I'm not talking about "following the Knicks" anymore and winning it all. That's not possible, even with the best starting rotation in baseball...something I never thought I would write about any Yankees team.
I'm not talking about winning the division—also impossible—or even making the playoffs anymore (Highly unlikely, and what would be the point?)
This is not only the dullest Yankees team I have ever seen, but also the most shamefully sloppy, uninterested, and unlikable—a hard combination to pull off.
No, I'm wondering if the 2026 Yankees can manage to break the club record for the lowest batting average in its history.
Impossible, you say?
Think again, my fine-feathered friends. Sure, the 1968 Yankees did set a record for the lowest team batting average since 1900, hitting just .214 in that "Year of the Pitcher."
But but but...in the Year of the Pitcher, pitchers could still hit. The '68 Yanks' pitchers hit .090 in 450 plate appearances. Sure, that's a good number for Heliot "Charlie Hustle" Ramos (currently at .063), but well below what any potential DH at the time would've hit.
Take away the number 9 spot, and those 1968 Bombers hit .224.
Could the 2026 Yanks, currently batting .230, challenge that mark? Or even go after the all-time, post-DH low of .216, achieved by the 2022 Oakland Athletics? Will we see history in the making???
Well, let's compare:
C: After a month of relatively hot hitting, Austin Wells still trails Jake Gibbs by 33 points (more words I never thought I would write), .213-.180. Also...can Wells top Gibbs' mark of 29 RBI in 450 PA? Currently, Austin is at 17 RBI in 279 PA.
1B: The Mick, in his last year, battling an array of injuries, any one of which would have killed Giancarlo Stanton dead...and still among the league leaders in most categories, while playing 144 games at first in those pre-DH days. Will ANYONE on the 2026 Yanks play 144 games?
Maybe—maybe Ben Rice, now at 118 games and .251. The Mick ended up at .237. Anyone care to bet Rice is not below that at the end of the year? But wait! We also have the NL's slugging champ, Garcia, now with 1 HR and 2 RBI in 41 PA. Sigh.
2B: Jazz: .214. Horace Clarke, the watchword for Yankees futility, in the worst season of his life....230. Also, led the AL in putouts and assists at second. Mr. "The Ball Is Stuck in My Glove"? Leads AL second sackers in errors, with 8.
Jazz also has 140 strikeouts. Hoss had 46 that year. Of course, with non-pitchers, the 1968 team had a total of 783 strikeouts; with pitchers, that number was 958.
The 2026 team? 1123 whiffs, with a quarter of the season still to go.
SS: 1968: Tom Tresh, on his last legs, hitting .195. The whole gaggle of Yankees shortstops in 2026 tops this...though if you gave me a choice between the physically ruined Tresh and Mr. Volpe...
3B: 1968: Bobby Cox, in his one and only full season as a player, hitting .229, with 41 RBI. Ryan McMahon, 2026: .217, with 31 RBI to date. And...now beginning to make disastrous, game-losing plays in the field!
OF: 1968: Roy White, the team's best hitter by average, at .267; Joe Pepitone (.245); Andy Kosco (.240), Bill Robinson (.240. 2026: Cody Bellinger, the team's best hitter by average, at .259; Trent Grisham (.223), and the cast of thousands: Spence and The Martian, Stanton, assorted infielders, The Heliot, and Aaron Judge—still with the third most plate appearances for any Yankees outfielder, still tied for second on the club in home runs, with 17, in his 59 games.
I dunno. This is going to be one hell of a competition.
Oh, also? That 1968 team won 83 games and finished in the first division of a ten-team league.
I wonder if the 2026 Yankees can finish in the top seven of this year's pathetic AL.
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8 comments:
While I was a Yankee fan during that year I was also twelve and had more important things to do than watch every game. Sadly that's not the case right now.
So I feel safe in saying that I've never seen a Yankee team this pathetic. Mind blowingly, mind numbingly pathetic.
Thanks for the empirical evidence. The eye test works as well. They truly suck. That their starters have been great only makes it worse. Soon that won't be an issue because Wells will be back to lose the games where they actually score runs.
I was also twelve that season. It has scarred me for life. Although this year would be worse if it wasn't for the pitching.
AA, where's the game thread?
Thanks, Doug. But do you mean...Rodon? Yes, he does remind me of Wells!
JM, I couldn't see most of the 1968 season, as we had already moved to Massachusetts, but I liked that team–the very first Yankees team with a winning record in my short-lived fandom.
They were highly limited when it came to skill—and their best players were old and injured before their time (the more things change...).
But, I always felt they were giving their all, trying their best—pretty much the minimum for major-league ballplayers, I know. And not one that we can match!
I'm still fond of that team, too. They didn't dog it. That counts for a lot.
Yes. Rodon. Interesting slip by me.
In MLB istory, no Yankees team has ever been at very bottom of the league in batting average. This team just might accomplish that feat.
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