Pythagoras says: "Stop Stupid Gambling!"

You guessed it. 

After a staggeringly incompetent, awful, totally bad, rotten, 2-7 "road trip" (one that included playing 3 games in a ballpark just a borough over from their home field), your New York Yankees are STILL far and away the oddsmakers' favorite to win the World Series...at least among American League teams.

It's true: nine games of jaw-dropping, mind-blowing, sheer incompetence allowed the Los Angeles Dodgers, at 19.3 percent, to move (slightly) ahead of all major-league favorites to take the Fall Classic, as they have the last two years.

The Yankees have now fallen to a 16.0 chance to do the same, despite falling to 3-10 in one-run games. Because of course, all sorts of teams that have won just .231 percent of one-run contests have taken the Series in the past...right?

Incredibly, though, the Yanks remain almost 4 times as likely to win as the Tampa Bay Rays (4.2%), a team that now leads them by 4 games in the loss column. The highest other percentages to win it all from the AL are the Cleveland Guardians of Traffic (5.9%) and the Seattle "Dumpless" Mariners (4.1%).

Even amongst NL teams other than the Dodgers, the Milwaukee Brewers (14.3%) and the Atlanta Braves (12.0), with the best record in baseball, trail far behind the Yankees.

The bombing Bombers are also the biggest favorite to win the pennant of either league, at 32.0 percent.

Pythagoras says: "Don't be fooled by people speaking in my name! Gambling is stupid enough! Stop Stupid Gambling!"

This has been a public service announcement.

Yesterday's second-worst Yankee loss in this decade came with one upside

It's a no easy task, calculating the absolute worst Yankee losses of a season, or a decade, or a millennium. 

Yesterday's out-of-body, felony-grade defeat - surely the ugliest thus far in 2026 - does not measure up as the worst in this wretched decade.  

Nope. That dreaded distinction still belongs to what Yankeestorians call "Game Five," of the horror show 2024 World Series. It featured a 5th inning that began with Aaron Judge muffing a harmless fly ball, ascended with Anthony Volpe botching an easy throw to third, and peaked forever in our hearts with Gerrit Cole pointing to first base, rather than running there.

Nope. Game Five remains the worst Yankee loss of this decade and, frankly, of this millennium. 

And, seriously, there have been some masterpieces. A few years back, remember when closer Clay Holmes disassembled in Houston, leading to a walk-off HR by Jose Altuve? Or the Dave Roberts loss to Boston, back in the waning days of the Curse? Or the Johnny Damon grand slam off Javier Vazquez? Those were primo, bull-goose, are-you-fucking-with-me-God? losses, which we must carry for the rest of our lives.

If there is an upside to yesterday - in a sad, desperate way - it is that John Sterling didn't have to call it... or even watch. 

Nope. Add this to the pantheon of abuses by this Yankee regime against its fans. It brought a little of everything: the scrutiny of a Subway Series rubber match, the arrogance of Juan Soto, the expectations of Mets youngsters, the meltdown of another Yankee closer, and the inevitability of another season shot to hell. 

The YES men will say that the Yankees this week can rectify their course against Toronto and Tampa. Let's not kid ourselves. This is not how champions play. 

Aaannnndddd....the whitewash begins

The TV tubes had barely cooled when Volpe's ignoramus, stupid, immature botch was being whitewashed by Boone and Volpe himself. Schuemann tells the truth, but for self-preservation does not say the obvious: 

Volpe fucked up, again. Volpe was a key reason that the Yankees lost...again.

"Schuemann fielded the ball cleanly with his backhand and seemed poised to throw home, but Volpe ran into him. Both players were charging hard for the ball, which was their plan.

Schuemann might have had a chance to throw out Semien, but it would have been close.

Boone said he didn’t think even Schuemann had a chance at him. Boone and Volpe said the ball was in “no man’s land.” The manager said the Yankees played the infield in because, with one out and Luis Torrens the runner on first base, they thought it would be too difficult to double up the speedy Benge at first.

“Yeah I picked it pretty clean,” Scheumann said."

And this post mortem, correctly analyzing what happened:

https://bleedingyankeeblue.blogspot.com/

The guy got a couple of hits--amazingly and finally--then completely negated whatever value he displayed by being an unaware jerk, preventing a teammate from possibly gunning down the runner at home to give the Yanks another chance.

Naturally, Boone and Volpe were in high whitewashing mode after the game. We are obviously expected not to believe our lying eyes. Volpe is merely an innocent dove who did nothing wrong, ever, in the field or at the plate.

Yes, Bednar sucked, and Bednar has sucked a lot this year. Cashman, incompetent asshole that he is, might possibly address that problem in six weeks. If he addresses it like he addressed last year's bullpen, I don't have much hope. And that's if he addresses the problem at all, along with Doval, Bird, and the other clowns he's signed or wasted young players on in terrible trades.

But Volpe...he showed nothing the minors, was called up anyway, and still benefits from the blatant favortism of Yankee scouts and management, including Boone. As with many things to do with the Yankees, it's completely inexplicable.

Will they keep trotting out Volpe, maybe even after Caballero is recovered? I wouldn't be surprised and neither would you. This is an organization that prides itself on its incompetence, top to bottom.

Volpe fits right in.

Happy Sunday Game Thread Everybody – It should be a memorable game . . . (you'll see)

Facing a rubber game, the swooning Yankees are starting to relive last year

 
For the first quarter of 2026, the Gammonites of MLB - cheerful, dancing courtiers to America's oldest-money billionaires - stuck to their scripts and blathered praise for the 2nd place Yankees.

Night after night, "Boonies' Banterers of the Booth" have spun felony-grade ebullience about the Yankees' success, much in the manner that MAGA meatballs speak of You Know Who.

The narrative is simple: While certain other teams - (Mets, Redsocks, Orioles, Jays, Rays, et al) - remade their rosters, the Yankee brain trust doubled down on last year's team.

Ignored is that the 2025 Yankees collapsed in early June and finished second, due to an inability to beat their rivals. Today, we are watching it happen again, though a series of mind-bending losses.

Last night brought out Luke Weaver - the cerebral former Yankee closer, who the front office let go last winter. He came in with the bases loaded, nobody out, and a 2-run lead on the line. Weaver faced the ex-Met super-prospect, Amed Rosario, who never quite lived up to the hype. Rosario struck out. 

Next came Trent Grisham, whose decision to accept the Yankee qualifying offer last winter set into motion the entire stand-pat strategy. (Basically, the Yankees had no other choice.) Grisham struck out.

Then came Anthony Volpe - the prodigal son of New Jersey - in what likely will be his last week - and his last chance - as a Yankee. He hit a routine grounder to short, ending the inning and - effectively - the game.

Everything you wanted to know about the rise and fall of 2026 was wrapped up in those four players. 

Today, the Yankees trout out Elmer Rodriguez, a young pitcher who was showered with hype throughout the month of March, then sent to Scranton to tread water. 

The winner of today's game will - for now, anyway - claim to be NYC's better team. Frankly, it's not much of a title. That said, make no mistake. The Yankees are fading, and everybody can feel it. The Bards of the Booth can say whatever they want. The second quarter looks like Hell. 

Cashman is an incompetent asshole

 My hero.

Fuck Cashman. Fuck Volpe. Fuck Boone. Fuck Duval. Fuck Bird.

They all suck.

Amen.

Will Carloss Win? I'm Jones'n for a Home Run, myself (GameThread) Bonus Question: Guess whose pants Jazz Jr is wearing tonight?

 

Sgt. Elias: "You're an asshole, Boone."

 He platooned the Martian.

He platooned Rice.

He platooned Oswaldo.

He platooned Stanton.

He platooned Bellinger.

He platooned Goldie.

But no matter how bad he's hitting, he never, ever, ever platoons Volpe. And pinch hit for him, if I rememer correctly, once.

Boone is an idiot.

Platooning is largely a sham.

So is Cashman.

Jazz is one of us

From today's  NY Daily News story about Jazz Chisholms's good games playing in Trent Grisham's baggy pants and, last night, Giancarlo Stanton's:  

Stanton and Grisham are not the only members of Chisholm’s Brotherhood of the Traveling Pants, as he also wore a pair belonging to Randal Grichuk, who the Yankees designated for assignment last month after a slow start to his season. Those pants did not bring good fortune Chisholm’s way. “I think it cursed me, because I was getting hot,” Chisholm insisted. ”I got hot, I wore Grichuk’s pants, I lined out twice, and flew out at the warning track. “I said, ‘Oh, see, you just put bad juju on my short-pant game.'”

A Yankee fan's prayer for justice... and Clay Holmes.

This we know: The juju gods are assholes.

They think they're Kristi Noem - that they can torture us, toy with us, twerk us and tweak us - that they can nullify a great Yankee win with a chicken-plucked hamstring or a surgical line drive, all to remind us that heavenly outcomes can come with hellish consequences. 

Last night, the juju gods took out their frustrations on a relatively innocent bystander in the eternal NY baseball cold war, the so-called "Subway Series." A freak liner fractured the fibula of Clay Holmes, an ex-Yankee who was pitching for the Mets. He's out for "a long time." Maybe worse. At age 33, a broken leg can be a career killer. Damn. It's not fair. 

Normally, like Trump grousing from his airliner's restroom door, I will rage through the night about Yankee stars who sign with other teams. They're guilty of the worst crime known to fans: Yankee treason. 

My piercing righteousness stems from Juan Soto, who pissed upon a year of Yankees loyalty so he could bank a few extra dimes on a Mt. Everest stack of money he will not in his life imagine. In Soto's case - like that of Robbie "Joggy" Cano - he made not only a craven choice, but a flat-out bad decision, which has already begun to haunt him. I believe he will secretly regret it for the rest of his life. Good riddance.

In an alt-Yankiverse, last night's Yankee batting order should have been:

Ben Rice, 1B
Aaron Judge, RF
Juan Soto, LF
Giancarlo Stanton, DCH
Cody Bellinger, CF
Higgy C (why not?)
Jazz Chisholm, 2B
Jose Caballero, SS
Oswald Peraza, 3B (same)

Okay, I'm soaring off topic. This is about an injustice, about wrongful collateral damage, which happened last night to an undeserving soul. 

In his time with the Yankees, Holmes had been a solid closer, who always took the ball, even when he was being vastly overworked by Aaron Boone, until his arm nearly fell off. When he reached free agency - at 31, the most important contract in his family's future - he had run his course with the Yankees. The Mets offered a new life, as a starter, and Holmes had become their ace. Last night, the juju gods kicked him in the nuts.

Holmes took a shot off the bat of Spencer Jones - a newly inscribed character in the hyped-up history of the Subway Series - who before last night was known for strikeouts and being as tall as Aaron Judge. I hope Jones can launch his New York career in the next two nights. And let's hope Holmes can make it back. Guy didn't deserve this. Screw you, juju gods. 

THE PAIN ! Game Thread – 05-15-26

 

New York, New York? These little town shoes are bringing us down.

To boost interest, two years ago, the scions of professional basketball introduced a make-believe in-season tournament called The NBA Cup. 

For one ridiculously stupid week, NBA teams pretended to chase a cherished, time-honored trophy - The Cup! - and the feckless media played along. Fun Fact: The Knicks won this year's cup, though I had to look it up. It had been banished it from my mind. 

College football has "Rivalry Weekend," when teams pair up with their geographical adversaries. Arizona plays Arizona State. Georgia plays Georgia Tech, Ohio State takes on Michigan and Penn State gets - um - Rutgers? Of course, none of it will matter a month later, in the conference tourney, or come December, in the NCAA playoffs. Rivalry Weekend serves to bump up resales, and the media follows along like a leashed chihuahua. 

Which brings us to baseball, which has two fake events. The first comes in March, with the World Baseball Classic. This year, America got to watch Aaron Judge flail at pitches in the dirt, so folks in San Diego could say he's overrated. Then there is tonight, which launches MLB's version of Rivalry Weekend. 

Everybody plays their mortal enemy, even teams that have none. Baltimore plays Washington, Philly does Pittsburgh, it's Texas/Houston, Boston/Atlanta (huh?), Miami/Florida, San Francisco/Sacramento, (hah), LA/LA, and of course, the most fraudulent rivalry of all - NY/NY, the "Subway Series," baseball's version of Blake Lively vs Justin Baldoni.  

Tonight, we're supposed to watch two struggling, money-bleeding teams - one of which might be a certified tomato can - face off in a season-defining weekend.  

Yeah, right. A month from now, this weekend's heroes and/or goats will have vanished from our memories. And good riddance. 

Once again, the Yankees are chasing their Wild Card, while the Mets face the terrifying reality that Stevie Cohen has squandered more money than ICE, if it sought a detention center in Palm Beach.

Of course, we'll play along. Always do. I've followed these bullshit events for nearly 70 years, back when they played "The Mayor's Trophy Game." Honestly? I've seen worse matchups. Still, I refuse to assign extra importance to a three-game series that belongs in February. No new star will be christened tonight. No history will be made. 

New York is preparing to battle its greatest nemesis of all, bigger than Boston, bigger than LA, bigger than SUNY New Paltz. 

It's about to deal with the Indiana Pacers. the next villain, whomever it is. Now, that's something.

This is hilarious.

 

According to the odds online from baseball reference today, your New York Yankees...remain the heavy favorite to win the American League pennant, and the World Series.

Before yesterday's 7-0 blowout loss to a bad Orioles team, the Yanks were over 99 percent certain to make a playoff spot, over 35 percent certain to win the pennant...and still 20.4 percent certain to win the World Series.

That's right: after losing 4 of their previous 5 games going into yesterday, their chances of winning the Series...actually increased slightly.

The culprit, of course, is our old friend, Pythagoras, who no doubt would be chortling with rage if he saw his mathematical theorems misused like this to gull the suckers.

Most likely, had the bullpen been able to hold yesterday's debacle to the one- or two-run loss the Yankees are used to sustaining without so much as a whimper, they would be over 25-percent favorites to win the Series.

Instead, their numbers plunged. All the way to...a 98.7 certainty to make the playoffs, a 34.3 percent chance to win the pennant, and an 18.3 percent chance to win it all.

Those pennant and World Series percentages are, respectively almost three times and over three times the next highest numbers for an AL team, in this case the Wandering A's (at 13.2 and 6.0). 

This is despite the Yankees just having lost 4 of 5 games, sustained devastating injuries for which there are no replacements, and seen their bullpen, lineup, and top remaining minor-league prospect, all implode. They are now 3 games behind the Rays in the East Division loss column. 

The Rays...who are given barely one-sixth the chance the Yankees supposedly have to make the Series (3.4 percent).

Over in the NL, the Brewers—a scrappy bunch who just ran rings around our heroes—are supposed to have only a 13.9 percent chance to win it all...same as the Dodgers, who have a slightly better chance of winning the pennant.

In other words, according to these monkeyshines, the Yanks will cruise through the American League, then trounce the Bums in the Fall Classic.

Uh-huh. 

Hear me now and believe me later: the schneid came early this year, and the Yankees hopped aboard. 

Along with all of the other problems cited above, the facts are that other Bomber injuries are just waiting to be announced (looking at you, Cam Schlittler); Aaron Judge, great as he remains, is noticeably slowed and uncertain at the plate; Bellinger seems to have lost his power, and there's nothing to call up from Scranton.

They re-ran last year, all right...and the results are predictably worse, as always happens in a dynamic game that is constantly in flux, whether Hal & Pal like it or not.  This is a sloppy, spiritless, distracted ball club, reassured at every turn by management that they are doing just great, as the money keeps flowing in.

Let's face it: These Yankees are not going to win the World Series. They are not going to win the pennant. They are not going to win their division. They are not going to join the 40 percent of the league that makes the playoffs.

Don't be fooled by Greeks bearing phony mathematical theories!

Remember our motto at SSG: 

Gambling is stupid enough. Don't gamble stupid!

This has been a public service announcement.

 

Thank you, Mr. President

The same thing that is always wrong with them. They have some good players who are not managed or coached well. And they can't keep their people healthy.

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— Richard M. Nixon (@dicknixon.bsky.social) 7:21 PM · May 13, 2026

Can you hear the drums, Fernando?

 

How 'bout now? Can you hear them now?

How's this? Drums? Anything?

This any better?

Still? It's a Bonham solo, for Christ's sake! You have to hear them by now.

A day off lets Yankee and Met fans treasure their teams' ongoing fiascos and debate an existential question.

Yesterday, the Yankees bestowed upon their base a bountiful, bejeweled binge of Babadooks. 

For one butchered afternoon, their fans could ignore the price of gas, the shameful plot twists of HBO' Euphoria, the new name brand - "Sledgehammer!" for the Iran war the Yankees, who... 

1. Lost a game and series to Baltimore, a team four games below .500.

2. Were nearly no-hit by Kyle Bradish. (They eked out one hit.)

3. Didn't score.

4. Lost their ace, Max Fried, to an elbow issue. (Today, we'll learn the likely catastrophic extent of the problem.)

5. Returned Anthony Volpe to SS, where he botched a routine grounder.

6. Watched their bullpen give up four runs.

What a day. What a week. Forget the Thucydides Trap. Forget the super El Nino. All you need to know about world history, or climate change, is that the annual June Boone Swoon, a fixture in recent seasons, has arrived early.

This weekend, they play the wretched, underperforming Mets, who possess the fourth worst record in baseball. Last year, the two teams split their six game "Subway Series," spurring an existential debate - and I'm not referring to comparing the Yankees and Mets. The real question is this: 

Which is worse: New York baseball (Yankees/Mets) or football (Giants/Jets?)

At least the Giants and Jets can blame the NFL's payroll cap, which lets their billionaire owners poormouth, while happily bleeding their teams. The Mets and Yankees outspend all but a handful of franchises, yet they still manage to embarrass themselves, year after year. That's world class incontinence.

I'm going with the Mets/Yanks, though it might just be PTSD from yesterday. 

Subway Series? Or Subpar?

Well, that was raw. 

One hit. 

A blowout. 

A lost series. 

A fiasco.

Today, after Max Fried went out in the 3rd, the Yankees had as much chance of winning the game as Epstein did of surviving a shift change.

Next up, the Mets. 

The battle to be NYC's worst team.

Maybe YES can sign Kid Rock to play an alternative game.

05/13/26 – Hopefully MAX is sharper than he's been of late – Game Thread

Last night, Paul Goldschmidt put the Yankees on his shoulders to forestall a collapse. Were Anthony Volpe and Jazz Chisholm Jr. watching?

A few words about Paul Edward Goldschmidt, "America's First Baseman..." 

Honest. Faithful. Fiducial. Tough. Wise...

Last night, as we all know, Goldy slammed a game- opening HR, putting the haggard Yanks ahead of Baltimore and - perhaps - forestalling the looming June Boone Full-Moon swoon. 

At 38, relegated to a backup, defensive role - resulting from the ascension of Ben Rice and the latest injury to Giancarlo Stanton - Goldschmidt delivered. 

Let's hope Anthony Volpe and Jazz Chisholm were watching.

This week, the Yankees were roiled by matters of loyalty - to Volpe, after returning from an injury, and to Chisholm, after a disastrous trip to Milwaukee. 

Volpe was demoted to Scranton, where he must re-engineer his swing and save his career. Chisholm was benched and watched a ball roll through the legs of his replacement, Amed Rosario. Both players can pine over their current doldrums. Both need look no further than Goldschmidt for how a true Major League star should act. 

Goldy, who turns 39 in September, is a career .288 hitter with 376 home runs. This season, in 20 games, he's at .262 with 4 HRs.

This guy has...

Four Gold Gloves.
Seven all-star game appearances.
One MVP (2022).
Three Players of the Month.
Five Silver Sluggers.

His statistical doppelgangers include Hall of Famers Orlando Cepeda, Edgar Martinez and Fred McGriff, along with such candidates as David Ortiz, Joey Votto and Freddy Freeman.

What could make Goldy a lock. (Pun there, get it?)  A ring. An October surprise. One final big moment in the national spotlight, magnified by the passion of New York City. 

In the meantime, at least for now, he is the Yankee first baseman. And every time he saves Volpe or Chisholm from an errant throw, they should salute not just Goldschmidt, but the person he is and the way he plays.

Deep Thoughts

Not a lot of them, because really, what is there to say?

I only watched the condensed game on mlb.com. Full disclosure.

1. That terrible play by Schuemann made me wonder who the fuck was playing short. I hadn't seen the lineup beforehand. It was so bad that for a few seconds I thought Volpe was playing. Little did I know that Cab really hurt his finger and the Player Formerly Known As The Great Volpe was called up, and could well have been playing.

2. Jake Bird. OK, he's not the worst reliever ever, but how long do we continue this experiment? It was the Orioles for fuck's sake.

3. Ditto Cruella Duval. I mean, even Cashman has to see what he's got there, and it ain't good.

4. I see Jazz didn't play. So I checked out the Michael Kay link Carl so thoughtfully provided. Those stats Kay read off were even more depressing than what I've seen in the games I've watched. His defense is still a little hit and miss, too. Anybody need a used infielder? Used to be pretty good, needs work.

5. I'm still scratching the scalp over those two Bmore runs being earned off Warren. The hapless infield plays did not get scored as errors, the official scorer obviously being a home town homer. We expect this to some degree, but Christ on a bike (a Schwinn, of course), those were damn egregious. Do we need an automated system now to challenge the scorer?

6. Beldar--the best Conehead we have in the pen--did fine. I think there's hope for him as a closer. Cashman's flurry of bad trades at last year's deadline may not include him. Which makes Cashman, what, 1 for 4? He should be benched.

7. Volpe is a decided bust, I think we all agree. Which brings us to his girlfriend, at right. Ignore the picture of the tree. Volpe is standing behind it, hiding after he was sent down. He has few reasons to complain about his lot in life.