The Yankees May Be Turning Things Around at the Perfect Time

Here’s a good sign for the state of the New York Yankees going forward: Aaron Boone showed up to Old-Timers Day on Saturday hours before a 5-4 win over the Atlanta Braves.

This should be expected, of course, for a Yankees manager who also played for the club and hit one of the biggest homers in franchise history.

But 52 weeks ago Saturday, Boone wasn’t introduced at Old-Timers Day prior to the Yankees’ regularly scheduled clash against the Houston Astros, ostensibly because the ceremonies were at the same time as pregame meetings.

What a coincidence the pregame meeting and Old-Timers Day schedules aligned perfectly for Boone to attend both Saturday, fewer than 24 hours after the Bronx Bombers overcame a ninth-inning deficit to edge the Braves, 3-2, in 10 innings and maintain their half-game lead over the historically hot Boston Red Sox in the race for the top AL wild card berth.

Last year’s Old-Timers Day happened fewer than 24 hours after the Yankees suffered a 5-3, 10-inning loss that dropped them to 22-33 over their last 55 games and left them just a half-game ahead of the Cleveland Guardians for the final American League wild card spot.

Boone ended up being able to emerge from the home dugout at Yankee Stadium for two playoff rounds last year, when the Yankees went a major league-best 33-17 from Old-Timers Day onward and finished 94-68, tying them with the Toronto Blue Jays for the best mark in the AL.

The two straight wins over the National League East-leading Braves offer signs the Yankees are snapping out of their annual summer skid, which hasn’t been nearly as pronounced this season despite the extended absences of sluggers Cody Bellinger, Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton.

With Saturday’s win, the Yankees are 30-28 while averaging 3.8 runs per game since Judge went down with a fractured right rib May 31— not great, but more than good enough to remain securely in a playoff spot in the laughably mediocre AL. The Yankees were 19-30 between June 7 and Aug. 8 last season.

But this weekend’s victories do little to erase the uncertainty over the Yankees’ ceiling.

Part of the Yankees’ mystery is their needless inscrutability about Judge’s timetable, which hasn’t been anything close to revealed. But the Yankees may have provided plenty of hints at the deadline by acquiring the power-hitting Luis Garcia Jr, and Heliot Ramos and then promoting George Lombard Jr. to take over at shortstop.

Garcia Jr. and Ramos join Ben Rice and 38-year-old Paul Goldschmidt as the only active Yankees with at least 300 plate appearances and an OPS north of the league average of .727. Lombard Jr. has homered twice in his first four games, or once more than Anthony Volpe did in 56 games.

The addition of Garcia Jr., Ramos and Lombard Jr. provides the Yankees hope they can properly support what might be the AL’s best pitching staff in October even if some or all of Bellinger, Judge and/or Stanton are either limited or unavailable.

Cam Schlittler, Max Fried and Gerrit Cole, the likely top three in the Yankees’ postseason rotation, have combined for a 2.72 ERA in 52 starts. Ryan Weathers and Will Warren, who are averaging more than a strikeout per inning over 44 total starts, would probably shift to the bullpen to shore up the set-up corps ahead of closer David Bednar.

It’s not hard to envision the Yankees emerging as the best team in the AL and a credible threat to finally win the World Series for the first time since 2009. Nor is it difficult to see the Bombers once again being exposed as paper tigers who are vanquished by an AL foe with a smaller payroll but far better roster construction.

What if Garcia Jr. and Ramos don’t succeed in the New York cauldron, Lombard Jr. struggles as a rookie and at least two of the Bellinger/Judge/Stanton trio don’t return to form? What if the Yankees, nobody’s idea of a fundamentally sound team, are forced into a position where they need to win on the margins?

And then what if, two months from now, a potentially grumpy crowd at Old-Timers Day begins to seem like a quaint concern for Boone?