Welcome to SB Nation Reacts, a survey of fans across Major League Baseball. Throughout the year we ask questions of the most plugged-in Yankees fans and fans across the country. Sign up here to participate in the weekly emailed surveys.
It's been a tough three-to-four weeks for Yankees fans, as they've seen their team that once stood 46-28 with the best record in the American League stumble through a 4-14 stretch. It was enough for the upstart Rays to pass them for first place in the AL East, and even though the Yanks have won their last couple contests, they still trail Tampa Bay by four games.
The Rays also have one of the lighter remaining slates by current strength of schedule, so that's not helping matters, nor is the fact that the Yankees will have to sweep their only remaining series against the Rays (a four-game set at the Bronx in late September that includes a doubleheader) to take the head-to-head tiebreaker that didn't go their way last year against Toronto. The second half formally begins next Friday, but mathematically, we are already halfway through the 162-game slate, and FanGraphs currently projects the Rays with a 59-percent chance to take the division. The Yankees sit at 38 percent with none of the remaining teams sitting above 1.5 percent.
As such—and given the gloomy vibes around the team this week—it's not surprising to see that per our SB Nation Reacts results, only about a quarter of the Yankees fans who responded said that they believe this team will win the AL East. A total of 18 percent even predicted that they would miss the playoffs entirely:
The most popular vote has the Yankees finishing in the spot they presently occupy and the one they held at the end of the 2025 regular season: the top AL Wild Card and hosting a first-round best-of-three against the second-best Wild Card. The Yankees survived that rumble with the Red Sox last year, but it certainly put them behind the eight-ball against the top-seeded Blue Jays, and that could certainly happen again this year with Tampa Bay.
It's been a tough three-to-four weeks for Yankees fans, as they've seen their team that once stood 46-28 with the best record in the American League stumble through a 4-14 stretch. It was enough for the upstart Rays to pass them for first place in the AL East, and even though the Yanks have won their last couple contests, they still trail Tampa Bay by four games.
The Rays also have one of the lighter remaining slates by current strength of schedule, so that's not helping matters, nor is the fact that the Yankees will have to sweep their only remaining series against the Rays (a four-game set at the Bronx in late September that includes a doubleheader) to take the head-to-head tiebreaker that didn't go their way last year against Toronto. The second half formally begins next Friday, but mathematically, we are already halfway through the 162-game slate, and FanGraphs currently projects the Rays with a 59-percent chance to take the division. The Yankees sit at 38 percent with none of the remaining teams sitting above 1.5 percent.
As such—and given the gloomy vibes around the team this week—it's not surprising to see that per our SB Nation Reacts results, only about a quarter of the Yankees fans who responded said that they believe this team will win the AL East. A total of 18 percent even predicted that they would miss the playoffs entirely:
The most popular vote has the Yankees finishing in the spot they presently occupy and the one they held at the end of the 2025 regular season: the top AL Wild Card and hosting a first-round best-of-three against the second-best Wild Card. The Yankees survived that rumble with the Red Sox last year, but it certainly put them behind the eight-ball against the top-seeded Blue Jays, and that could certainly happen again this year with Tampa Bay.
4 months ago
