If comfort is in fact the enemy of progress, perhaps the Yankees should take heed of this piece of advice — and soon.
Because as much as their near double-digit-game lead in the AL East standings seems sustainable, they can’t afford to ignore their need for additional starting pitching which, coincidentally, has been made abundantly clear with less than one week until baseball’s firm trade deadline.
Since last Sunday, the Yankees’ rotation arms have allowed a whopping 43 earned runs across 21.2 innings of work — that’s a combined ERA of 17.86. According to ESPN Stats & Info, this is the first time since 2002 and just the fourth time in franchise history that the Yankees have yielded at least seven runs in six consecutive games.