The Tampa Bay Rays entered this weekend series against the New York Yankees with a chance to cut down the AL East lead to a mere three games. That they’d even have a shot at this point in the year would have seemed ridiculous as recently as a couple months ago.
The Yankees are still favorites to win the AL East, but the simple fact this discussion must be had, and that there is the very real possibility of the Rays somehow overtaking them, well, it represents a rather colossal failure for this Yankees squad in the second half of the year.