The franchise of Ruth and Gehrig, DiMaggio and Mantle, Jeter and Rivera is a pinstriped mess.

The solely recognizable factor about this storied membership is the “New York” stitched throughout its uniforms.

These are the Damned Yankees.

“We’re not showing up,” Aaron Judge conceded. “No one’s happy about it.”

Speak for your self, Mr. Judge.

Much of the baseball world is gloating concerning the misfortune of America’s most well-known sports workforce, the one which all the time receives out-of-proportion media protection and extreme slots within the nationwide tv lineup, the one which has hoarded 27 World Series titles - greater than twice as many as another workforce.

But, right here’s the factor: It’s rather more enjoyable to pile on the haughty Yankees once they’re piling up pennants.

This group is hardly worthy of the jealous vitriol.

New York sits final within the AL East, 14 video games in arrears to the up-and-coming Baltimore Orioles. While there's nonetheless irrational banter about making a playoff run, it appears downright laughable at this level. A extra possible goal is avoiding the workforce’s first shedding season since 1992.

How uncommon is it to seek out the Yankees below .500 because the the calendar speeds towards September?

You should go all the way in which again to 1995 - Sept. 5, to be actual - to seek out the final time the Yankees had been saddled with a shedding mark (60-61) a minimum of 120 video games into the season, in keeping with the Elias Sports Bureau.

Their wonderful run of 30 straight profitable seasons, the third-longest within the historical past of the 4 main U.S. sports leagues, is in critical jeopardy.

Only the Ruthian-inspired Yankees, who ripped off 39 consecutive profitable seasons from 1926-64, and the NHL’s Montreal Canadiens, with a string of 32 in a row from 1952-83, have longer streaks than this New York workforce.

Yet right here we're, New York hobbling alongside at 60-61 after a misplaced sequence in Atlanta, the place the hole between the Yankees and baseball’s greatest workforce couldn’t have been extra obtrusive.

The MLB-leading Braves, cruising alongside at 78-42, swept all three video games by a cumulative rating of 18-3. If this had been a heavyweight combat, the ref would’ve stepped in to cease it about halfway by means of Game 1.

Over the ultimate 25 innings of the sequence, the mighty Yankees scored a grand complete of 1 run.

One.

A lineup that includes Judge and Giancarlo Stanton scraped out simply 12 hits - all however two of them singles - of their closing 79 at-bats towards the Braves, which interprets to a .152 common. New York was held to a single hit in a 5-0 loss Tuesday and managed simply 4 feeble one-baggers in a 2-0 defeat Wednesday.

Anthony Volpe had the one extra-base hits of the whole sequence for the New Yorkers, together with essentially the most meaningless run-scoring triple you’ll ever see. It got here with two outs within the ninth inning on Monday, leaving the Yankees with a loss that learn 11-3 as an alternative of 11-2.

In these uncommon occasions when the Yankees put runners on base, a lot of them had been worn out by double performs. The Braves turned seven of these. And, in a boneheaded transfer that epitomized a season misplaced, Harrison Bader was picked off first together with his workforce trailing by six runs within the sequence opener.

In Atlanta, the Yankees received a first-hand take a look at the workforce they need to be and simply how far-off they're from that aim.

“I’ve gotta give love to the Braves,” acclaimed director Spike Lee, a Yankees fan who was at Truist Park for the beatdown, advised Bally Sports South in an interview from his seat. “They’re the best team in baseball. They’re kicking our butts.”

Throw in a dismal season by the neighboring New York Mets, and it’s actually been a misplaced yr for the nationwide pastime within the Big Apple.

The Yankees have definitely handled greater than their share of accidents, most notably a toe difficulty that sidelined Judge, the reigning AL MVP, for practically two months and continues to be thwarting him from being at his greatest. Stanton additionally missed vital time with a hamstring difficulty and has struggled mightily since returning, his common (.201) hovering across the Mendoza Line.

Then there’s Anthony Rizzo, who’s out with concussion-related signs that received’t appear to go away, and 37-year-old Josh Donaldson, who’s been harm a lot of the season and barely performed in any respect.

A yr in the past, when the Yankees claimed 99 wins and the AL East title, that quartet mixed for 140 homers (together with a league-record 62 by Judge ) and 346 RBIs. This season, they’ve totaled 62 dingers and 146 RBIs.

The pitching hasn’t been a lot better exterior of Gerrit Cole. Two-time All-Star Luis Severino can’t appear to get anybody out within the first inning, leaving him with simply two wins and an ERA hovering round 8.00. Domingo German checked into alcohol rehab and received’t pitch once more this season.

Embattled supervisor Aaron Boone, whose job safety appears extra precarious by the day, insists that the Yankees aren’t chucking up the sponge on the season.

“A quarter of a season left. We’ve got to keep working to try to figure it out,” he mentioned. “It doesn’t always go the way you script it or hope, but you’ve got to keep fighting.”

Brave phrases from the skipper, however there’s nothing to recommend a shocking turnaround is imminent.

Since the top of June, the Yankees are 15-25 and have only one sequence victory out of 13 tries, that being a sweep of the lowly Kansas City Royals practically a month in the past.

“The game is still littered with examples of teams going on unlikely runs,” Boone insisted. “I get it. It looks bleak and I don’t want to even suggest that we’re in a position to even talk about a streak like that. We’ve got to fix our own house and get going. But there’s a lot of season left, too, and we’ve got to look at it that way.”

Now, again to actuality.

This season is over for the Yankees, a minimum of so far as making the playoffs for the seventh yr in row.

The solely objectives inside attain are extending the streak of profitable seasons and constructing some optimistic vibes heading into 2024.

And, sure, we’re pulling for them to show issues round.

Frankly, the Yankees are rather more enjoyable to hate once they’re profitable.

This bunch isn’t definitely worth the bother.

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Paul Newberry is the nationwide sports columnist for The Associated Press. Write to him at pnewberry@ap.org

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AP Sports Writer Charles Odum in Atlanta contributed to this column.

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