The Yankees’ once-commanding AL East division lead is shrinking rapidly.
At one point, New York held a seven-game first-place advantage in the division, its largest thus far in 2025. Now, that lead has been trimmed to just 2.5 games over the second-place Tampa Bay Rays.
Tampa, one of the hottest clubs in MLB, has won four in a row and 10 of its last 13 games. Meanwhile, the Boston Red Sox have surged with a six-game win streak of their own, including a sweep of the Yankees at Fenway Park last weekend. And the Toronto Blue Jays have demonstrated they’re somewhat viable at 38-33 after many predicted a last-place finish before the start of the season.
The only team in the AL East that isn’t currently a threat to the Yankees? The surprisingly downtrodden Baltimore Orioles.
But with three of New York’s rivals within a six-game reach of first place heading into play on Tuesday, should there be concern about the Yankees’ divisional supremacy?
Timing is everything in baseball, and as New York’s chief competition is heating up, the Bronx Bombers are cooling off. The Yankees currently have a four-game losing streak, most recently extended by a brutal 1-0 defeat at the hands of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim at Yankee Stadium.
