Yankee recipe for victory: Soto, Judge and don't need a closer

Honestly, we shouldn't complain. 

Not about Boone, not about Cashman, not about Hal - not about any of the wonk kewpies who run this organization, this ongoing mess, which rules our days and nights.  

Today, the Yankees have the 2nd best record in all of baseball. 

They lead the AL East by two games in the loss column. 

If the season ended now, they would enjoy the home field advantage through the ALCS. 

So, why are we so squeamish, so terrified, so defeatist, when we peer into the road ahead?

Well, it's simple. 

The Yankees are a two-man team that can be pitched around, and they cannot close a tight game. 

Every one of us knows that opposing teams seldom pay a price for walking Judge. And we all dread taking a one-run lead into the 9th, because we know that, at any moment, even with two outs and nobody on base, the switch can get flipped, and the season can fly out the window.

It's a reality that Yank fans have lived for the last five years, ever since Aroldis Chapman transitioned from baseball's most intimidating closer into a sweat-dripping turnstile who raised the hopes of every team we faced. 

We have gone through closer after closer, but we have  never replaced Mariano Rivera, and we probably never will. (The same can be said of Jeter. Despite all our efforts, and all our hypes, replacements always fall short.) 

Over the last three days, the Yankees beat one of MLB's best teams, 2-1, in a three-game series. Twice, behind Judge and Soto, we bashed in their miserable skulls. But in that one excruciating loss, every gremlin in the box escaped, as the Yankees could neither score a runner or hold the lead. 

So, here we are - sitting uneasily in the rarified air of 1st, behind the Dodgers, a team that has outspent us by $17 million this year, according to Cot's Baseball Contracts. (The Mets lead all of baseball in spending, at $338 million; that's $35 million higher than the Yankee payroll.)  Realistically, we should not complain. 

But each of us knows the massive flaw in the center of this roster. Eventually, it will be the end game for 2024. It is the reason why this team has so much trouble against tomato cans. It's the reason we will fail in October.  

If Judge and Soto don't hit, the team won't score. 

And God help us if the bullpen must hold a lead. 

We should enjoy this moment. We are the best team in the AL, on paper, for now. Trouble is, it just feels so fragile, so tenuous and, most troubling...  so temporary.