Aaron Boone has ‘total confidence,’ but when will Yankees’ slide end?

The Yankees just finished a 10-18 August, and despite last week’s five-game win streak, the struggles don’t appear close to ending. New York has lost four of its last five games against the bottom two teams in the AL West, and the consequences are starting to become all too real.

With 31 games remaining, the Yankees’ AL East lead over the Rays is down to six games — the smallest lead since June 3. In what could be a blessing or a curse, six of their next 10 games come against Tampa. This weekend’s series against the Rays could either allow the Yankees to pad their lead and exhale or generate even more pressure on a team limping to the finish line.

In either scenario, this isn’t where the Yankees expected to be when they entered the All-Star break 64-28. On Aug. 1, the Yankees became the first team to hit 70 wins this season. A full month later, they still haven’t eclipsed 80. The Dodgers, meanwhile, are sitting on 90 wins with more than a month remaining. 

Along with the Dodgers, the Astros, Mets and Braves have surpassed the Yankees in wins — an unthinkable scenario for a team that was on a record-setting pace earlier in the summer. 

While the Yankees can easily salvage the season and head into the postseason with a first-round bye, gaining home-field advantage beyond the ALDS is becoming unlikely. New York trails the Astros by five games for the AL’s top record. If that holds, the Yankees would have to start (and likely finish) the ALCS in Houston. That was a problem in both 2017 and 2019. This season, it looked like an avoidable one. 

The Yankees led the AL East by a season-best 15.5 games on July 8. With 9.5 games already shaved off, a historic collapse is at least within the realm of possibility. 

Yankees manager Aaron Boone told reporters after Wednesday’s loss that he has “total confidence” New York can get back to where it was earlier in the season, explaining that “getting a few guys going” could be enough to turn close losses into wins. This isn’t just a brief bump in the road, though — the Yankees are 18-29 since July 9.