mantra, the Yankees face greater urgency to win this season because Soto is set to become a free agent this winter and is expected to fetch a historic contract.
The Yankees also don’t want to waste a banner year by Judge, whose 34 home runs, 85 RBI, .433 on-base percentage, .679 slugging percentage and 1.112 OPS all lead the majors. Those 34 homers are one more than Judge hit before the break in 2022, when he went on to finish with 62 and set an AL single-season record.
Stanton, who has 18 home runs in 69 games, could return from a left hamstring strain shortly after the break.
Following their series against Tampa, the Yankees are scheduled to host a two-game set with the Mets, who won both Subway Series games at Citi Field last month.
The Yankees then go to Boston, against whom they’ve lost four-of-six games this year, before traveling to Philadelphia for three against the MLB-best Phillies.
August is much easier on paper, with seven of the Yankees’ first eight opponents that month currently below .500.
The Mets, meanwhile, entered the All-Star break on an opposite trajectory. After spiraling to a season-worst 11 games below .500 on June 2, the Mets have gone 24-11 and are in sole possession of the National League’s third-and-final wild-card spot.
After slow starts, Brandon Nimmo and Francisco Lindor are putting together excellent 2024 campaigns, making them two of the All-Star Game’s most glaring snubs.
A season that once seemed destined to devolve into a second consecutive trade-deadline selloff now has the Mets in position to explore adding talent for a playoff push.
The Mets (49-46) beat up on average-to-subpar opponents to close out the first half, including a sweep of the Nationals and winning two out of three against the Rockies on their final homestand.
They resume play on Friday against another cellar-dweller in Miami, where they’ll play four games against a Marlins team whose 33-63 record is the worst in the NL.
It gets tougher from there, with consecutive series against the Yankees, Braves and Twins — all of whom are at least eight games above .500 — looming.
The Mets hope to get a boost with the return of ace Kodai Senga, who looked sharp Sunday in his third rehab start as he works back from a shoulder strain that’s kept him out since spring training.
Still, they likely need to add multiple arms in the bullpen, where high-leverage relievers Brooks Raley and Drew Smith suffered season-ending elbow injuries. Fellow relievers Sean Reid-Foley (shoulder impingement) and Reed Garrett (elbow inflammation) are currently on the injured list.
The Mets’ surge has, at the very least, complicated any intention to trade impending free agents such as Alonso, Luis Severino or Harrison Bader. Last week, the Mets acquired veteran reliever Phil Maton from Tampa Bay.
The Mets have seven games remaining against the Braves, seven more against the Phillies, three against the Orioles and three against the NL Central-leading Brewers.
All of those games against Philadelphia and Milwaukee, plus three against Atlanta, make up 13 of the Mets’ final 16 games this year. Building a cushion in the wild-card standings before that late-season gauntlet would be advantageous, making the coming weeks even more paramount.
It all starts up again Friday.