Following the old cliche about beating the teams you're supposed to beat while staying even with the rest, we enter the final month (and a week) of the season.
Let's see how the Yanks have faired:
| Asked | Got | |
| April | 15-8 | 12-10 |
| May | 16-13 | 17-12 |
| June | 16-10 | 14-11 |
| July | 16-11 | 18-9 |
| August | 16-12 | 22-6 |
So far this season, the Yankees have outplayed my predictions by 6 wins, all in August. August could have been the toughest month of the season, with 15 games against the Red Sox, White Sox, and Rangers. The Yankees got hot and pulled away from the competition.
When they write the season recaps for this team, if the writers don't spend half their time talking about August, they're full of it.
So what to expect through the end of the season?
The non-contenders:
5 Baltimore, 6 Toronto, 3 Seattle, 3 Kansas City
The contenders:
7 Tampa, 4 Los Angeles near Anaheim, 3 Boston
Following the same formula as ever, I'm looking for .600+ (10-7) against non-contenders and .500 (7-7) against contenders. With a 6 game lead on the Red Sox, the Yanks could do that, finish with 100 wins, and Boston would need to go 24-8 (.750) just to tie. It's not impossible, but it would be epic: Met-esque, if you will.