The Yanks have been cranking up the intensity coming down the stretch. We all said they had to play well against the mediocre teams to get back in the race.
They're back.
And now comes the hard part.
Three on the road against the Indians. Then the Orioles come to the Stadium for three, followed by a four game set against the Tigers. Then it's straight to Anaheim for three, Detroit for four, wrapping up with three in New York against Boston.
I'm going to use a modified form of On-base+Slugging (details are here). Rather than simply adding OBP and SLG together, I'm giving OBP a 2.2 weight.
BoSox 1.233
Tigers 1.2274
Indians 1.1826
Angels 1.1716
O's 1.1494
Unfortunately, this does not bode well for the Yanks, who are 24-26 against teams with a mOPS above 1.145 and 29-17 against teams below that mark. They'll need to be better than their history to stay in contention.