The Yankees begin a crucial three-game series against the Baltimore Orioles tonight in the Bronx. The series, in general, is crucial, and tonight’s game, in particular, is crucial (more on that in a minute), because they all are for the Yankees at this point.
Despite a 51-game span of .706 baseball that included a 35-11 stretch and a 13-game winning streak, they’re actually further behind Tampa Bay than when that span started (6.5 games behind). Perhaps more importantly, the Yankees are closer to being out of the playoff picture than they are to first place, with leads of 1.