MLB: Yankees Best Team in Baseball.. For Now

Posted on | August 30, 2009 | No Comments

Coming off a weekend sweep of the Chicago White Sox, one thing is sure, the New York Yankees are easily the best team in baseball right now. They are clicking on all cylinders and they are winning games anyway it takes to them. They win with pitching. They win with hitting. They win by scoring early and they win by scoring late. In short, they win… and a lot.

But don’t hand the trophy to them just yet. Being the best team in August and even September means absolutely nothing (especially the Yankees fans). The playoffs is when it will all matter. And that’s when the Yankees seem to stumble.

The biggest problem plaguing the Yankees is Alex Rodriguez. He’s great during the season but a major choke artist in the playoffs. I don’t expect this continue forever, but Alex is running out of time. If he decided to turn into Houdini again this October then the Yankees will be trouble.

Another problem the Yankees might have is their starting pitching. Yeah, I know they have good starting pitching. But put them against another American League team and there are possible playoffs teams with better pitching.

The Rangers have good pitching. The Angels have good pitching. And the Detroit Tigers have really good pitching. I mean, the match-ups would break down something like Sabathia-Verlander, Washburn-Burnett, Jackson-Pettite, and Porcello-Chamberlain. I would give the Yankees the advantage with Burnett. The other advantages go to the Tigers. Of course the Yankees have much better bats but if A-Rod pulls a no-show then they are back to having problems. And other teams can match-up with the Yankees pitching in a similar way.

So, yes the Yankees are flying high and they are clearly the favorite to win the World Series right now. But they will be the first to acknowledge that they don’t care about being the best team at the end of August, they want to be the best team at the end of the playoffs.

Related posts:

1. MLB: Are the Yankees the Team to Beat?
2. MLB: Is Boston the Best Team in Baseball?
3. MLB: Yankees and Red Sox Back At It
4. MLB: Let’s Talk about the Yankees
5. MLB: The Best (and Quietest) Team in Baseball

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